Someone painted my wall outside my house without my permission

mondeo

Came home from work today (Dublin 24 area) to find an oul lad (community worker so he says) had just finished painting a 30ft long wall outside my house without my permission. He white washed it where it was originally just a natural brick on brick before. My wall is now a blank canvas for graffiti, I'm effing furious. I always avoided painting this wall for this very reason. I had a go at him about it and now it looks like I am in a situation where I am stuck to pay someone to remove all the paint. How do I do this ? What sort of service am I looking for ? Do I need someone to come out with a sand blaster to do it ? I am going to try and claim back the expense of this from the people that made this mess in the first place.

Thanks

not sure why the wall being white washed makes it a candidate for graffiti as though it wasn’t already.

People who do that generally don’t care what colour it was previously.

mondeo

Kids around here graffiti white painted walls significantly more then say a grey or darker colour wall. I am asking for it with the wall painted white. I don't want to have to deal with painting over it every other week.

elperello

The man who did the job was probably just doing as he was told.

You need to escalate your problem and find the foreman/supervisor who gave the instruction.

Whoever he is working for are responsible for what happened.

Tell them that they need to undo the damage.

UrbanFret

Is it your wall?

mondeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119736694#Comment_119736694

I am trying to understand who to contact to get them to undo it. I am searching for community workers group or something like that in the area to not much avail.

nothing

Try TUS or CE Scheme, maybe?

UrbanFret

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119736725#Comment_119736725

Community employment scheme (CE Scheme).

ted1

i really detest unpainted block walls. You should thank him, or if you are really bothered he did you a favour as the white willl make it easy to apply another colour over.

lots of colours here: https://www.woodies.ie/paint-decorating/exterior-masonry/exterior-colours?page=2

I did a nice greyish blue on my wall

blocks aren’t natural 😉😉

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119736725#Comment_119736725

Somebody gave the man the paint and brushes etc. and told him to paint the wall.

In the the first instance ask him.

mondeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119736704#Comment_119736704

Yes I built it myself years back

Larbre34

Is. It. Your. Wall.?

As in, is it a boundary of your property or a gable end or attached in any way?

mondeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119736752#Comment_119736752

Great if you live in Blackrock, but not around my area unfortunately. A big white wall is a bad idea. Thanks anyways

Do you own the part or side of the wall that was painted on? I often see high walls, usually the high sides of back garden side walls that face out onto the street, painted.

Not sure who owns them.

newmember2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058267228/someone-painted-my-wall-outside-my-house-without-my-permission

It's a wall 'outside' your house, what does that mean...it's not 'inside' your house? Is it your property or not?

spakman

Brick or block?

Wishbone Ash

Are we talking about bricks or blocks?

mondeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119736797#Comment_119736797

I built the wall myself, it's built within the property boundary. I own the property yes and take responsibility for maintaining the wall.

Goldengirl

Yea would class a breeze block wall as looking for paint.

Not bricks, bricks are much nicer unpainted.

So depending whether the former latter, he either did you a favour or wrecked your lovely brick wall.

So which blocks or bricks?

Tbh if its your wall nobody should have touched it, CES or not.

mondeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119736802#Comment_119736802

A block wall

dmc17

Did he plaster the wall before he painted it?

mondeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119736868#Comment_119736868

No he didn't. He just painted over as is.

spakman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119736854#Comment_119736854

Well a bare block wall is ugly as fck, so I'm sure it looks a lot better now.

Wishbone Ash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119736854#Comment_119736854

Why did you say 'natural brick on brick'? There's nothing natural about blocks.

Block walls, unplastered and unpainted look hideous.

Lumen

With respect, I don't think that anyone who confuses a block for a brick is in a strong position to argue aesthetics.

That said, sounds like it was your wall so I suppose you have every right to keep it looking fugly.

mondeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119736893#Comment_119736893

Block or brick, I didn't want my wall painted. I just want to find out who exactly who he was and get the paint removed before it becomes a graffiti hot spot.

Maybe ring South Dublin County Council and ask if they know of any projects like that in your area?

mondeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119736943#Comment_119736943

I'll do that tomorrow thanks

MoxoM

Posts are mad here.

OP….. Hope you get it rectified with no cost to you.

The Continental Op

OP is talking about graffiti but this old guy with his paint is not different its just all white graffiti.

kippy

Sounds random enough or a mistake - you would hope if it were a mistake (someone thought the wall wasn't yours) it would be recitified.

I would however be careful (ensure before you contact council etc) the wall you built is in compliance with planning - just in case it might not be.

(Some guidance here - may not be relevant for your own situation)

https://www.fingal.ie/sites/default/files/2019-10/doing_work_around_the_house_new_doc.pdf

Interesting that they say block walls should be plastered.

mondeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119736962#Comment_119736962

I'll probably end up having to pay for this myself now or wait 3 months for whoever did this to undo it, if I find out who they were. It upsets me someone altered my property like this when I was out of the house. Anyone would be bothered by that.

crashbang1

I'd imagine the person is with TUS or CE and was doing the work on behalf of the local tidy towns committee or equivalent. If he is still around he should be able to put you in touch with his supervisor.

