Caught my neighbor complaining about my fence repair last weekend

I was staining my side of the fence last Saturday when I heard my neighbor Mark on the phone saying I was doing it wrong and the boards would rot in a year. He didn't know I could hear him through the gap. I've been using exterior grade stain for 8 years and never had rot issues. Turned out he was mad I didn't ask his permission to work on 'his side' of the property line. Has anyone else dealt with a neighbor who thinks they know your DIY project better than you do?

2 comments

2 Comments

kim_nelson3d ago

Well, I mean... is it really that big of a deal if the boards rot in a year? You can always just replace them again... Some people just like to complain about everything, maybe he's bored or something.

white.alex3d ago

Bored or something" - that's a pretty quick way to brush off someone's concern. Look, if you're spending a Saturday replacing rotted boards that you just put in a year ago, that's not a weekend project, that's a pattern of bad work. Eventually the whole deck frame gets compromised if the surface boards keep letting water through. Sure, you can keep replacing them, but who wants to be the person who has to redo the same job every summer? And what about the subfloor underneath? That stuff's expensive to fix once water gets to it. Seems like a lot of hassle to save a few bucks upfront.