The Fence Warz have finally reached a resolution. The neighbor has to get permission from each of the adjoining neighbors to keep the big fence and she has to have some more support added to the 8 foot tall sections that enclose our backyard.
We told her she could keep the back half of the fence that adjoins our property at 8 foot tall, but the front half must be lowered to 6 foot. She agreed and is paying for the materials. Evidently her fence guy doesn't like me anymore, so I am doing the rework.
Funny thing is, this is exactly the way I asked to have the fence built in the first place. But it took a couple of months, tons of hassle and threats from the city to make it happen.
Sunday afternoon I started lowering the front half of the 8 Foot Tall Wall O' Wood that sits closest to our house. I was going to just cut the whole top off of it and be done with it, but I decided to rebuild and re-frame the whole mess instead. I'll decide at the end if the extra support rail is necessary or not.
The newly lowered sections. Still have about 30 feet to lower.
I could lower the fence 2 full feet.Instead, I built the shortest part 6' tall so overall the fence is only losing about 18".
The section that is remaining 8 foot tall still needed a center support rail added, so I started working on that this morning. I was able to fit the new support in without removing the4 fence pickets, so that helped speed things along. Still, the more I work on this fence, the more I just hope it all blows away in a thunderstorm.
Evidently, the "professional builder" doesn't own a level. When you stand back from this fence, the mismatch of level and un-level support rails is kind of like an assault on your eyes. But I could not bring myself to build something half-assed just because someone else did before me.
I am thinking that I will hide all of this mess with a row of pickets on our side of the fence. But I can add those later.
So in the end, I have about a hundred threatening emails from the neighbor. And a fence that is always going to look craptacular. But the upside is the whole mess is settled. And that is good.
I haven't yet decided if having the neighbor never speak to me again is an upside or not. But like the fence, I am leaning that way...
Thank you, I'll be here all week. Try the cheesy enchiladas.
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4 comments:
As someone who has done a number of 2-man projects with only 1-man (e.g., trying to cut full-sized pieces of plywood down the middle with a table saw that wasn't bolted to the floor), I tend to cut people a tad o' slack with things like level fences. But if you're coming behind and having to fix it, I can see how that might drive you nutz...just a wee bit.
Nice Work........
I would cut slack if he had worked alone. But dude had a crew of 2 to 4 guys with him.
I worked on my part solo. Being sloppy really isn't any quicker.
Hopefully the emails have stopped by now.
By the way, I am looking to interview an athomedad who recenlty made the decision to stay with the babies due in part to having difficulty in the tough job market. (within the past year)
I'm working on an economy story for the Associated Press. Thanx!
klane@ap.org
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