I feel sick inside-fence budget buster!

[LilyWDW]

I have to wonder.... Are we that lazy now as a country that one couldn't take the weekend with a spouse on either side of the fence, one person removes a board and hands it over to the other person to reattach it to the "correct" side?

All this stress... all this fighting with neighbors and ridiculous HOA crap... It would be a weekend worth of work! What do you folks do when you want your car washed? Hire a contractor for that too?

I ripped the siding off my house, ripped the sheathing off my house, insulated, resheathed with OSB, stripped all the paint off the cedar siding boards, and reattached them. It was a 2 year project. Imagine the horror of that! I would bask in the simpleness of just having to switch a bunch of fence boards so they were facing the opposite direction.

In the time it took this thread to reach three pages, the job could be halfway done!

Sheesh...

No, some people just prefer to allow those who have more experience with this sort of thing do it for them.

I would NEVER reside my own house as I do not have work experience doing so and I would want to be sure it was done correctly. Messing up siding would be extremely costly in both the short term AND long term. If I wanted to take down a wall in my home, I would hire someone to do that too. I am qualified in drawing up the plans and knowing where the support beams are, ect, but I am NOT qualified to do the actual demo. Nor would I want to. TOO many things could go wrong.

This is WHY we have contractors, plumbers, roofers, electricians, architects, ect ect. If you don't like it, then don't read the post.

OP, truthfully, in my opinion, the person who put up the fence did not do it correctly. As such, you should hold him responsible and ask for it to be fixed at his cost. If he was aware of any regulations that stated the "clean" side should be facing out, then he lied to you in order to save time and money. This is not acceptable. If he is willing to do that to you, what else may he have done in the past to homeowners.

I would also make sure to tell any of my friends to not use him or his company.

 

[DisneyFirefly]

I have to wonder.... Are we that lazy now as a country that one couldn't take the weekend with a spouse on either side of the fence, one person removes a board and hands it over to the other person to reattach it to the "correct" side?

All this stress... all this fighting with neighbors and ridiculous HOA crap... It would be a weekend worth of work! What do you folks do when you want your car washed? Hire a contractor for that too?

Just as a note to this, my father's been a union carpenter for 28 years. If he can do it on his own or with help from my mom, that's what they do. If he can't, they hire out. When my parents had their house tuckpointed, they hired a contractor. When they remodeled the basement (which included a new ceiling, wood paneling on the walls, and a stone electric fireplace) and bathroom (new tub, new sink, and new tile on the walls and floor), they did it on their own. My father has also redone the siding on the garage, repaired windows and the roof, redone the back porch and steps several times (one time led to me winding up in the hospital because I didn't know he'd taken the stair off a step ), built a privacy fence along the part of our yard that faces the alley, and built a rose arbor and 6' planter for my mom's garden. But he won't mess with the electricity or plumbing or other things he doesn't know how to do.

 

[disneybound31]

We tried several years back to fence our small back yard as the neighbor behine us has barbed wire and we wanted our children to never accidently run full tilt into those 3 almost-invisible strands of wire right behind their swingset. Well, after DH dug 3 feet into rock 8 times for almost a month of weekends the landowner behind us (not in our HOA, by the way, just a dude who has family land-with the barbed wire-no animals) raised such a property line stink that we gave up.

Fastforward 7+ years and we still have those 8 posts lining our backyard and NO fence. The man DID offer to cut the wire to protect the kids (which I thought was nice and thanked him generously).

We decided never to finish the fence precisely because of OPs' issues. It takes an act of Congress around here to get anything approved through the Arch Committee. Funnily enough, our other neighbor (beside us-in HOA)also has the chicken wire/other wire fencing lining their fence to keep it afloat. Too funny. They never get called out for it and it looks HORRIBLE!

We don't even see our posts anymore-they seem to blend into the forest behind our house and although the HOA is kindof weird we are happy to have been here the past 8+years- I feel safe with neighbors so close when DH works late or it's bad weather, etc. Also keeps our prop. values up quite a bit since most keep property looking nice. Plus community pool and park for the kids. We'll prob never move.

