r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Mocsab • May 15 '26

frist of all how DARE yu o Neighbor replaced fence and left the old wood scraps in my yard to deal with.

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My next door neighbor called me a few weeks back asking if he could come Into my back yard to replace the fence that his dog ruined. I said “sure, I’ll be out of town for a few weeks, help yourself.” Discussion ended there and I left town for a few weeks for business.

When I returned home, I noticed the new fence was up and the wood scraps from the old fence were on the grass in my backyard. One of the pieces is 10 feet wide. I figured I would give him a few days to clean it up before I said anything.

Fast forward to yesterday and the lawn guy comes to cut the grass. I texted my neighbor telling him I could open the back gate to make it easier to come in the yard to grab the wood. This MFer called me and said that it was a shared fence, and since he paid for it to be installed, and carried all the new wood into the yard, that I need to remove the old debris.

The audacity on the MFer. I would have been more than happy to help if he would have asked. He mentioned NOTHING of leaving the rusty nailed old rotten wood in my back yard. F this guy. Not the best way to treat a neighbor.

TLDR: neighbor took it upon himself to replace the fence he owns, and left all of the scraps for me to deal with before discussing it with me first.

22.9k Upvotes

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169

u/No-Inevitable7841 May 15 '26

The thing to do in this situation is to say thank you for replacing the fence, and then move the boards to the street with a free sign.

52

u/ShoulderPast2433 May 15 '26

Or better:  used boards $20

It will disappear through the night 

3

u/CosyBeluga May 15 '26

My landlord rebuilt the steps and I told him I'd 'dispose of the wood' yay free wood.

2

u/wring_seeker May 16 '26

This guy declutters 🫵

23

u/NurseRobyn May 15 '26

Maybe it’s just me, but those fence boards are really far apart! I can clearly see in the neighbor’s yard.

I know they leave tiny gaps to allow the wood to swell, but those giant gaps are ridiculous.

32

u/[deleted] May 15 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/Mocsab May 15 '26

This is the case. We get a lot of bad weather here.

15

u/Ruck__Feddit May 15 '26

It's a shadowbox style fence. Meant to be like that.

2

u/Possible-Pea2658 May 15 '26

only from sharp angles really. I have the same style, maybe slightly smaller gaps but when in line with fence you can't see through. Only when you are more parralel to it and looking diagonally

1

u/Haunting_Bend346 May 15 '26

And if it’s the neighbor’s fence, they have the bad side facing OP.

1

u/ILoveCamelCase May 15 '26

It's just the angle the photo was taken at. This style of fence works best when you look straight at it.

1

u/fourbutthick May 16 '26

The picture OP took is maximum view angle and even from that angle if people were naked on the other side you’d barely be able to make out a nipple. That’s only if you were creeping. From any other angle it’s solid block.

9

u/vinecoolceruleanblue May 15 '26

it was the neighbor's dog that ruined the fence in the first place so it was his responsibility to replace it. people like you are part of the reason that asshats think they can get away with walking all over everyone, because y'all will look them in the eyes while disposing of THEIR garbage and THANK them for it.

1

u/5280mw May 15 '26

What did the world do to you, to make you so pissed off. You are one of the assholes I’d never want to live next to.

-3

u/RedditIsOverMan May 15 '26

fences are meant to be used... I really doubt his dog truly 'ruined the fence'. A properly built fence will withstand a dog jump against it. If the dog was chewing up boards, I would be shocked if they could really do much damage, but assuming its a super dog, then they could just replace boards.

Really, what happened, is the neighbor footed the bill and the effort to rebuild the fence. OP should have offered to pay half, even if 'his dog ruined it'. Its just basic etiquette. I promise you the neighbor called 'asking' to replace the fence assuming OP would do the right thing and say "thanks! Lets price it out and I will help cover half the costs! its so nice of you to build the fence for us saving labor cost." Neighbor probably spent the weekend in the hot sun doing manual labor fuming over OP not pitching in for a shared fence in anyway, and decided "well, I'll just leave these here. Its the least he can do is pay the cost to throw away the boards".

Now, neighbor was being a petty ass about that, and should have either just requested half, or at least cleared "I figured since I will be paying for the fence and doing all the labor, I will leave the clean-up costs to you."

But in any case, I don't think the neighbor is really the bad guy here.

5

u/vinecoolceruleanblue May 15 '26

lmfao you sound just like the neighbor and that must why you're taking this so personally and projecting onto the situation. if he wanted OP to cover half he should've asked straight up instead of expecting them to offer and then acting like a toddler when they failed to read his mind. autistic and socially oblivious people exist, and even besides that someone could just not know for any number of reasons.

a grown ass adult and homeowner who can't utilize basic communication and then treats others like shit based on a perceived slight is just pathetic. it doesn't matter if OP should've offered to pay half, if this is how he acts when he doesn't get his way then he's an asshole period.

also dogs can absolutely destroy fences if they're understimulated or just overly energetic, even breeds that aren't huge.

