2y ago

Owners destroyed the soul of their own house

https://www.reddit.com/r/UrbanHell/comments/14huso2/bolton_england/

107 comments

Trees are a luxury, growing something like that takes time. I hope they really have a good reason for doing what they did.
- And a public good. They keep things cooler when it's really hot out, keep things warmer when it's really cool out, mildly improve air quality, reduces noise pollution, provide measurable mental health benefits, and so on.
  Around here removing big trees is illegal, on your property or not. I'm a fan.
  Open soil instead of pavement also helps reduce flooding during heavy rainfall since the ground absorbs water instead of just making it run off to somewhere else.
  
  At risk of doxxing yourself, can you expand on where you live? Just curious of the most general area. I love that law!
- The reason is probably "raking is work." I see this shit all the time in Florida, where we really need more shade trees.
  
  Do not understand people who rake. Do the trees in the forest need their leaves raked? Then why do it?
- Considering they also took out the shrubs I’m betting not, though that tree closest to the house the roots may have been affecting the foundation I guess.

It legit looks like half of the weed dispensaries in my city. Who tf would actually do that to their home tho
- I feel like the car in the picture is important context. I'm thinking that the home was turned into a business, and the pavement is for parking
  
  Ah yes, the rare parking without any car access.
  
  Yeah but the concrete is elevated. I don’t see how. Car can get up it.
  
  Except there's not way to get a car up there.
  
  To the right of the bottom picture a sign(guessing the business) has been cropped out of view.

Just steal the image and put the source in the body text. That way you're not redirecting everyone to reddit. Sort of defeats the purpose of the protests.

Why don't they like trees?
- Capitalism has drained their soul. They don't think artistically. They don't think about nature. They don't see beauty. Their art is corporate art.
  
  Capitalism is when ugly house
  
  I’m disabled and can’t really do hard work any more, we are planning on large rock gardens and planter boxes to replace a grass lawn.
  
  Man I don't know, that's weird. Maybe they just prefer it this way? Some people don't like the cottage/nature kind of aesthetic. I think their house is ugly as sin but it's just a matter of personal taste.
  
  Chad Soviet architecture enjoyer

The infuriation is not mild :(
- Right? I feel like this warrants criminal charges
  
  why? people have the right to do what they want with their property.
  if you don't believe that, they join a HOA and setup their bullshit regulations that require your lawn to be perfect and green or you get fined hundreds of dollars.

It's like they heard lawns were bad for the environment, but stopped listening at the part about replacing it with native plants.

I personally don't like it, but I respect their right to do whatever the fuck they want with their property. If they want a fugly house, then that's their right.
- Honestly, no. At least where I live, they're finally starting to do something against gravel gardens. They are illegal here (have been for decades but no-one did anything against it) and they're absolutely terrible for the environment and destroying green space (additionally to them being very bad for bees and further sealing the floor which is awful when any flood happens). Luckily people shouldn't be able to do absolutely everything they want if it hurts everyone so much.
  
  Gravel gardens seal the ground? I thought it was just gravel on top of dirt.
  I would prefer housing authorities don't require manicured grass lawns. They are so expensive to keep up and repair, especially since many don't use native grass species so they need watering in the summer if you don't want them to go brown.
  
  How do you feel about HOAs?

🎵 They paved paradise and put up a parking lot 🎵

I would have left the trees alone, but removed the grass and covered it with small black and grey stones. That way the trees would still look nice, and the rain water can still pass through the rocks and prevent flooding, unlike this mess. This looks like a business now, it’s not a home anymore.
- pass through the rocks and prevent flooding
  Yah, that doesn't work that way. Water needs to get pulled into plants or water channels created by dead plant root systems, or it just runs off. This is why deserts have flash floods.

all better

"Bad" taste for "bad" people 🤷‍♀️
- No need to insult them, they don’t deserve that much hate. they probably thought it was a good idea. Even though most of us think it’s an abomination.
  
  I'll be more moderate, but the opinion stay the same.

I mean I hate lawns as much as the next person, but I don't think the solution is to salt the earth and cover it in concrete.
- Who hates lawns? 🤔
  
  I do. I'm not sure how much of an issue it is in other countries, but most (if not all) lawn grasses grown in the States are actually non-native (yes, even "Kentucky Bluegrass", which is actually native to Europe). I wouldn't really mind lawns as much if it was normal to use native ground cover.
  
  Probably the majority of slrpnk.net lemmy

Never understood homes that pave/block out all the greenery; makes the home depressing af all for saving some 30min of upkeep per week.
- You don't even need that. Personally a overgrown garden looks better than no garden.