 

[Inurdrems9]

I am a property manager in Florida. In Florida no two people on a HOA board can be related ( you said they were husband and wife I do not know if this applies in your state) Also, if it is not clear in the documents what the requirements are then it goes back to the state law/statue. Alot of HOA's try to bully the owners, make sure you read and understand your Doc's before you spend more money on something that may not be neccessary.

 

[maggiew]

That's exactly what I was going to say.

Sorry you are having to go through this. We just took down our deck and had to go through hoops to get approval to put in a paver patio. Now we're going to submit for a pergola. More paperwork and headache to do it right but others won't cut their grass right. But I love having someone to watch out for the neighborhood so I won't live anywhere else.

What is the "right" way to cut your grass?

Maggie

 

[dfchelbay]

Maybe this is a silly question, but why are there two fences back to back? If that portion of your yard was already fenced with the neighbor's white picket fence, can't you just leave it that way...or would that look silly and an eyesore?

Maybe it would be cheaper to offer to buy your neighbor a few shrubs for his yard to cover up what they don't want to look at. A few arborvitae shrubs could cover the wood cross sections they find so visually offensive. A 5-6' arborvitae is about $29.00 at Lowes, maybe cheaper at Home Depot.

 

[Swimalie]

What is the "right" way to cut your grass?

Maggie

Keep it less than 6 inches, no weeds, etc. Keep the lawn looking nice. And in the summer, raise the blade a bit so it's cutting around 3 inches.

 

[MightyMom]

Maybe this is a silly question, but why are there two fences back to back? If that portion of your yard was already fenced with the neighbor's white picket fence, can't you just leave it that way...or would that look silly and an eyesore?

If I had neighbors behind me, which I don't, I would want more than a picket fence separating our property. I would want the privacy a 6 foot fence would provide. I have a 6 foot fence surrounding my backyard... and I still have huge oleanders (over 10 feet tall at this point) planted against them to provide even more privacy. I guess I'm just wierd about my privacy. lol

 

[camlace]

My goodness, where do you all live that this is enforced? I can see a development, but just a random house in a city/town can be told what to do? I pay my city taxes, I keep my property nice, and I am a good neighbor. If I want to pay $6000 for a fence and have the nice side face in so I can see it, I will. And nobody around here can tell me otherwise.

Of course, this is why I would never live in a development or anywhere where the houses all look the same or there are "rules" to what you can do to your house. What about those places that ban laundry lines? *rme* I could NEVER live in such a communistic situation!

I love my

(and ftr, we had our fence replaced to the tune of almost $9k last year and the 'pretty side' faces out to our neighbors LOL! I'm just playing devil's advocate...)

Same rules in every town I have ever lived in and I have never lived in an area with an HOA, its always been town/city bylaws. The "pretty" side of the fence ALWAYS must face out. Also, depending on the town the fence needs to be a certain distance off the property line to allow enough room to maintain the pretty side of the fence without stepping on the neighbor's property.

 

[princessmorgan]

If I had neighbors behind me, which I don't, I would want more than a picket fence separating our property. I would want the privacy a 6 foot fence would provide. I have a 6 foot fence surrounding my backyard... and I still have huge oleanders (over 10 feet tall at this point) planted against them to provide even more privacy. I guess I'm just weird about my privacy. lol

I agree! And now with all the neighbors coming out of the woodworks to voice their opinion, I'm really glad I got this privacy fence. I just talked to the HOA president who said our fence is the neighborhood gossip. I guess I'm really naive about things, but I have no idea why this fence bothers other people in the neighborhood. It's just a pine privacy fence. We didn't paint it a funny color, we put a dip in it on the top, so it wouldn't look so prison like. We live right next to a walking path, so a lot of people and their dogs walk by, and I just wanted my kids to be safe. I need to just fix it and not care about what people think.

 

[yitbos96bb]

Who knew building a fence could be so controversial? Long story short-the original fence we wanted to build a (5 ft picket fence) was denied because of the height. Only 4 foot and 6 foot fences allowed now since they are rewriting the covenants. So we went with a 6 foot privacy fence. The neighbor behind us (we border 3 neighbors behind us) has a 4 foot picket. Well the fence builder we went with (a referral from a friend of a friend) said he could not build one side of the fence the "regular way" with the flat side facing out because of the fence behind us. So we trusted him and said o.k., then do what you can. Well our behind us without a fence are livid, because they have to see the crossboards, our fence is too high, they can't see our tress anymore, etc, etc.