I'd try your local partnership company, they will be running the local TUS scheme and if it wasn't TUS they should know who the contact point for the local CE scheme is.

Count Dracula

I think your concept that it will attract graffiti is almost absurd. I doubt very much that local scrotes are scanning the area checking out the general hue of your walls' undercoat to be honest? If they are going to scribble penis effigies on your wall they will not be losing sleep over what colour it is drawn on?

How tall is the wall and if can you please clarify if it runs at the back, side or the front of your house?

Most artists will be looking for a public wall which has good access to where their work can be admired. They are not looking to piss off private home owners, at all. If you are concerned about graffiti as a form of vandalism then it is a different matter entirely.

As you own the wall you can contact the council and ask for the paint work to be removed, if you are arsed doing so. I am astonished that a community worker was given permission by anyone else to be honest?

mondeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119737021#Comment_119737021

I would say he was 60 years old, some retired guy. I will make a few calls tomorrow and see if he can be tracked down. I was also thinking I might drive around the area in and out of estates and see if by chance I can spot him doing other work and confront him that way.

SwimClub

Maybe this old dude will appear again and repaint if there's graffiti, I'd wait a while and see how it pans out.

kippy

It's possible someone complained about the state of the wall to someone else and one of the workers was told to put some paint on it.

Not the right way to go about it of course.

In Fingal at least it seems as unplastered block walls are against exempted planning.

https://www.fingal.ie/sites/default/files/2019-10/doing_work_around_the_house_new_doc.pdf

dmc17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119737052#Comment_119737052

Maybe he is the graffiti artist and was just creating a blank canvas?

mondeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119737028#Comment_119737028

The house is a corner house and the wall as expected is at the side. I am concerned about graffiti as a form of vandalism ye. The house is a target for it now as far as I am concerned.

dmc17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119737067#Comment_119737067

I wonder if all else fails would it be worth painting over it with a dark grey paint to make it less desirable than a white canvas?

Wishbone Ash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119737002#Comment_119737002

Think of it this way - suppose the area around your house was strewn with your rubbish, dog crap, unkempt lawns, etc. and someone came along and cleaned it up. That is, they altered your property (for the good).

To many of us, our neighborhoods are spoiled by those who seem to think bare unplastered, unpainted block walls are acceptable. I'd much prefer to have graffiti on a painted wall than an unpainted wall without.

Ulmus

You could grow a climber, Boston ivy, inside the wall and let it hang down on the outside. Painting garden walls is a bad idea.

Atlantic Dawn

Try typing in your town/area name in to Twitter to search for recent posts about it, a lot of times these chancers start 'enriching' property that's not theirs they fill social media with it. Hopefully you can track down who financed it and sue them to reinstate it as it was.

Juwwi

Some of the replies here are hilarious .

For those who think the guy did nothing wrong , who is supposed to re paint this wall now every few years ? The OP or whoever put the old guy up to it .

OP definitely have a drive around your estate tomorrow and ask around , but it wont be easy to get the paint off the wall now especially if he put water in the paint to help it soak in .

ratracer

How do you take white paint of a bare concrete block wall??

Do you want/ expect them to paint it gray?

And I don’t think ‘confronting’ an old guy is the way to solving anything, maybe asking him politely will get you a more favourable result…..

Count Dracula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119737067#Comment_119737067

If it is a tall wall on the side of your house you are always going to have this issue, it will not matter what colour the wall is.

My best advice is to not get in the way of graffiti on a side wall. In many cases it can be territorial on a street basis. If you start getting poxy with the local scrotes you will become a target for their ridicule. Before you know it you will have " Mondeo Sucks Cock " all over the thing. Not a good luck for you.

If it is a side wall you technically only control one side of it. The public have access to the other side of it, it is their wall now.

If the wall is waist height it won't get the action. Scotes don't like putting effort into anything and will avoid bending their knees and find somewhere else.... unless of course they know it is pissing you off, that is a whole different story. You don't want that.

See what happens, as things stand you just got your wall decorated for free?

mondeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119737151#Comment_119737151

I would guess some sort of sand blaster would remove the white paint ? I really don't know how it would be done.

awec

Trying to remove the paint will make it look worse. It'll look even worse than it did when it was just bare block. Blocks drink paint, you aren't going to get it back how it was.

Your best bet is just to get whoever painted it white to paint it a colour you would prefer.

MoxoM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119737193#Comment_119737193

just ask around, someone will know who’s responsible. I’m also guessing sand blasting will remove it

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119737193#Comment_119737193

Pressure washer might take some off, but it'll look awful for quite some time afterwards (years).

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119737193#Comment_119737193

you’d have a fecker of a time getting it off and looking anyway decent tbh.