Roger's Home Journal

In Defense Of Your Territory

By Roger Faris

A recent news story told of a property boundary dispute involving a fence and deck project invading the territory of a neighbor. The headline screamed about a non-amicable response including the early morning use of a chainsaw. It was a situation where a man had been "most provoked," as my aunt Blanding would say, and was willing to let the chips fall where they may.

To the embarrassment of newspaper reporters and editors, the tale of violent dismemberment of the offending deck had to be revised. It turned out to be yellow journalism of the kind that Mr. Hearst perfected in his enthusiasm for igniting the Spanish American War. Several important facts were in conflict with perfectly good tabloid-style news.

For one thing, the chainsaw mentioned so prominently in the headline and body of the story turned out to be a reciprocating saw. This mild-mannered electrical tool makes a reasonably neat cut through wood. It has none of the menace of a chainsaw. No one has yet made a sickening movie called "The Texas Reciprocating Saw Massacre" (I hope).

Furthermore, the fellow who actually accomplished the deck reduction surgery turned out to be a hired carpenter, rather than the aggrieved and enraged property owner. In the corrected version of events we’re even told that he was one of those fabulous "Finnish" carpenters who are so famous for cutting wood with a Scandinavian sense of accuracy and dispassion.

The toned-down story still includes information about very different perceptions of basic fairness. I hope that this part is also untrue. The deck-constructing neighbor was said to believe that it is right and proper to build beyond the legal property line if some form of encroachment has existed for ten or more years. This interpretation of a right of "adverse possession" reminds me of what Senator S. I. Hayakawa said in favor of retaining U.S. control of the Panama Canal: "We stole it fair and square."

Surely everyone feels, as I do, that the ancient "adverse possession" legal concept should be called upon only to prevent some sort of hardship. An example might be to preserve a traditional route for cows to get back to their barn, which could mean not building a fence, rather than building one. Neighborliness and natural justice would disallow the construction of a residential deck across a known property line for purposes of extended lounging. There’s just no hardship involved. Quite the opposite.

Only feeble reasoning would conclude that an encroaching deck project could be justified by a past error in fence placement. I can’t believe that anyone would intentionally do it without first asking politely and receiving permission. Therefore, the reporter probably got it wrong, or there was some other sort of misunderstanding.

On the other hand, our society has a history of taking land from others and later telling the original inhabitants: "Oh, we’re sorry, but there’s nothing we can do about it now. What’s done is done." Some Washington State Republicans have an even less friendly message to Native Americans: "Oh, we’re not sorry, and we also want to cancel the treaties we made you sign when we took your land."

What does any of this have to do with my usual topic of home repair and improvement? Here’s the concept I’ve been leading up to: Let’s give everything back to the Native Americans and then ask them to rent to us. If they agree to be landlords, then we tenants will be relieved of responsibility for maintenance, repairs and improvements. We’ll have more time to get outside on weekends and during these beautiful summer months. It could be an opportunity for deep thinking about philosophical things like neighborliness.

Roger Faris is the director of the Well Home Program at the Phinney Neighborhood Association. The program provides advice, encouragement, tools, and classes for home improvement and repair. Call (206) 789-4993 for information. For the Earthquake Home Retrofit Program, call (206) 382-2159.

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