The house was horrible enough to start with; a characterless inter-war bungalow with fake timbering and fake leaded glass. The conversion is just differently horrible.
For me it's the destruction of the garden that warrants it being here. I know it's the UK so the sun isn't always available (edit: just seen the Zoopla link, it's Bolton, so change "always" to "ever") , but losing shade and shelter like that is a tragedy in any climate.

Sure they didn't turn it into a shop? Those definitely look like they were made into display windows
- In Australia it would be a 15-storey block of incredibly substandard flats lol
  
  That millennials still cannot afford

Dendrophobia? Agrostophobia? Botanophobia? All 3 wrapped into one tangle of neurosis?

now its a gulag

People are focusing on the house in the middle, but if you look at he whole picture, it isn't that one house. It's every single house on both streets. It's not just this specific owner. If this were the US, I'd suspect a HOA at work.
- I believe the Brits call their HOAs "councils"
  
  Not sure if joking, but councils are in charge of the municipal borough - usually a big town/city and the area around it.
  Some people rent their houses from the council - council houses. This tends to mainly be people on low income, as the rates are low.
  Because these are rented, the council can make sure you are not doing anything to harm the value of the house. When the houses need maintenance (new windows, new roofs), the council will perform it at no cost to the tenants - usually an entire estate at once, which is why they look alike.
  Obviously the council has no say over houses it doesn't own. Unless you are breaking the law in some way (e.g. causing a health concern), you're allowed to do what you want.

The guy that owns this house

Just before the previous owners of my house decided to put the house on the market they painted all wood inside (stairs, doors, door frames, window frames, skirting) pitch black.
Yes thanks, I enjoy living in a cave. Removing, sanding and painting all that will take me 100s of hours.
Oh, and it was done with the cheapest paint possible while painting over all hinges, locks and sometimes windows.
- They're covering the blood spatters. And needed to do it fast and cheap.
- Aah yes, the landlord special.
- A few years back I would have asked why you bought it. But in this market I get it.

Range Rover... checks out.

WTFF. That's terrible

I just felt bad about what I did to my world in factorio for the first time ever :/

It should actually be an offence for someone to do this. That change from garden to hard standing will cause issues with any drains and probably cause flooding.

It's been ruined.

Is that cement? Oof

Looks like it ruined the whole area by the looks of it.

Wow this is fucking incredibly annoying :(

100% agree this is a terrible looking house- I think the function of the raised platform must be because it's on a dangerous corner or intersection, so it acts as a safety structure from vehicles. They would've gotten special planning permission to do something like that.

Maybe the new owners are allergic to nature? 🙃

Lol did you just link to a reddit post from Lemmy?
- Yeah they did. it’s hilarious

Facepalm

I found a real estate listing for the house (yes, you could own this beauty), but I don't know if posting it would count as doxxing per community rules, so I won't. In any case, this is not a business.
They want £300k+. Based on what was written, the whole idea was minimal maintenance and maximum room for parking. The back yard/back "garden" is the same as the front: just a bunch of tile. The interior is less offensive, but just what you'd expect: very modern, lots of black and white and bold shapes.
- and maximum room for parking
  Yet another example of what car-brain does to a person.
- Kind of sounds like it is intended to be used as an Airbnb/rental property.

The wall update is nice, but removing all the greenery and putting pavers over all the grass is just gross.

It looks like the whole neighborhood

What a fucking nightmare.

It’s not the house for me, it’s the garden…

Maybe they plan to park cars there.
Or maybe they just don't like cutting the grass. Can't blame them. I hate having to cut the grass all the time.
- Grow wildflowers or moss then? So many better solutions to that problem than this abomination.
- There are alternatives to having a lawn. The great people over at nolawns@slrpnk.net can help you.
  Personally, I've replaced large areas with native plants. They take care of themselves.

that is pain. Who would enjoy that? Maybe it is a store now, idk.
- People who hate cat poop in their garden
- Some old fart who got tired of yelling at kids, “Get off my lawn!”

Looks like it ruined the whole area by the looks of it.

Er... What were they going for?
- Bleak urban funeral home ?

It looks ssooo and now!! I really want to know why.
- The only thing that makes sense in my mind is, maybe the owner's permanently on wheels and needs a flat, hard surface for their mobility device?

Haha what the fuck, that looks absolutely terrible. How did they ever think this was a good idea?

That's an architect's house right there. Guaranteed. Stark feel, contrasting colors, even geometric lines, minimal but very intentional organic elements ("plants" in the windows - probably fake). I'm in the business and have worked on architect's houses. They are generally split 80/20 between ridiculous modern art and warm, inviting, immensely functional spaces. There is no in between.

Actually, I like the updates, however, some potted plans would help drive the updates home!

There house, who gives a fuck what theu do with it, remove all the grass, or let it grow to fuck. Dont be a nosy cunt.

107 comments