Do you have a fence in your yard? If not, do they bother you?

I hate to do this but I need to get a fence for part of my yard. My neighbor cut down a bunch of trees that screened his house from view, he also paved half his back yard where he now parks his vehicles - the view is just ugly.

I was thinking of putting up a fence and then planting some trees in front of it so eventually the trees will block my view (plus trees look nice).

It does seem un-neighborly but his clear-cutting of the trees seems un-neighborly too, even though he had every right to do it since they were on his property.

I like my privacy. Go for it and put up a fence and some tree's. It's your yard too!

until something like that happened and I realized that they really do have a purpose. :)

I had neighbors that did something like that when I lived in my last house. No only that, but they put humongous floodlights on their patio that shone right into my bedroom. And did I mention the overly sensitive and horrendously loud burglar alarm that went off a dozen times a night?

I not only put up a fence, but I planted the fastest growing native bamboo I could find. It didn't take long before I had a thicket between them and me. Sometimes harsh measures are called for.

it out.

Back when I worked for the cable company I found several yards full of it.

I'd find another screening plant.

Leyland Cypresses grow fast.

I've never understood the fence debate. As long as they're kept up and within property lines, I don't see a problem with them. Just make sure to check your local ordinances for any regulations.

I say go for it. We have both a fenced area and a fence row of trees. My neighbors didn't like the trees when we first put them in, but recently one of them called and complimented us on how nice they look and remarked how much they appreciate the privacy it also gives them. That meant a lot..it was their snowmobiles running around our backyard that led to the tree line in the first place.

probably tell our neighbor we are getting the fence so he doesn't think we don't like him :-) So I guess the idea of fences being insulting exists.

Of course my husband is much nicer than I am plus our neighbor is a state cop so he probably wants to stay on his good side :-)

We aren't fencing in our whole yard, it will be pretty obvious that we are blocking our view of his house and his house only.

mention your plans.

Our situation is a bit different than average. When we moved in, we had various neighbors claiming to own portions of our property. With more than a dozen properties bordering ours, it wasn't very pleasant for quite a few years.

Good luck to you.

I am not one that thinks that the chance of living next to someone, means they have some sort of connection to me.

the ugly view of cars and asphalt, his house is still a work in progress and the house itself looks ugly in the back.

Why look at an eye sore. You should have pleasant surroundings in your own home. Are the trees you plan to plant, evergreens?

My only suggestion is that you drop a note off with all affected neighbors letting them know that you're putting a fence up.

it up to my husband to let him know since they are good buddies.

When I bought the house, there was a 4 ft chain link fence around the whole place that had been sunk a foot into the ground. Then, because I have dogs that will clear that with a short trot and a jump, I put up a 6 ft wood fence around the back yard. It not only keeps the dogs in, but also keeps them from barking every time a neighbor goes down the street or out into their yards.

I've never lived in a house with a fence and I have heard that they cause arguments between neighbors and since he's a state cop I kind of wanted to avoid that. :-)

even if he's kind of an ass just tell him that you miss the trees and you wanted to give him the courtesy of letting him know in advance what you're planning on doing. I did that at my last house and also planted a hybrid tree called an "Austree" which can grow several feet a year. And they really do, we planted some as a noise and privacy barrier on one side of the house I lived in when I was married. They were literally twigs when we planted them and now 14 years later they are gigantic. The house I lived in after that same thing, twigs when they went into the ground but the first year grew so much that they were higher than the 6 foot fence.

Good luck, you deserve to feel comfortable in your home and yard. If it takes a fence to do that go for it!

trees fully mature but I do know that the view as it is now will definitely diminish the sale value.

And yeah, I will have my husband let him know.

I recently spent a small fortune to remove some diseased trees only to have a neighbor come and bitch about it. Same fellow incidentally that recently left a fucking spare tire in the driveway in front of his house for several weeks. Oh, and he is a city employee who has found it necessary to scold other neighbors because water from a tile saw was spilling into their driveway. Yeah, he is an asshat fundie Oklahoma republican. Perhaps I should have allowed those trees to remain and fall on his vehicle parked on the curb?

My home has a rear entry garage. There is a single width driveway that comes up beside the house, a small parking area in back and the garage entry. FWIW, I don't like parking in the back either but the only alternative is to obstruct passage through the driveway or to compete for space on the curb which requires the vehicle be moved with some frequency.

I have a privacy fence on two of the three sides of my backyard. The third side has chain link fencing. Those neighbors don't ever pick up their leaves (not a single time in the last 7 years) and don't cut the grass until it is tall and shaggy. I've planted a row of crepe myrtles along that fence. I'm keeping them trimmed short and allowing the new shoots to bush. I put them in when I did quite a bit of other landscaping work.

Just down the street there is a house where a row of evergreens are planted along the back fence. They have grown to over 15 feet in height. They have also grown considerably in diameter. Poor mutilated trees are trimmed straight up from the fence on the backside. Quite humorous to view down the fenceline. I've always wondered what the story is behind their planting. The obvious lesson is that if you plan to use landscaping to fence then plant far enough from the fenceline that an adjacent property owner cannot mutilate the vegetation.

they were his and it was within his rights to cut them down. They could have been diseased but I don't think so, it looks like he cut them to put in the driveway that goes around to the back of his house.

Your point about how far to plant trees in front of the fence is well taken. I think we will put in the fence and see how much that improves the view before deciding on the kind of trees to plant.