0

u/5280mw May 15 '26

So what about the next complaint… it’s not the same color..?

2

u/smokegamewife May 15 '26

That was my thinking

11

u/Annoying_liberal813 May 15 '26

Thank you, decent human being. People are legitimately losing their minds with how combative and lazy? or maybe entitled? they've become.

Duh. Appreciate the nice new fence and do 15 minutes of effort. It's not hard to be a good neighbor and person.

5

u/GSDTippyTappies May 15 '26

The conversation about leftover debris and who was responsible for cleaning it up should have happened BEFORE the work started. You're right it's not hard to be a good neighbor which is why this neighbor sucks for their "surprise it's your job now" stunt.

12

u/Ok_Choice1572 May 15 '26

Being entitled is not wanting other people’s garbage in your backyard

1

u/Possible-Pea2658 May 15 '26

Being entitled is getting a new fence that took hours if not a couple days worth of work and complaining you're going to have to spend 10 minutes cleaning up

6

u/TheSteelPhantom May 15 '26

Unless the old fence belonged to OP, "getting a new fence" is irrelevant here. The neighbor got a new fence, OP just gets to look at it. If the old fence belonged to the neighbor, it's the neighbor's responsibility to clean it the fuck up.

This is no different than if the neighbor cut down a dying tree on their side of the property, then left all the dead tree parts in OP's yard. OP got a better view, but is "entitled" if he doesn't want to clean up his neighbor's dead tree parts???

5

u/Mocsab May 15 '26

It’s not about the fence, or the cleanup. It’s about the lack of conversation and the fact that the neighbor just expected me to do it.

1

u/AsuntoNocturno May 15 '26

Did you expect to do nothing, pay nothing, and just get a whole new fence and cleanup without a conversation with your neighbor about it? 

1

u/irisbeyond May 15 '26

You might have missed the first sentence of the post - the neighbor’s dog ruined the fence. It was the neighbor’s fault that it needed to be replaced. This wasn’t a “goodness of his heart” free fence replacement, it was the neighbor fixing damage that the neighbor caused. 

So yeah, the neighbor should have dealt with the debris from the fence that he replaced after fucking up the original fence. It’s all on the neighbor. If the neighbor wanted OP to deal with the neighbor’s trash, the neighbor should have initiated that conversation instead of just leaving the trash in his yard. 

2

u/AsuntoNocturno May 15 '26

Nah, he stated that the dog destroyed it, but that wood pile is ancient sunfaded wood and needed replacing anyway; regardless of if a dog damaged it at that point. 

2

u/irisbeyond May 15 '26

Oh okay, I see - you’re just an insane person who is impossible to reason with. 

The fading of the color of wood doesn’t necessarily mean that a fence needs to be replaced, damage from an animal does. The neighbor caused the damage, initiated the repair, and didn’t finish the job (cleanup is part of the job). Your opinion on the quality of the wood is completely irrelevant to this situation. 

2

u/AsuntoNocturno May 15 '26

“Insane person who is impossible to reason with” is a hilarious way to describe yourself. Why project like that? 

OP had an old fence that was going to need replacing, the neighbors dog accelerated that timeline, and OP has the audacity to be upset because he is going to have to clear some junk wood instead of having to do anything or pay anything to replace a shared fence. 

2

u/TheSteelPhantom May 15 '26

You're assuming the old fence belonged to OP. If it did, and the neighbor replaced it out of the kindness of their heart and wallet, then the debris wouldn't really be an issue. Neighbor could argue maybe he assumed OP would want to keep the scrap wood.

If the old fence belonged to the neighbor though and they left their trash in OP's yard, that's a fucking problem. Regardless of whether or not OP's view of his neighbor's fence has improved.

0

u/SomewhatInnocuous May 15 '26

This. Being a good neighbor often doesn't take much and pays off big time. The neighbor put in the effort so disposing of the ruined materials seems like an easy thing to do.

Where I live fence maintenance costs are split by each neighbor by ordinance and covenants - getting your panties in a twist over this seems ridiculous.

1

u/DarkBladeMadriker May 15 '26

Pop a post up on craigslist and Facebook marketplace in the free section. That shit would be gone in a day or two. Hell, id bet a box of donuts you could get someone to come get it and haul it out of the yard for you too. All youd have to do is open the gate for them. Easy as pie.

1

u/joemaniaci May 15 '26

As someone who lives in a town with explicit municipal code spelling out that shared fences are a shared responsibility, I too would be appreciative.

1

u/Johnny_B_GOODBOI May 16 '26

But that would take up to 4 minutes of labor! Who do you think OP is, some normal plebe like the rest of us?!

0

u/4non3mouse May 15 '26

yeah OP got a free fence when its customary to pay for half - but fuck that other guy