On Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:17:07 -0400, "MiamiCuse"
wrote:

Both my neighbor and mine had erected a fence along our property.

They had a vinyl fence, and since code specified a fence cannot be directly
built on the property line but must be set 6" back minimum, their fence was
about 8" back. I hated the look of a vinyl fence so I built a wood fence,
also about 8" from the property line.

This leaves a sliver of space about 16" wide between our two fences.

Mysteriously things started to grow inside this sliver, shrubs, and a few
papaya trees shot up and now is about 9' tall with the trunk diameter 3" in
size. Some of the shrubs are starting to shoot up to already taller than
the 6' fence, some things are bulging against my wood fence, nothing serious
yet but if I ignore them it will be serious in a few years.

Obviously we don't have access from the side, but only from the top. The
area is about 110' long.

Is there something I can sprinkle down this space and kill off what's in
between? I cannot use RoundUp because my understanding is RoundUp you need
to spray to the root area and I only have access from the top side.



Why pray tell did you wait for trees etc. to grow so large... you
could have lopped them off when small... I hope when you erected your
fence you placed it like 6"-8" off the ground so you could reach
under, placing stockade slats directly on the ground will also cause
them to rot.... you would have had a taller fence too.... you can
still raise the sections.

Since you're neighbors why didn't you have a discussion regarding
fencing the property line. Anyway by going first your neighbor did
you a big favor, their fence saved you from spending money erecting
your own fence, and awarded you that 6"-8" strip of land. Were it me
who didn't like the look of their fence I would have planted a
hedge... you still can... remove your spite fence (only spited
yourself) and plant something you do like looking at. Keeping that
narrow enclosed strip you created clear of weedy growth by erecting
your fence without thinking is going to present a constant problem...
remove your fence, plant a hedge, and save yourself a lot of grief.

Btw, in most municipalities when one erects a privacy fence the good
side must face the neighbor... you may want to look into that aspect.

I'm sure there is a lot more to this story, there always is when
neighbors are impelled to erect a double fence/spite fence.

"brooklyn1" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:17:07 -0400, "MiamiCuse"
wrote:

Both my neighbor and mine had erected a fence along our property.

They had a vinyl fence, and since code specified a fence cannot be
directly
built on the property line but must be set 6" back minimum, their fence
was
about 8" back. I hated the look of a vinyl fence so I built a wood fence,
also about 8" from the property line.

This leaves a sliver of space about 16" wide between our two fences.

Mysteriously things started to grow inside this sliver, shrubs, and a few
papaya trees shot up and now is about 9' tall with the trunk diameter 3"
in
size. Some of the shrubs are starting to shoot up to already taller than
the 6' fence, some things are bulging against my wood fence, nothing
serious
yet but if I ignore them it will be serious in a few years.

Obviously we don't have access from the side, but only from the top. The
area is about 110' long.

Is there something I can sprinkle down this space and kill off what's in
between? I cannot use RoundUp because my understanding is RoundUp you
need
to spray to the root area and I only have access from the top side.



Why pray tell did you wait for trees etc. to grow so large... you
could have lopped them off when small... I hope when you erected your
fence you placed it like 6"-8" off the ground so you could reach
under, placing stockade slats directly on the ground will also cause
them to rot.... you would have had a taller fence too.... you can
still raise the sections.

I couldn't see them when they were small. They shot up between the two
fences. The neighbor house went into foreclosure so it was bank owned and
sat vacant for a year, I saw some plants grew tall "over the other side" but
thought it was in their yard. Then a few days ago I tried to trim some of
them the grew over us and realized they shot up between the two fences.

No I did not do them 6-8" off the ground the planks were almost at the
ground in some cases touching the ground. I did not want them off the
ground and they may rot faster but I am willing to replace the planks sooner
in exchange for a fence that blocks out from below with stray dogs, possums,
raccoons etc...



Since you're neighbors why didn't you have a discussion regarding
fencing the property line. Anyway by going first your neighbor did
you a big favor, their fence saved you from spending money erecting
your own fence, and awarded you that 6"-8" strip of land. Were it me
who didn't like the look of their fence I would have planted a
hedge... you still can... remove your spite fence (only spited
yourself) and plant something you do like looking at. Keeping that
narrow enclosed strip you created clear of weedy growth by erecting
your fence without thinking is going to present a constant problem...
remove your fence, plant a hedge, and save yourself a lot of grief.

That's the thing, I don't like a hedge. I wanted something along three
sides that have a consistent look. One side would not receive enough
sunlight for anything to grow, I didn't want a separate solution for each
side. I have had a hedge in another property and I hated it. For a large
property with multiple acres I would do a hedge and let it grown, for a
smaller property where the space is constrained one has to constantly trim
it, and I hated the look of hedges that have been trimmed to some ugly
rectangular or rounded artificial shapes.


Btw, in most municipalities when one erects a privacy fence the good
side must face the neighbor... you may want to look into that aspect.


That is true in some, in ours it does not matter, you can have "good side
out" or "good side in".

I'm sure there is a lot more to this story, there always is when
neighbors are impelled to erect a double fence/spite fence.


Not really, it is fairly typical here, where properties change hands quite
often.

"MiamiCuse" wrote:
"brooklyn1" wrote:

I hope when you erected your
fence you placed it like 6"-8" off the ground so you could reach
under, placing stockade slats directly on the ground will also cause
them to rot.... you would have had a taller fence too.... you can
still raise the sections.