Now we have to fix our brand new fence. Personally I don't think it's that big of a deal, but I can see their point. The only way to fix it now is either to add new wood on the other side so it appears flat or to rip off the boards and basically build a new fence. What a waste of wood though! It just makes me sick inside. I know it's my own fault for not finding out more info, but now we're basically going to have to rebuild a fence we just built and fences are not cheap. All this because the kids wanted a playground in the backyard Sorry for the vent!

I don't understand why you need to rebuild. As long as the fence meets the covenants and you aren't on their property, you are perfectly within your rights. Tell them to plant their own trees to block the boards (offer to help them if you want... its cheaper than a full rebuild) and then tell them to leave you alone.

 

[SaraJayne]

Keep it less than 6 inches, no weeds, etc. Keep the lawn looking nice. And in the summer, raise the blade a bit so it's cutting around 3 inches.

You're kidding, right?

No one measures the length of their grass ~ unless it's knee high.

 

[yitbos96bb]

Of course, this is why I would never live in a development or anywhere where the houses all look the same or there are "rules" to what you can do to your house. What about those places that ban laundry lines? *rme* I could NEVER live in such a communistic situation!

It would be Fascist, NOT COMMUNISTIC! If you are trying to prove a point then using the wrong term highly diminishes it.

Fascism is an authoritarian form of government. Communism is the dissolving of all classes and ownership and the sharing of all property within the community (hence why the group collectives int he 60's were called Communes).

A quote from Wikipedia about fascism sums it up well - "Fascists believe that a nation is an organic community that requires strong leadership, singular collective identity, and the will and ability to commit violence and wage war in order to keep the nation strong."

Strong Authoritarian Leadership (the HOA) - Check.
Singular collective identity (the covenants) - Check.
Will to wage war (metaphorical in this sense with the heavy handed enforcemtn of the covenants) in order to keep the nation (or neighborhood) strong - Check.

Pure Marxian Communism is nothing like that.. As a societal concept its actually a pretty good one. Everyone is equal and works for the better good of the group. In practice however... well all pigs are created equal, some are just more equal than others (points for those who know the quote)... basically human nature makes it so communism doesn't work on a large scale (See Russia, Cuba, etc) as a small minority tend to take power instead of giving everyone an equal voice... These countries operated on more of a Leninist socialism (which is a gross abomination of the original socialist beliefs such as Marxist and Market socialism whose primary goal was to AVOID wealth and power being concentrated in a small minority vs Leninism, which utilized market socialist practices but concentrated the power and wealth into a centralized singular party state...) than Marxian communism.

 

[LilyWDW]

It would be Fascist, NOT COMMUNISTIC! If you are trying to prove a point then using the wrong term highly diminishes it.

Fascism is an authoritarian form of government. Communism is the dissolving of all classes and ownership and the sharing of all property within the community (hence why the group collectives int he 60's were called Communes).

A quote from Wikipedia about fascism sums it up well - "Fascists believe that a nation is an organic community that requires strong leadership, singular collective identity, and the will and ability to commit violence and wage war in order to keep the nation strong."

Strong Authoritarian Leadership (the HOA) - Check.
Singular collective identity (the covenants) - Check.
Will to wage war (metaphorical in this sense with the heavy handed enforcemtn of the covenants) in order to keep the nation (or neighborhood) strong - Check.

Pure Marxian Communism is nothing like that.. As a societal concept its actually a pretty good one. Everyone is equal and works for the better good of the group. In practice however... well all pigs are created equal, some are just more equal than others (points for those who know the quote)... basically human nature makes it so communism doesn't work on a large scale (See Russia, Cuba, etc) as a small minority tend to take power instead of giving everyone an equal voice... These countries operated on more of a Leninist socialism (which is a gross abomination of the original socialist beliefs such as Marxist and Market socialism whose primary goal was to AVOID wealth and power being concentrated in a small minority vs Leninism, which utilized market socialist practices but concentrated the power and wealth into a centralized singular party state...) than Marxian communism.

