elsewhere

Hello,

The border of my property runs along a drainage ditch. So if I want to put up a fence I have 2 choices:

1. put it right before the slope, loosing that slice of the land (to my awful neighbour)
2. put it right on the border which would make it really difficult to trim the trench and during rainfall or snow thawing in the spring, the fence would be siting in the water

or maybe there's another way? Any advice?

joecaption

If you do not keep it back away from the ditch at least 2' the first time a stong wind comes along it will tip over.

elsewhere

So there you go, that means I have to give away even more land :/
What to do then? put it in the middle of the trench?

joecaption

Check with your local code office they can tell you how high the fence can be and more importantly how far from you poperty line it has to be.
Not a good plan to ever put any fence exactly on a property line. If it accidentally goes on his side he can force you to get a survey and remove the fence.
Did you have big plans for that ditch in the future?
I've got the exact same deal with the family next door, the man has borrowed tool from me and broke them or never brought them back, he stole my battery charger, my lawn roller and some other suff so I called the police on him. So he has the bright idea to but up a fence (which is funny because it was he who was in the wrong) He put it with inches of the ditch. There's no support on one side for the post because the ditch is there. Within a few weeks the wind blows the fence over and it's laying in my yard and covering the whole ditch. Another wind storm comes up and flips it back into his yard, it laid flat on the ground for almost a year (keep in mind this was an expencive 6' tall vinyl fence) Then he has the bright idea to put it back up in the exact same holes and use sticks to prop it up sitting on my property.
I could careless it's a ditch, not worth fighting over and now I do not have to see him and it cost me nothing.

elsewhere

Whoa, seems like you totally won the situation! You know you could give him hard time for the supporting sticks that sit on your side lol but it's totally worth it to just don't mind them.

Wish that was my case, I have to put up the fence since I want my dogs to run freely. It's a big space and fencing is going to be a huge expense - I can't risk having to fix it anytime soon.

Dionysia

I agree with checking with our local code. If you are just trying to contain your dogs, t-posts and square wire will work - it works here in the country with barbed wire and cattle! However, if your local zoning regs don't allow that type of fence (square wire, not barbed) then you may have to grin and bear losing the use of a strip of land. Chain link might work too, don't know how it would stand up to the water. But country fences go right through waterways and sometimes even ponds. T-posts aren't that hard to replace when necessary either.

My town has a 5 ft setback requirement along the alley, and my awful neighbor has destroyed the berm behnd my fence by deliberately driving within an inch of the fence to turn into his garage. The whole reason I put up the fence was to keep them, their vehicles, children, fireworks,golfballs,and dogs out of my yard. Pre-fence, he could make it into his garage just fine without driving up onto the berm. Go figure.

Also, be sure you know where your property line is. Do you have survey pins to go off of? If your neighbor is truly of the bad neighbor variety, you might find yourself hauled into court to move your fence and you'll need a survey to back you up.

mudmixer

I think you should resign yourself to the fact that your "awful neighbor", by your definition, and yourself should reach some sort of agreement or fight until one of you is gone. It may help increase the usefulness, appearance and value of both properties.

Codes and municipal laws do not always provide the best solution, especially when you measure by inches.

Just an outsiders opinion.

Dick

BridgeMan

Oh boy--I hope this isn't turning into a "who has the worst neighbor" thread. I think I could write a best-seller, describing some of the doozies I've had over the years.

But getting back to the fence issue. I vote for T-posts and pig wire, set a few feet back from the ditch. Just wide enough to get the hand mower in there when necessary, and also to provide an erosion "cushion" should the ditch ever get frisky and decide to undermine the posts.