I have a chain link fence and when the neighbor tore out all of the shrubbery I installed a rolled reed fence over the chain link as a privacy screen because it will take several years for the shrubbery to grow high enough on my side of the fence.

Just be sure to follow the local rules on fences. Most areas have height limits and in much of New England there are restrictions on look --- if the fence has an attractive side and an ugly side, the former needs to face the neighbor's lot (it's called "good neighbor" fencing in some areas.)

As others have noted, it's also a good idea to tell the neighbor that you plan to put up a fence.

I could only find restrictions on signs (tons of rules) and fortune telling :-) nothing on fence heights - I'll be checking with our building dept.

It's low, so it doesn't block the view or anything. I have a few trees, too, for privacy. But I kinda like being able to wave to my neighbors and people walking by. Alot of people walk their dogs around here, because I'm close to a park and I love to pet the doggies!

Because our nextdoor neighbors are tres skanky and the three kids don't know what "NOT YOUR YARD" means. We just cut down several scrubby pines to make room for it; the neighbor didn't say anything, and I doubt he's going to say anything when the fence goes up. It's not that we don't get along, but we aren't buds, either, and Mr. MG has scared the bejeezus out of the kids several times. Funny, though--it doesn't stick for long--we're hoping the fence will end the need for scare tactics to get 'em the hell off our deck/out of our gardens/off of the perilously steep and high snow mound at the edge of our driveway.

So I think there are certain times that having a fence makes life better for everyone.

Your yard is your world, you don't have to walk outside and look at his stuff.

My neighbors have paved their whole yard and they have at least seven cars :puke: that stuff's all trash compared to fences and plants. We're too close together to do much about it but I have a line of tall bushes growing up to block a little of their mess.

Have to, but it can't be higher than 4 feet. They don't bother me.

Put up a big, tall fence across the back of our property. The neighbors behind are just slobs. It makes our back yard look small, but I don't care.

Get them about 4 feet tall (they are not cheap) and plant them just a couple of feet from the property line and space them apart about 6 feet or so.

Before you do it though go over and ask your neighbor if he has any problem with you doing this. He will say no problem as long as this trick hasn't been played on him before. This will protect you in about ten years when they are so big around that your trees are now encroaching over on to his property about 5 feet so you can say hey I asked if it was alright when I planted them and you said it was alright when he starts bitching about it.

Thats what my fuckhead neighbor did to me. I lose about a foot of lawn every year to his pine needles. And I am getting pretty tired of it too.

Don

get yourself a chopper (inexpensive, less than 100) and chop them up for mulch around your rhodos, azaleas, and other acid-loving plants. I'd much rather look at those beautiful pines than any neighbor's house.

Hope, if you go for evergreens, get Leyland cyprus. They grow really fast.

If you go for bamboo, get clumping so it doesn't run and cause you problems later. Bamboo is like an evergreen--affords you protection all year long. I grow it here in north Jersey.



Cher

A few of them at twenty or thirty feet around can gobble up an entire yard in no time.

I prefer having the foliage up in the air on top of a tree (preferably a hard maple) somewhere its not in the way all the time.

Don

instead of the fence. :-)

In about 2 weeks the Trees will die and fall over into his yard.

(But only if you're as nuts as I am) :)

I don't think it's unneighborly to value privacy.

Here it would be very, very unusual to not have the backyard fenced.

The neighbors don't bother me at all.

We live on the third house on the right. The ones to our left (closest to the end of the street) we have known forever. I grew up with the two kids, one who still lives there. He cuts our lawn, plows the driveway and other yard work.

The ones to the right (move towards the top of the street) moved in about 10 years ago. A nice family. I hang out with one of the girls sometimes at the clubs (even though she's only 19).

No neighbors in the back....we have a hill.

No need for fences. We all get a long.

We planted trees and shrubs along it, and it looks very nice from our side. (Not so nice from the neighbor's side, though.)

We have a split rail fence in front and along the other side. The back goes to thick blackberry bushes and poison ivy. Great natural barrier! heheheh

"Fences make good neighbors." ;)

I smothered the fence with morning glories the first few years.

And I also have honeysuckle all along my fence. Some people say the honeysuckle is invasive. It now covers my fence about a foot wide - it smells great plus provides habitat. I say no problem.

i would never buy a house where i could see someone's house from my window.

I hate looking at my neighbor's yard. I also hate the idea that they can see into my yard. I love my privacy.

He says now that he likes the new neighbors (the wife kids and I)he doesn't need them to screen out our house. Problem is I don't want him to cut them...

A decade ago when I moved into this neighborhood, everyone used ChemLawn. I did some research on what they put on the lawn and turned up a lot of studies showing what they used was related to infertility and a variety of other problems.

I photocopied the studies and mailed them to each house anonymously.

Within two to three months, the ChemLawn truck made far fewer stops and by the following year, they were nowhere to be seen.

Similarly, you can do research on the value of trees. I can't advise you on the particulars because that's highly individual to the situation, but an example would be trees providing windbreaks, trees providing shade to reduce AC, trees providing valuable functions re CO2, etc.

The tragedy, of course, with a tree going down is that it can take decades to get one back up to that height. If there's a way you can remind him of that, too, it would be a plus.



Cher

that would be crepe myrtles. Lombardy poplars are also good, also wisteria, red photinia.

check with your local garden centers about what will thrive, grow tall and block the view.

the way a frame does an oil painting. I'm an avid gardener, and I much prefer the look of my backyard with the fence.