No I did not do them 6-8" off the ground the planks were almost at the
ground in some cases touching the ground. I did not want them off the
ground and they may rot faster but I am willing to replace the planks sooner
in exchange for a fence that blocks out from below with stray dogs, possums,
raccoons etc...


Possums and racoons can easily climb any fence, may as well try to
fence out squirrels... dogs want in they will quickly dig under and
larger dogs will dig and chew through wooden slats within a few
minutes... for dogs one really needs chainlink or some kind of iron
picket fence such as used around graveyards. And still dogs will dig
under chainlink and iron fencing... to keep dogs from digging one
really needs to place the fence upon a paved area or do the typical
concrete block wall thingie one usually constructs in southern climes
where the ground doesn't heave from freezing weather.

From your first post it was evident that your concern was to block the
view of your neighbor's ugly fence, but now with your subsequent posts
you're tossing in all sorts of other conditions. I think for you the
only solution is to move onto large acreage with a forest buffer... I
gather from your descriptions you are on a relatively small surburban
lot, perhaps 1/4 acre... it's not possible to find any real privacy on
so small a lot where neighbors can hear each other's toilets flush. I
lived in a similar situation, I learned to tolerate my neighbor's
eyesores and peering eyes and I planted shrubery as needed... you will
never be able to hem yourself into so small a lot where you will have
privacy in all areas, the best you can do is to create a small
secluded island for yourself such as a well planted patio. Privacy
fencing your entire perimeter is an exercise in futility... and often
it's better to be able to see across property lines... if you put up
too nice a fence next thing you know your neighbors will remove and/or
not maintain theirs, and then they will attach stuff to your fence
and/or decorate your fence with what you may think is graffiti. And
soon as they learn what bothers you those are exactly the actions they
will perform, like making loud noise, cooking stinky foods, and even
tossing their discards over. And same as you moved there neighbors
move away and new neighbors move in, and they may redecorate their
property in ways that interfere with your goals. By fencing yourself
into a stockade you are telegraphing your disdain towards neighbors.
Good fences make good neighbors, but only if they're good [neighborly]
fences.

"brooklyn1" wrote in message
...
"MiamiCuse" wrote:
"brooklyn1" wrote:

I hope when you erected your
fence you placed it like 6"-8" off the ground so you could reach
under, placing stockade slats directly on the ground will also cause
them to rot.... you would have had a taller fence too.... you can
still raise the sections.

No I did not do them 6-8" off the ground the planks were almost at the
ground in some cases touching the ground. I did not want them off the
ground and they may rot faster but I am willing to replace the planks
sooner
in exchange for a fence that blocks out from below with stray dogs,
possums,
raccoons etc...


Possums and racoons can easily climb any fence, may as well try to
fence out squirrels... dogs want in they will quickly dig under and
larger dogs will dig and chew through wooden slats within a few
minutes... for dogs one really needs chainlink or some kind of iron
picket fence such as used around graveyards. And still dogs will dig
under chainlink and iron fencing... to keep dogs from digging one
really needs to place the fence upon a paved area or do the typical
concrete block wall thingie one usually constructs in southern climes
where the ground doesn't heave from freezing weather.

Yes they will, if there is a reason to. Most dogs and cats just use the
path of least resistance. So far what I put up it has been working nicely,
except for the unexpected growth in the sliver area between the fences.


From your first post it was evident that your concern was to block the
view of your neighbor's ugly fence, but now with your subsequent posts
you're tossing in all sorts of other conditions. I think for you the
only solution is to move onto large acreage with a forest buffer... I
gather from your descriptions you are on a relatively small surburban
lot, perhaps 1/4 acre... it's not possible to find any real privacy on
so small a lot where neighbors can hear each other's toilets flush. I
lived in a similar situation, I learned to tolerate my neighbor's
eyesores and peering eyes and I planted shrubery as needed... you will
never be able to hem yourself into so small a lot where you will have
privacy in all areas, the best you can do is to create a small
secluded island for yourself such as a well planted patio. Privacy
fencing your entire perimeter is an exercise in futility...

It is not 100% possible to block everything off yes, but it has worked for
our intended purposes.

it's better to be able to see across property lines... if you put up
too nice a fence next thing you know your neighbors will remove and/or
not maintain theirs, and then they will attach stuff to your fence
and/or decorate your fence with what you may think is graffiti. And
soon as they learn what bothers you those are exactly the actions they
will perform, like making loud noise, cooking stinky foods, and even
tossing their discards over. And same as you moved there neighbors
move away and new neighbors move in, and they may redecorate their
property in ways that interfere with your goals. By fencing yourself
into a stockade you are telegraphing your disdain towards neighbors.
Good fences make good neighbors, but only if they're good [neighborly]
fences.

Again I don't understand the logic of assuming my neighbors would cook
stinky food or paint graffiti on my fence simply to annoy me. Each
neighborhood is different, in ours it's unusual to not have fence, and
double fence is quite the norm.

MiamiCuse wrote:


"brooklyn1" wrote in message
...

And soon as they learn what bothers you those are
exactly the actions they will perform, like making loud noise,
cooking stinky foods, and even tossing their discards over.

Again I don't understand the logic of assuming my neighbors would
cook stinky food or paint graffiti on my fence simply to annoy me.

If you had Sheldon as a neighbor, you would too!




Brian

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Day 224 of the "no grouchy usenet posts" project