That is all... just nice to see someone who knows there is a difference.

 

[taitai]

You're kidding, right?

No one measures the length of their grass ~ unless it's knee high.

That is fairly common everywhere in the summer. If you raise the blade, the grass grows longer. Longer grass develops deeper roots. Deeper roots require less watering and tend to be a bit more drought resistant. It is just a means to conserve water. Similar to the rules about days of the week one can water or times of day one can water.

 

[mrodgers]

If I had neighbors behind me, which I don't, I would want more than a picket fence separating our property. I would want the privacy a 6 foot fence would provide. I have a 6 foot fence surrounding my backyard... and I still have huge oleanders (over 10 feet tall at this point) planted against them to provide even more privacy. I guess I'm just wierd about my privacy. lol

Not weird. We have 2 acres and my wife is planting trees everywhere around the perimeter. I call it her fort. She just said last night as we were looking at the veggie garden, "....two more trees right there [points] and the fort is done!"

That is fairly common everywhere in the summer. If you raise the blade, the grass grows longer. Longer grass develops deeper roots. Deeper roots require less watering and tend to be a bit more drought resistant. It is just a means to conserve water. Similar to the rules about days of the week one can water or times of day one can water.

How about don't waste water on the grass to conserve water. While you are at that, you'd also conserve oil because you wouldn't have to mow so much. We don't water, fertilize, spread nasty weed killer, or anything. We have the nicest lawn on our road. Across the road, he doesn't mow enough and it's really high all the time. Next to us, she mows way too often and her yard is bare. We mow about once a week, it's full of lushish green, which happens to be mostly weedy stuff, but it looks much better being green than it does all brown because of grass dying in the middle of summer like my mother's house where she has it sprayed with fertilizer and weed killer, or our neighbor who mows it as low as possible thus it is mostly dirt.

 

[mjkacmom]

My goodness, where do you all live that this is enforced? I can see a development, but just a random house in a city/town can be told what to do? I pay my city taxes, I keep my property nice, and I am a good neighbor. If I want to pay $6000 for a fence and have the nice side face in so I can see it, I will. And nobody around here can tell me otherwise.

Of course, this is why I would never live in a development or anywhere where the houses all look the same or there are "rules" to what you can do to your house. What about those places that ban laundry lines? *rme* I could NEVER live in such a communistic situation!

I love my

(and ftr, we had our fence replaced to the tune of almost $9k last year and the 'pretty side' faces out to our neighbors LOL! I'm just playing devil's advocate...)


OP - Sorry it sounds like you're in a sucky situation!! Have you talked to the fence guy and shamed him into fixing your fence for free? I would give him a rash of you-know-what for lying to you!!!

My town is hundreds of years old (my house is 100 years old), and you need to get a varience from the town to build a fence, and the pretty side needs to face the street, and you can't have a fence if you live on a corner lot, because part of it would be considered frontage, and you can't have a front fence. You also need a permit to cut down a tree on your property, and pay for that permit.

 

[mjkacmom]

You're kidding, right?

No one measures the length of their grass ~ unless it's knee high.

Actually, you get fined here if your grass is too long. A normal lot size is 60 x 100, and it looks horrible when the grass gets too long, sandwiched between two mowed lawns. You are also fined for not shovelling your sidewalk.

 

[SaraJayne]

Actually, you get fined here if your grass is too long. A normal lot size is 60 x 100, and it looks horrible when the grass gets too long, sandwiched between two mowed lawns. You are also fined for not shovelling your sidewalk.

Yes, I can understand if your grass is knee high and not mowed. Grass that is cut once or twice weekly is not too long.

And as far as watering goes, we don't water. It's a huge waste and if our grass turns brown, less mowing to do.

 

[AZMermaid]

I live in AZ and everyone has cinderblock fences 6-8 feet high so this may be a dumb question- but can you or a fence guy just sort of, turn the fence around? I guess it might have to be done post by post- but it seems like it would be cheaper than a whole new fence. It seems like they can't really say anything about the height if it is 6 feet high and that is the rule.

I always find it odd on Househunters when the houses don't have fences! Just goes to show you get used to what it around you!