Does your town have building inspectors or codes enforcement? A fence that has partially blown down is structurally weak, and may pose a safety risk to someone working nearby. Maybe someone gardening next door. Screw it, you’ve tried playing nice, let the city take over.
If you can find out who their insurance carrier is, that’s another angle you can play. They would probably be liable for damages if the fence did continue to fall down.
If all else fails, forget the ghillie suits. Hire ninja contractors. No one ever expects ninja contractors.
Others have pointed out that you should focus on the goal. I just want to suggest that an elderly, probably retired couple without children in the home is of course going to have more time to handle home repair than a single working mom with two kids. Her delays may be due to the fact that she is hardly ever home without childcare responsibilities.
If the main offender is visibility then just put up temporary tarp on your side of the boundary using poles to close the gap. Then plant high hedges in front of the tarp, or a tomato trellis, or anything you want, then remove the tarp. A bit of creativity would seem to solve this with not much effort.
Sure it’s nice that she enjoys the privacy afforded by your neighbor’s fence, but why do you think that the news or media give a shit about that? Threatening to leverage the media sounds a lot like bullying. It’s clear from your conversation with male member of EC that you don’t really get along that well with your neighbors.
If you wish to be fenced in, then I suggest you get your own fence.
Yep - this is the only option. Having work done on their fence, after you’ve offered and they’ve refused, turns you into the party in the wrong.
If you prefer to wait for them to get their act together, look into some kind of temporary windscreen or such you could install to screen your patio. Put up a couple of sections of tall latticed fencing. You can wrap wind/sunscreen fabric and eventually train vines up it. If done right, can end up looking quite nice.
Sorry bout your wife. Shitty neighbors can’t make it any easier.
You don’t need a fence, you need a privacy shelter!
And you may be pjeased to know there are very few restrictions on privacy shelters. Height, width, materials, etc.
Have something temporary constructed. Something removable. Maybe one of those vertical garden wall things, with integrated pots, etc! It’s only four panels, after all, so maybe you could put up something cool!
If D (or EC, if they can be contacted) is agreeable, you could temporarily patch those four 6’ x 7’ holes with six 4’x8’ sheets of plywood. (Two of them would have to be cut down the middle lengthwise.) This would be a cheap fix.
But that’s the first thing to do: talk with her/them, explain the situation with your wife and her desire for backyard privacy, and see if she/they are amenable to a quick and dirty fix while they dither over more permanent repairs.
Obviously if they’re not amenable, then your only choice is some sort of privacy fence of your own. That can run into money, so I can understand why that would be your last resort rather than your first choice. But by talking with her/them, you’ll find out pretty quickly if you can do a quick, cheap fix, or whether you’ll need to build your own fence.
