Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

We have neighbours on either side and it was clear when we moved in that they liked to keep their yards nice and were keen to offer lots of advice on how we could keep ours nice too. :ohmy:
Anyway recently my neighbour has pointed out she is worried about the crumbling rocks that border hers and ours and basically hold all her flower border together so it doesn't fall on my lawn. Now these rocks have been crumbling for ever and they should never have been put in as they were damaged from blasting but i have never worried about it and think it could be years before any issues arise. She approached me the other day about getting them replaced and when i said i thought it was fine and why was she worried as it was my responsibility she said she had checked and it was actually her responsibility as her property was sitting higher up and therefore she had to ensure the rocks didn't collapse onto my side.
So last week she gets a man who is friends with the other neighbour to have a look, he says he needs to bring in a bobcat but will put sheets of ply down to protect my lawn, i said no problem.
Today she tells me he wanted $6000 to do it but she's got a good deal where he will do it with the other neighbours help for $2500 cash and would we like to go halves?????? :eek:
Well i was gobsmacked. I said we really hadn't budgeted to spend that kind of money on that part of the yard and there were many more projects needing it. She said don't feel bad if you cannot contribute we will pay anyway. Jeez now i really feel guilty and they are elderly. To make matters worse she is trying to rush it through this week and i told her my mum is coming and i don't want a building site in my front yard. She said it's ok he said it may only take a day or 2. And he was going to charge $6000!!!!

Answers on a postcard

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

Don't have any postcards I'm afraid.

My first thoughts are. Stall her! Tell her you've found a guy and can do it for half the price, but he'll have to come round and inspect it first, don't give a date. Second find out who this guy is and phone him up, ask why he's charging so much. Go from there...

This is a basis for a plan I reckon.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

I'd be checking who owns the rocks, where is the property boundary line? If she has checked, then she will have something in writing from the city or whoever the municipal powers are.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

A colleague has difficulty with his neighbour. There are trees near them and blossom falls on to the lawn. My colleague vacuumed his lawn on Saturday taking, he said, four hours to do so. On Sunday the neighbour soaked her blossoms then tried tidying up with a leaf blower. Some blossom got on to my colleague's lawn so he had to vacuum all over again.

I shall try to think of these people next time I'm inclined to deride Calgary's anal garden bylaws and practises. Residents of Markham don't seem to have a life either.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

Tell em you have buried your pet adjacent to said 'rocks' and cannot permit this hallowed ground to be desecrated.....:cool:

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

In the yard backing on to my next door neighbour there was until a few days a ago a very tall tree. It was about four floors high and young, so it was going to get bigger. It was also spindly; even the base of the trunk was only about a foot across. It was something of a safety concern for a few folk.

The tree was also issuing what appeared to be large amounts of cotton wool. This was annoying, particularly for people with pools.

My neighbour eventually got so pissed off he informed the other guy he wanted the tree down and was prepared to pay for it. The other guy agreed and did contribute to the cost.

Watching the feller was fascinating, not to mention alarming. It takes balls to go 30 feet up a thin tree and, at full-stretch, use a chain saw one-handed.

I assume it was a chain saw. It could just as easily have been a light sabre.

I was most impressed. The tree was down, chipped and gone in about an hour.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

Is it just me?

You have rocks on your boundary which you agree need replacing. Your neighbour has said that they think it's their responsibility, and they are willing to pay the cost, but they want you to allow them access to get the work done.

If the neighbours 'drive you nuts', why are you making this an issue? Just tell her to carry on with the work and get it done as quickly as possible, thank you very much.

If you're the guilty sort, tell her you'll make a contribution as and when you can.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

Ah. My ex once had "the largest willow tree for miles" in her back garden. $5,000 and two whole days for a team to reduce it to a stump about 30' high. When last I was there the ground was still littered with chunks 3' thick and 20' long.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

Pah, you urbanites. Here, I'd call my buddy with a chainsaw and we'd have it down in 10 minutes & the wood chopped up for the woodburner in the shed.;)

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

Ah and pah, you Easterners. Here, we'd have a mass rally to save the tree, with the eco-warriors shouting of a soap box, the bongo players banging out Bob Marley tunes and the Raging Grannies chained to the tree. Completing the scene, we'd have local raw food vendors handing out slices of vegan 'bliss pizza' as the scent of weed wafts in the breeze.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

I, of course, have a chainsaw and a reckless disposition. Not reckless enough though to step into that yard holding a weapon.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

I think my neighbour paid $600, for a not very major job. It was a Sunday, so probably a cash-job.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

That job involved putting a truck with a cherry picker in the park behind the house. I imagine $4,000 went on permits and liability coverage.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

We have anal garden bylaws and practices?

