A few months ago, our next door neighbor ( whom we don't get along with because he complains about EVERYTHING ALL the time ), put up three sections of 6' x 8' foot panels of wooden stockade fencing in the backyard where his garden is located, on our shared property line.
He didn't want our kids to throw any balls into his precious vegatable garden when they are out playing soccer or baseball in the backyard. Plus, there are deer in the wooded area behind our home, and last year the deer ate his tomato plants on him, so he also put up the wooden stockade fence, to keep the deer out.
Anyway, because he does a vegatable garden every single year, he has removed ALOT of his soil from where his garden area is, so our backyard is up higher than his garden area.
Well, when he installed the fence, he installed it about 3-4 inches back from the property line, toward his garden, but he didn't want the grass or soil on the property line touching his fence, so he dug out a big trench about 2-3 feet deep, and 2 feet wide from the property line to his fence.
So if you went right up to the property line, there was a big slooping trench 2-3 feet deep, and 2 feet wide on the property line, that went up to his fence, which was about 3 inches back from the property line.
When the kids played baseball in the backyard, the balls kept going into the slooping trench and underneath his fence and into his garden, which he started complaining about. Then when my husband mowed the lawn a couple of weeks ago, our push lawnmower slid right down into the trench, and the front wheel got stuck under his fence. And last week my 5 year old daughter and her cousin were playing baseball in the backyard, and my daughter ran over to get the ball near the trench, and she fell into the trench and almost broke her ankle and foot.
So last weekend, my husband in I bought about 15-20 bags of topsoil and filled the trench in, smoothed it out, and seeded it with grass seed. Well my nosy neighbor saw us watering the grass seed all week, and was wondering why we were watering his fence?? So 2 days ago, he decided to walk over into OUR yard, to see why we kept watering near his fence, and he saw that we filled the trench in with soil.
So yesterday we got into a big fight with him, because he is all mad, because he says that his wooden spruce fence is now buried in 2 feet of topsoil, and that the soil is going to rot his fence away!! I told him that we planted grass seed there, and the grass isn't going to harm the fence, but he says the soil under the grass is going to rot the fence!!
He complained that its HIS fence, and he paid for it, and plus its back about 4 inches from the property line. But, I told him that the the slooping 2-3 foot deep trench that he dug out was right ON the shared property line, and that my daughter almost broke her foot in it last week, along with our lawnmower getting stuck under there, and his CONSTANT complaints about the kids balls ending up in his precious garden.
He said that if we wanted to put soil there, we should have put a board up against his fence first, and then filled it up with soil and grass seed, that way no soil would be touching his fence to rot it out!!
I felt like telling him that if we wanted, we could get him in trouble with the city for putting his fence BACKWARDS!!! He put the fence with the smooth side facing his garden, and he put the inside of the fence facing our yard. Our city ordinances state that whenever a homeowner installs a fence in their yard, the smooth side of the fence is suppose to face the property line of your neighbor, and the inside of the fence is suppose to face your house. Well he installed the fence backwards in his backyard, as well as on the side of his house where our shared property line is.
Plus, he has a "For Sale By Owner" sign in his yard, in which he is trying to sell his house. So I felt like asking him why is complaining about how we filled in the trench with soil, when he is trying to sell his house??
But we already know the answer to that!! Thats because he doesn't want to sell it, and has NO intentions of ever selling it!!! For the past 4 years straight, he always puts his house on the market, EVERY year, NOT to sell it, but see what kinds of offers he gets. He thinks that someone is going to offer him like $500,000 for a 3 bedroom, 2 bath cape home built in 1925.
I know he has NO plans on selling it, because yesterday when he was arguing with us, he said that because we filled in the trench with 2-3 feet of soil, next year the bottom of the fence which is now buried in dirt ( on our side of the fence ), is going to be all rotted out, and he will have to replace it and buy a new fence now!!
So, is this true?? Will the bottom of the fence rot out from having 2-3 feet of topsoil up against it, on our our side of the fence??
If we want to be the good neighbors, and put a piece of wood there like he said, up against his fence, and then refill it again, what type of wood should we use??
Should we use something besides wood, like plastic, or plexiglass, or that "Particle Board" wood??
What about using that cement "Duraboard" stuff that they sell for bathroom walls as an alternative to sheetrock??
We have some "Waferboard" wood lying around that we don't need, but I read that "Waferboard" rots out fast??
The one thing I hate, is that we now have some nice, thick green grass growing there where the "former" slooping trench was. So to put something there up against his fence, we would now have to dig out and kill all of the nice baby grass that has already started to sprout, and go through the process of seeding and watering all over again.
Does anyone have any suggestions of what we should do??
Should we dig up all the soil and baby grass, and put a board or something else there against his fence, and then fill it back in with topsoil, and reseed all over again?? If so, what should we use to place up against his fence??
Should we just ignore him, and let the new grass continue to grow there??
Sense he is the one who started the fight with us yesterday and starting complaining, should we complain to, and report him to the city for installing his fence backwards??
Any suggestions and advice would greatly be appreciated!!
Thanks!