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rick777_gw

To fence or not to fence

rick777
9 years ago

Greetings,

I live in a heavily wooded area. My wife and I like the woods, however our neighbor seems to have a vendetta against all the natural plants and trees. They have over the last 5 years cleared most of their land, stripped and cleared the ground and replaced it with grass. They then proceeded to cut down many very old evergreens (50-80 ft tall) because their lawn was not getting enough light... what they didn't cut down they removed about 75% of the branches.

On top of all this, they have built a sports court for their children who play a game that involved the rules of basketball with the auditory element of screaming non-stop on most nice days. They have a chain link fence area for the their dog which they leave outside whining and crying most days and they pile everything they don't like on our shared property line.

Unfortunately, although we are on an acre of land, the house was build relatively close to this property line. It is legal, although not particularly common, to have a fence up to 6 feet in my area. I am considering this option as 1) I don't want to see them anymore. 2) I hope it might slightly reduce their noise. 3) As they run out of their own trees I am concerned they might "accidentally" cut down some of our trees one day.

Since they seem determined to utilize every bit of their property, even the portions of it which are uncomfortably close to our home - I think I would rather look at a fence than them sitting on lawn chairs 30 feet from our home when we both have an acre of land.

So, in short, considering building a 120 foot fence along that entire property line. Something solid and cedar, appropriate for the neighborhood. 6 feet tall for maximum blockage. The property line in question is away from the road on the side of the house.

My questions are: 1) for the future sale of my home, does anyone have an opinion if a fence would probably be better or worse in this situation? 2) if I do go ahead with the fence, would there be any problem planting some fast growing trees like leeland cypress near it to break up the visual a bit? 3) is there a better option?

Comments (10)

  • gregbradley
    9 years ago

    Sounds like the fence is a good first step followed by some tall fast growing trees that will help block the sound. I assume the trees should be picked carefully according to your climate. It seems more natural if they went along with the natural trees.

    I would want something that blocked the view all year. Hopefully they will get tall enough that their grass does not do well real close to the fenceline so that they are more likely to setup their lawnchairs a bit further from your home.

  • sc77 (6b MA)
    9 years ago

    Rick, what's your planting zone? How much sun would the trees get if they were planted next to the fence (i.e. What direction is the fence on)? How much space are you willing to allow for the hedge? You mention the houses being close, so just wondering how much room you have for trees.

    If you have the space for Leyland's, I would highly recommend you consider Thuja 'Green Giant' instead. They are much healthier, fuller, and extremely fast growing like Leyland. I ignored the advice on these forums and planted 5 leylands a couple years ago.. at the same time I also planted 2 green giants. Both have grown very fast, but the leyland's look terrible. I will be replacing with more gg's this fall.

    If the fence is blocking an eye sore like messy neighbors, it will certainly be a selling feature for the house in the future... probably won't add a ton of value, but likely a nice selling point. As far as noise... don't expect even the densest hedge to do much there, it won't. For that you might consider adding a nice water feature to your yard. Sound of running water is nice and will really help drown out the neighbors. Good Luck!

  • rick777
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for the thoughts. I live in zone 8, heavy rainfall - environment similar to a north american rain forest. Native plants are cypress, hemlock, fir and sword fern predominately.

    It is a difficult situation to describe. They are not malicious, simply oblivious. Still, I have weird dreams they have turned their yard into a theme park or have taken over part of mine all the time. :)

  • ditsyquoin
    9 years ago

    I once had a similar situation. The neighbors had lots of land but chose to put a horseshoe pit right near the window of my kitchen. Tried to talk them no avail.

    Then I started playing at very low volume, world music of indigenous rain forest people. One speaker in my kitchen, and one speaker out the window. Didn't want to start a music war-the tunes I played were quiet and very zen. Within a week or two they moved to their horseshoe pit to their back yard.

    Don't know how this worked but we have now been coexisting for 28 years without a real fence-just a bunch of bushes and lilac trees divide our land that we both enjoy.

  • PRO
    Yardvaark
    9 years ago

    The only reason to plant Leylands is if you need tremendous height of screening, but there is no indication that this is the case. Also, a fence is, essentially, like a wall ... but of limited height. Rather than designing a scheme where the planting you install also screens the fence, it's only only necessary to add screening ABOVE the fence. In front of the fence it might be more interesting to create a display of trunks with low height plants below ... or a combination that includes this in the scheme. When deciding on what plants to use, consider if screening will be as necessary in the winter when people are generally outdoors much less.

    As far as resale value with the fence, I can imagine how a prospective buyer perceives the fence will depend entirely on its looks, layout and condition. If those are good, it should help resale. Considering that most ordinances do not count ornamentation added to the top of the fence as part of its restricted height (within reason, of course) it would probably be best to use a fence that has some charm to it, rather than one that is totally plain. (For your own benefit, too.)

  • gardenper
    9 years ago

    To me, it sounds like that housing area revels in not having a fence, or at least, it seems so natural that a fence might disrupt it. So you could achieve the fence effect, meaning a boundary for your neighbor, by planting something instead of erecting a fence.

  • mla2ofus
    9 years ago

    Shrubs would be nicer to look at but I would think some kind of fence as you said your neighbors are piling junk right on the property line. A fence would say 'this is the line, don't cross' where as shrubs could be injured or killed depending on what they stack near or even against them.

  • devolet
    9 years ago

    I'd probably fence it if I were in your shoes, though I would not use wood because it rots and has a tendency to echo a good bounce back of noise if there are children playing as children will do. When we moved in our place in the woods, we had chain link fencing around the perimeter of the garden in the back and between our cottage and the one next door (which is very close to us). I let the fence fill completely in with easy to maintain glacier ivy so it looks like a living fence. It absorbs noise well and melds with the pines, bay laurels, and old oaks. Though your neighbor may freak out that you have foliage on a fence, wood may be the choice after all. Stain it to maintain it. You can further put shrubs or small trees on your side to mask noise.

  • rick777
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for the various ideas. I decided to go with a much smaller section of fence that only blocks the more unpleasant area. I spoke with the neighbor and even visited their house so they should show me their "great yard and landscaping". Interestingly, from their home they cannot see my house at all. I realized they would not be able to see the fence from their home so it would provide the privacy break I'd like without making them feel like I am trying to seal them off.

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    9 years ago

    I would go with cedar fencing. We've had cedar stockade fencing for 22 years and haven't had to replace it yet. So I wouldn't say it rots very fast at all. Sometimes a post will rot that is in contact with the ground and you might have to replace that. We have a couple of wobbly posts at the moment, but that's after 22 years. We can stabilize the posts without replacing and will probably be replacing it in the next five years. It still looks very good.

    Good luck! I feel for you. I had a neighbor who suddenly cut down a 50 year old gorgeous Sugar Maple that I used to look at from my kitchen window every time I stood at the sink. I actually cried. They wanted to put in a pool, which they rarely use.

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