Could you elaborate please?

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

Refer past threads on cats and laundry.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

I'll give you the cats one but as to laundry have a read of the attached. Especially the third, fourth and fifth paragraphs of the reply. :rolleyes:

http://www.greencalgary.org/ask-ashl...ur-dirty-work/

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

It also seems to suggest that such things are banned in Ontario;)

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

I didn't really want to get bogged down in this again, the reference to Calgary as being prissy and overregulated was just playing on that stereotype. However, there's nothing to suggest that such bans ever existed in Ontario (which until I started reading here about Calgary I thought to be heavily regulated) it just says that someone in Ontario thinks they should be repealed, presumably repealed in Calgary.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

There's nothing to repeal. There never was a bylaw in Calgary.

For gods sake can you give up on this anti-Calgary bias you have.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

"Ontario, for instance, has had clothesline bans for years but several communities, including Aurora, are fighting back."

I have no idea whether this is true or not but it does represent a different view from the one you put forward;)

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

This could be provincial? Wow, what a priority:D

I know they are banned in my sister's neighbourhood (in part of Kelowna) but I thought this was cos she lived in one of those mock victorian / traditional new build estates

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

To be correct some Ontario city municipalities did have local bylaws banning clothes lines, many and I think the majority did not. A few years ago given how a clothes line would be considerd the right environmental option, most if not all of these bylaws were deemed unenforceable and have been removed.

I think it’s fair to assume that municipalities the world over naturally attracts anal underachievers and promotes them solely on the Peter Principle.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

I hope for that price they carved the stump into a totem pole depicting some sort of wildlife scene? You have to keep up with the Mississauga Road massive dontcha know?

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

You're correct, Bali ... not all of Kelowna has the ban, just certain neighbourhoods.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

ah, so one of the prices to pay for Kettle Valley then:)

I think there is also a rule about house colours too

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

I recall reading many years ago of a Brit who built a very nice/good quality wall around his front garden. His busybody neighbor measured its height to find it was three inches higher than the council allowed. As a result of his complaint the wall builder was told to lower or take down the wall. He did and also discovered there was no bye-law regarding the colour, so he invited a bunch of kids to paint the wall whatever colours they chose. Needless to say the neighbor was not a happy camper. Fences/walls do not necessarily good neighbors make.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

You are right and just to add insult to injury for those that live there Fortis have come up with a brilliant scheme to save energy for Kelowna families. :rofl:

http://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna...y-saves-energy

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

You are of course right but it's the guilty bit that gets you. If she had recommended we discuss it and come up with options then get quotes and then sit and talk about where we go and who pays what i could go along with it but when she railroads the thing through by saying she will sort it and within 24 hrs she's knocking at the door asking for contribution that's just a bit much.

Anyway i have since spoken with her, her husband and son who is down from Prince George and he seems to agree with me in that if it's not causing me an issue why spend a few thousand. If they decide to sell (they both have health issues and need to downsize ideally) it won't affect the sale as the crumbling rock can only be seen from my yard and it really isn't that bad.
They all seemed to agree that perhaps it didn't need to be done as urgently as she thought and her husband rushed off to ring the guy to stop him buying the new rocks.
I have no idea if he managed to stop him but there aren't any rocks in my yard yet!

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

The important aspect to this whole thread is children? COMMUNICATION.
Saves time, saves embarrassment and can save lives...

Something like that.

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

Reach out and leverage your neighbour's ability to speak to the issue?

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

My thoughts, then, would be that they sell up, and in five years you get new neighbours who have a "f*** off" attitude to "their" wall as it crumbles down into your garden, and you'll end up paying anyway :unsure:

I appreciate your sentiment about feeling railroaded into this, but if they are paying, I'd take the money and (not) run. ;)

Re: Neighbours that drive you nuts
 

aw, how sweet...and here in my yokel yorkshire town we never gave them up!