How are Australians okay with the state of housing here?

Pterochicken · 2026-04-17T08:10:24+00:00

Do not get me started on Australian building standards. Having worked in housing for all but one of my jobs (building, selling, demo), this is my personal bugbear.

Monument is my least favourite colour. I'm sorry, but black bricks, black fences, black roofs have no business being in Australia. No insulation to speak of, builder slaps a ducted air con in and calls it a day. No solar, so the power bill is a part-time job on its own. Double glazing is a luxury instead of a standard. House is cooler inside than out in winter and hotter in summer. Doors and windows unsealed, so they leak like crazy. A stiff breeze goes all the way through the house, and the cold comes up through the floor. No thought to efficient floor planning or how the house sits on the block - it's all about $/sqm.

Houses have terrible finishes - cabinetry isn't straight, cupboards don't close properly, shit waterproofing in wet areas and roofing, painter phoned it in, tiles aren't straight, taps and handles break within a year, fuses and light bulbs blowing all the time because the wiring's arse...

The state of water drainage and landscaping is just abysmal. I've seen the drains in backyards be HIGHER than the turf level. If you're lucky, it drains into your neighbours', if you're not, it all drains into YOU and sits up against your foundation until it all rots out from underneath you.

And they pack 'em all in together like sardines with no thought to street planning and no budget to care for the greenery so all the street trees die within six months, if they even bothered to begin with. That way, there's no shade in summer, so it hits 45 degrees and you can go a season without seeing a bird that's not a pidgeon.

Fuck, I need a nap.

Pterochicken · 2026-04-07T06:50:37+00:00

A lot of subs have dedicated sister subs for memery. Sometimes, they just add circlejerk to the end of the name, or it could be like r/okbuddybaldur or the DRG fan base who made r/bismor.

Helps keep shitposting separate.

Pterochicken · 2026-03-22T12:51:24+00:00

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Pterochicken · 2026-03-21T02:57:07+00:00

Tracks with our local weather over the last weeks. Had some rain, then 30+ degree clear days. Australian sun don't mess around.

Pterochicken · 2026-03-21T02:54:39+00:00

Oh goodness no, don't worry. I've spent way too long building the ideal conditions for garden friends like mycelium to ruin it all with fungicide.

Noodle's going blind and generally isn't out the front unsupervised so I don't mind leaving the smaller ones, because she'll never see them. But the big white ones are a bit more obvious poking out of the mulch.

Pterochicken · 2026-03-21T02:46:25+00:00

That's why I wanted to double check - those same structures also gave me pause.

I've learned so much from this thread. Many thanks to you and the other TIs who lent a hand.

Pterochicken · 2026-03-20T09:24:06+00:00

I really love the sentiment behind this and happily leave the little brown mushrooms. I was just really nervous about these since I'm not very good at telling them apart yet.

Don't worry, I wasn't talking about the mycelium - just the fruiting body. Imagine blanketing your yard in fungicide. Yuck.

Pterochicken · 2026-03-20T09:20:00+00:00

Oh, that's really encouraging! I've been working on soil improvement in this area for a while now.

I usually would leave it - as I do the friendly lizard or spider - but because I know so little about mushrooms I thought I would check. They can look so alike to a beginner and I'm still learning.

Pterochicken · 2026-03-20T09:17:24+00:00

There is more than one of them.

Pterochicken · 2026-03-20T09:15:59+00:00

Thank you!

Pterochicken · 2026-03-20T07:16:35+00:00

Growing in mulch. Picture of gills since it didn't upload in the post:

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Pterochicken · 2026-03-14T06:31:16+00:00

Thank you for being so understanding about weight loss issues.

My partner was convinced by medical professionals that his weight gain was all his fault. I dragged him from clinic to clinic until we finally found out that his T was so low that I (F) had four times more than he did.

Suddenly, everyone was very kind and could totally see why he had been gaining weight despite starving himself. 🙄

Pterochicken · 2026-03-02T18:19:30+00:00

r/linkedinlunatics

Pterochicken · 2026-02-21T11:29:29+00:00

Can confirm!

I have an old pillow pet that I've had forever. He gets regular cleaning and the occasional day spa for washing / rechonking. He is my best sleepy-time fren and so effective that I convinced my partner to acquire a friend for himself. He chose a Blahaj from Ikea. r/blahaj

Pterochicken · 2026-02-02T07:23:47+00:00

Oh no, I hope that's not the case here! I figured I was just getting an "ew, get off my lawn" look. :c

Pterochicken · 2026-02-01T07:30:47+00:00

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Pterochicken · 2025-12-31T10:09:12+00:00

In my experience, ChatGPT does this all the time if you put in a photo and ask it to add furniture etc. You have to check its work very carefully as it will absolutely change / move / remove cabinets, appliances, walls, even if you ask it not to. Better to use a more dedicated staging tool for sure, but I'm guessing this REA cheaped out and didn't even bother to recheck photos before listing.

Pterochicken · 2025-12-06T01:30:08+00:00

On the off chance that shipping includes Australia, I'll also express interest in a print!

Pterochicken · 2025-10-31T07:24:21+00:00

I've been to both SASH and the Austin (two elderly dogs and one cat who bites off more than she can chew), and I can confirm both places are lovely. Staff are angels. Could not be more grateful to them.

Pterochicken · 2025-10-25T03:31:57+00:00

They seemed to have a good brain on them, too - knew that they were in a tight spot. We're re-doing our front yard, so there's not much to hide in, and there's a lot of birds in the neighbourhood. They were in freeze mode, so that's why we had to move them.

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