Neighbors walking through my backyard
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Anonymous
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I have great neighbors that we get along well with and see often. We back up to the W&OD trail. My neighbor's yard has several mature trees (that are now encroaching on our side yard) and because of these, they can't access the trail without going onto our grass. Which is sort of okay in dry weather. But it's been raining for a month now and we have a 100% clay mudslick in our backyard from them walking on our grass. We have zero grass left. It's about 3 ft wide x 8 ftand goes down to the trail. They have large dogs that need walked 4x a day which means they're trudging through our grass with huge boots on 8x a day. It sounds petty, but we've reseeded constantly, laid new sod there this spring and it's all gone. We can't get new grass to grow because of them. The yard is also not smooth anymore, they've worn a pretty deep path. And because of the steep slope of our backyard, they often fall while trying to get up the clay mudslick to get back to their house (meaning they dig their boots in to get up, making gashes in the clay).
We're big gardeners and have a pristine yard other than this awful mud. We debated putting up a fence but because their trees are now on our lawn, we really couldn't put a fence at the property line. We are going to terrace the back yard in a few years, eliminating all access to the W&OD on that side of our yard (stairs would be on the other side which isn't as steep). But we worry when we terrace that they'll walk across our entire backyard to get to the stairs. Is there anything we can do and still be friendly with neighbors? We've debated putting a sign up saying not to walk on the grass when it's wet. |
Anonymous
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Just say, hey, when it is wet, do you mind not walking through the yard.
Jesus. |
Anonymous
| What are your neighbor's options to get onto the trail if they don't walk onto your property? |
Anonymous
| If you're friendly with them, I'd talk to them instead of just putting up a sign. Is there any access to the trail from their yard at all? Could there be if they took trees down or made some other modification? |
Anonymous
| Can you do some kind of good looking paver solution to meet up with the trail? |
Anonymous
OP here- Well they could probably use the other side of their house, but they don't. DH and I have debated why. We think that slope is even steeper than ours or it's wetter there? Even their damn lawn service uses our lawn to get to their backyard to mow! The lawn guy REALLY did a number on our yard with his wheelbarrow last spring. |
Anonymous
| Have you said anything at all? All of this internal discussion is ridiculous if you haven’t asked them to stop doing it. Just be nice about it. |
Anonymous
OP here. Yes that's the terracing that DH and I are planning on doing, but it's a 20-30k project and we're saving up for it. We never, ever walk through this strip of grass (because it's muddy and we're trying not to walk on the grass) so we don't really need stairs going down to the trail. I have a baby so I use the sidewalk to get to the trail with my stroller- that way is a bit longer which is why they don't use it. Btw, they were gone for 3 months last year and that side of the house was no longer slick and muddy. When they keep walking over it and compacting the clay, the ground doesn't absorb water as well. |
Anonymous
Omg. Have you said anything to them? Why do you evade this question? |
Anonymous
| OP here. No we haven't discussed with them. We aren't confrontational and they are extremely confrontational. Any reasonable person wouldn't cause this much damage to their neighbor's lawn, so now we're pretty upset. |
Anonymous
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If they're great neighbors who you get along with and see often, don't just throw up a sign as a solution. That's completely ridiculous.
Have a conversation like an adult. |
Anonymous
| Put up construction tape or temporary fencing to close off the area - tell them it's a liability issue and you don't want anyone getting hurt and that it's killing your lawn - Why is everyone so scared to have a normal discussion with neighbors like this? What the hell kind of neighbors go traipsing through other peoples yards multiple times a day with giant dogs? |
Anonymous
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1. Double check to see whether it's really on your property, and whether anyone else has right of way.
2. Talk to neighbors: "Hey Neighbor, our grass can't grow where you access the trail. See, look at it. How can we find a solution together?". This is evidence of goodwill and you trying to seek a friendly solution. 3. If they don't comply, you can put up a fence. How bad is the tree encroachment? |
Anonymous
| Reseed and put hay and fence off the area for a few months. Let them know and ask that they not walk that way. |
Anonymous
OP here. It really is our property. We just paid for and had a survey done so we could get bids for the terracing. We foresee issues when we build the terrace walls because they've used our lawn for so many years and this will cut off their access, so that's why we had a survey. Tree is probably 2ft on our lawn. Several huge evergreens. We don't mind the trees at all, but that's why they don't have access to the trail. Their backyard is terraced and their only access was a small path that the trees were planted on. |