Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/10/19/woman-paints-fence-bright-colors-to-spite-neighbors-who-made-her-cut-2ft-off-top.html
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with the posts out
Who does THAT?
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The neighbor should put up a fence against her fence. And the other neighbors could pitch in.
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It also looks like she walked down the row with a reciprocating saw to cut the height down. Ugh!
Around here, you’re required to put the “good” side out. So there are a lot of fence designs that look nice on both sides. This isn’t one of them.
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I’d be inclined to plant a hedge by the fence and maintain it to neatly cover the offending fence.
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A hedge also has the wood disintegrating moisture retention that a fence like that deserves
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Some people shouldn’t be neighbors, or even have neighbors. This isn’t the worst feud in American history. But the Hatfields and McCoys are not people we should aspire to. And if this is how they behave when they have to share a fence, imagine sharing a wall in an apartment. Yet somehow millions of people manage to do just that.
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Donna seems like a real pleasure to have as a neighbor.
The 6ft vs. 4ft isn’t some technicality, either–look at 1:01 in the video with the neighbor looking down the street. See how you can stand in one yard and look down the street and see the rest of the neighborhood? Yeah, that’s because the fences are limited to four feet, and the front yards aren’t turned into shadow boxes cut off from one another.
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I’m curious why she felt she needed the fence in the first place considering other homes don’t have fences at the front yard. Likely the neighbors didn’t get along to begin with but one would hope not to escalate matters. I wonder what kind of neighbors i’ll have by the time i’m able to buy a house in the next year or two 
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Thank you for this. I found more information here:
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In my area wooden fences are required to alternate face-in, face-out.
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As someone who owns a house where the previous owner did just that, I can tell you it’s a horrible idea. Inevitably vegetation grows between the fences, and it’s an uncuttable location. My neighbor comes and complains to me about the vines coming in through the slats, while my only recourse is very strong poison. I’ve even considered using a flame wand, but against a wooden fence, I can see only disaster.
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Lots of boiling water would probably do the job, too.
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Take the fence out? 
You could also remove about the lower 1ft or so of the fence and you should be able to trim the vegetation with a weed whacker. Other alternative? Pour concrete or plaster in there. Obviously just enough to cover the soil and not like… make a wall between the fences.
I can think of maybe one or two other ways to stop weeds from growing there. But if you want the easy solution i’d say take the fence out unless you really want it there.
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I’m not sure I’m on her side, frankly. Wide shots of the street show that the front-yard fence is the only one in the hood, casts shade, and obscures the driveway even after the chop. Worse, she gave her neighbor (and the world) the “rough” side with the posts out, a classic dick move in fence construction.
Probably some very fine people on both sides. /s
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I get that. We see double fences in CA, but I think Roundup annual application is being used, which is yuck.
We had a cinder block wall and that never stopped the vines going underneath from our neighbor’s yard to our yard. We chose to rip out the vines each year rather than complain. Not worth creating a hostile neighbor.
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America has a long history of spite fences; my favorite story is from old Shibe Park in Philly. Dick moves all around on that one.
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Good suggestions, but, it’s a chain link on my side, a wooden fence on his side. Getting it out would take a lot of muscle, plus his dog is an escape artist already.
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Suburbanites are funny people. In the city we play by a ton of rules, but In the country we just tell people to mind their own f*%#<~g business.
Honestly, why does every house have to look exactly the same in these developments? I’d shoot myself if I had to deal with that nonsense every time I wanted to change something around my house. Permitting is bad enough let alone asking every neighbor if it’s ok with them.
- But I should take that back. I can only imagine what it would be like if every dimwit out there could “do what they want”. If we were all a little bit smarter we could all be ok with a little bit of self agency.
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