Malicious neighbor is trying to destroy the 175 foot long wood fence I put in between us, on my property in 1999. Am selling the house and he wants to make the fence look "messed up" so he can replace or re-position it and gain some footage, maybe thinking the new buyer won't notice. He has 2 feet of my property at one point (long story). He has huge round posts propped against areas of the fence on his side, usually inbetween spans, (not at the posts) putting tremendous stress on the fence, and boards are popping and cracking, and have moved 5-6 inches onto my property. He's done a lot of damage in a short amount of time. The fence looks wavy now. I have twice asked him to remove the posts, that there are damaging the fence. he refuses, The police don't want to get involved. The code enforcer advised me to look up the civil procedure for fencing issues (over the phone), I was unable to find anything online. Am using a very old windows machine since newer computer crashed. What would you do? Location is Thousand Oaks, ca. County of Ventura.
The "good side" is on my side, but I'd rather reverse it to have the framing members on my side, so I can beef them up or reconfigure them to stop the damage. The fence has three rows of horizontal 2 bys which are nailed to the 4x posts, the 2 bys meet in the center of the posts. Other fencing I've seen has the 2 by's cut before the posts, and are toe-nailed into the posts. Which way is stronger in your opinion? I was wondering how to do a quick but effective fix to stop this creep from wrecking the fence.
Since the 2 bys are nailed onto the posts and not toe nailed in, wouldn't it be easy to remove a few fence boards and pop the 2 bys off, and reverse the fence? Then I think I can take back control. Would you reach over and knock down the 90 degree angled posts he has leaning onto my fence, if you were in my shoes? So far he is getting away with destroying the fence. I am a single woman and I think some men think they can run rough shod over a single woman-- but I won't let him get away with it.
Ideas I've had are nailing additional 2 bys, with 90 degree ends cut, placed criss cross, like gate framing, on top of my "good side", screwed into the horizontal 2 bys--going through the fence boards. And maybe attaching them to additional posts I could put in concrete between the existing posts (so there would be a post every 4 feet. Or maybe I could attach a 4" by 6' long post onto the existing post through the fence slats and avoid digging and concrete, attaching the criss cross 2 bys to it? I know that angled wood is stronger, but would this look shoddy? Any ideas how to beef up the fence to combat the posts he has placed angled on his side which are bearing great force onto the fence? The fence was absolutely straight and sound before he began this. He began it when I told a neighbor I was selling the house. His goal is to make the fence look wavy and weak so he can "straighten it up" after I move and grab some land which isn't his (he wants about 2 feet. I have the 2 feet everywhere except a small span where my son in law was too chicken to replace his oversized gate in 1999. That's when by arrangement I paid for the new fence entirely, putting it 4 inches onto my property, and as agreed, according to my survey. Neighbor left at 5 am Saturday the day of the construction, leaving a note to not touch his gate! ( a breach of our agreement). . I was on my way to buy a new smaller gate, but sil didn't want to go along with me, and instead built around the gate, a BIG mistake that has caused problems over this 2 feet between me and neighbor ever since. Lesson-don't cow down to adult C or in laws, or ANYBODY!! (Fist in air) I won't make this mistake again, but now I have to stop the dirty creep next door from his underhanded agenda. I know there is civil procedure, and may do that, but was wondering if any fence people or contractors have any ideas how to stop the damage before it gets worse. Would prefer wood fixes, over buying metal t straps. etc, due to budget constraints. The fence is 6 foot tall, with a section of redwood lattice on top. My property is slightly higher, and there is no privacy without the lattice, even though it adds 1.5 feet in height. The posts were longer to support the lattice. I learned from this that I should have raised the land I gained to the level of my lot, or used a base of cinder block to put the fence at my land level, then the wood fence. Neighbor has vandalized the lattice sections alot in the last year. Pulls out the nails that join them, then pounds the nails down, so they hang, he ripped one to shreds entirely....and said the wind must have done it....This is being done to give the fence a rundown look, he wants to get that 2 feet that isn't his.
Sorry got so long winded....!!