Good fences make good neighbors, or so they say.
But when your neighbors are constantly destroying your fence, it might be time to reconsider your fence strategy.
That’s precisely what one father decided to do after his unruly neighbors repeatedly damaged his fence.
The story was shared by his daughter on Reddit, revealing that the problematic neighbors were, in fact, distant relatives.
This twist added an extra layer of complexity to their ongoing property dispute, which had been simmering for years.
“We live in a small private neighborhood, and the neighbors are related to us in a distant way,” she explained.
“Everyone here is a bit of a nutjob, and they were constantly arguing over property lines for decades, even before my brother and I were born.”
Initially, the family had allowed their neighbors to use a small part of their land to navigate the road more safely without damaging their property.
However, this generous gesture wasn’t enough to keep the peace.
The daughter illustrated the situation, explaining that their property line formed a square surrounded by roads on two sides.
“We let our neighbors use one square meter of our land so they could use the road more safely and avoid damaging our property,” she wrote.
Unfortunately, this small concession led to big problems.
The neighbors continually ran over the lawn, refusing to acknowledge the fence built to delineate the property line.
Despite the family’s efforts to maintain their property, the neighbors acted as if the fence didn’t exist, driving over it repeatedly.
The breaking point came when the family installed some hedges, only to have a massive truck, ordered by the neighbors, destroy them.
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“One day, our neighbors ordered a massive truck filled with tons of wood,” the daughter recounted.
“The truck driver ran over our fence. No one wanted to pay for the damage, and we had to replant the plants and replace part of the metal fence. This was the third time it happened, and that’s when my father decided to take revenge.”
The father, a police officer, decided enough was enough.
He dug up the property line marker and filled the disputed area with rock-filled barrels, much to the neighbors’ dismay.
The neighbors were furious and threatened to call the police—a move that didn’t exactly intimidate him, given his profession.
They even brandished an ax at him, although details on this incident were scant.
Once the barrels were installed, the father merely had to wait for the inevitable.
Sure enough, the neighbors continued driving over the property, but now they were damaging their own cars in the process.
In the first six hours alone, three cars hit the barrels, sustaining significant damage.
Despite this, the neighbors didn’t seem to learn their lesson.
Over the course of a year, the barrels took such a beating that they eventually became worthless.
However, the father had another plan to escalate his revenge.
“He bought cement, sand, and metal poles,” the daughter said.
“One peaceful afternoon, my father and I cemented that whole part of the land and placed some lovely flowers on top.
Now, when they hit the concrete, they can smell our flowers of victory and defeat.”
Predictably, the neighbors continued to drive over the area, resulting in more damaged vehicles.
“As we expected, five neighbors in total wrecked their cars on the new fence, and nobody came knocking on our door,” she noted.
Likely, the reason for this stemmed from the neighbors knowing they were in the wrong.
The father’s creative solution served as a reminder that sometimes, when dealing with difficult neighbors, a little ingenuity and persistence can go a long way.