I am in the preliminary (or the “Thinking it through”) stage. I have watched a couple of videos on the subject. I have questions.
How do I know for sure the fence is mine to remove? I presume that in the chain-link part is fastened in such a way that the posts are on my side, then it is mine. Seem reasonable?
How do I dispose of the stuff? If i set the posts and that chain-link out on the curb, will one of our local scavenger take it away? I wonder how long of a section I should remove in one piece in order to keep the size of the roll reasonable to handle.
Were I to remove panels 1, 2, and 3 (bordering Neighbor One’s back yard, would panels 4, 5, and 6 remain sound? (Neighbor Two has a pool and would like to keep the fence facing his property.
What sorts of tools will I need?
a fence-post puller (can I rent one?)
some sort of heavy-duty tin snips. What sort?
Some sort of saw to cut up the poles. What sort?
One problem is that Neighbor One has a barricade fence next to my fence. Not being able to access both sides of the fence is a complication.
By determining exactly what is the property line. You’re asking for trouble if you are casual about this.
You should consult the property deed (you obtained a copy when you bought the property - right?) and see if the boundaries it describes are evident and unambiguous. In the (probably unlikely) case they are not, obtaining the explicit agreement of the bordering neighbor might suffice.
If you and the neighbor agree, and you pay the cost, you aren’t going to get into trouble by removing the fence. Heck, you can legally remove your neighbor’s shed on your neighbor’s property if your neighbor says it’s okay. You are then acting on your neighbor’s behalf.
If there’s a disagreement, you need to know the ownership.
In some jurisdictions, fences can be placed along the property line, and didn’t truly belong to either party, fwiw.
This will vary a lot by neighborhood. In my neighborhood, it will sit there until someone complains about the unsightly mess, and the police might stop by to tell you to remove your shit from town property. (The sidewalk, tree lawn, and curb are all legally part of the public road, and belong to the town.) But I’m sure there are places where scavengers will clean it up for you.
We have dedicated scrappers that prowl the neighborhood. If the steel is clean and stacked nicely, they will take it away. If it still has concrete on it, they won’t. Steel is surprisingly cheap, a few cents/pound for scrap, so it’s not worth a lot of effort on their part.
Are you replacing the fence? The contractor has the tools to remove the old fence and haul it away. The cost is already included in the price of the new fence.
I’ve seen chain link posts removed with a Bobcat. The contractor pulled the posts very quickly.
Ask about the treated fence posts. There are different grades and prices. The new houses in my mom’s neighborhood have cheap fences. The fence posts on my mom’s house rotted after 7 years. The fence almost fell down. I replaced them with posts treated for extremely wet conditions.
Just a minor point, but in the interest of keeping good neighborly relations:
Notify the neighbor with the pool what you are doing and when.
The law generally requires that pools be fenced at all times , for safety. If you remove it, he is legally required to build a new fence around his pool, immediately.
Several years ago, I removed a chain link fence and found that there was a pretty high demand for the components (chain link fabric, post caps, clamps, stretchers, etc.) from people wanting to build dog pens, fence in gardens, and so forth. I measured the length and then posted on Cragislist. A guy showed up with a pick-up and happily hauled away everything I had. (I specifically stated that he had to take the posts with the concrete as well, but I’m sure that he just took those straight to the dump). New posts are probably the cheapest part of putting up a fence like this. He was very pleased with the arrangement and probably would have taken the whole fence out for me if I would have let him.
Basically, if it’s on your property, it’s your call. It might be relevant and neighourly to determine who paid to have the fence put up, just in case it was a result of a misunderstanding where the property line was. Obviously, the first question for neighbours (epecially the pool guy) is “what’s going to replace it?” The obvious point being, someone’s kids or pets are liable to be intruding into someone else’s yard.
I agree with above, unless there’s an interesting problem, odds are the chain-link part is easily reusable and someone will take it off your hands. Roll it up neatly and tie it.
I had a fence at the back of my yard where the ground movement for the slope meant it was starting to lean after 12 years. The fence repair people said “we didn’t realize the poles were black, we only brought unpainted, is it OK if we reuse them?” They did, and the fence is fine.
In my area, I see a lot of (wood) fences put up by the developer between main roads and the development’s back yards. Almost all of these, probably because of frost (and going cheap) the posts are randomly pushing out of the ground various amounts creating a wave effect - except where it’s so extreme the fence blows over in the wind. I assume this is a result of not putting the posts deep enough into the ground, or no concrete. Plus, for some, the wood finish comes off after a few years. If you put up a board fence, you’d need access for painting or re-finishing the neighour’s side too.
It depends on whether there’s a stretcher bar there. If not, what you need to do, before you cut panels 1-3, is to add one on the “keep” side of the ‘new’ corner pole for 4. then cut on the “discard” side of that pole. You should note though that end/corner poles (called terminal poles) are often more stout than line poles, but a three panel run (I’m assuming 6-8 feet between poles) shouldn’t put too much strain on it, so you’re probably okay.
If the links are not lined up properly, put it where you can and then after removal, stretch that section and attach it properly so the fence doesn’t sag.
1a. An old fashioned bumper jack. All new cars have scissor type jacks.
2a. Um, if by side cutters, you mean dikes, I don’t think that will do it. Bolt cutters are your friend in this case.
3a. Well sure a Sawzall will do it. I wouldn’t call it easy though. It’s pretty much the choice here though.
If the OP doesn’t have access to a pick-up truck, I think they should rent one and take the mess to a dump/landfill.
Ownership is critical. Once you know for sure that it’s yours to remove, I have some advice, call a fencing company.
Lol, i put up a chain link fence along the side of my property where evil developer guy blasted away the adjacent property, leaving me at the top of a cliff. I didn’t want to worry about falling off. And i wanted it to be as visually neutral as possible, so it’s all painted some dark color that doesn’t stand out.
Adding another fence would make it much worse. I don’t want to feel fenced in.
Also, wooden fences need a lot of maintenance. I see them decaying all over the place. My chain link fence is now 20 years old and still looks new.
I own the fence between me and my neighbor. However, that fence was put there by agreement between the former owners and my neighbor relies on that fence to keep her dogs in her yard. Even though it is my fence, and I think I could probably legally remove it if I wanted to, my neighbor would be very upset if I did so.
I use my fence to keep my dogs in my yard too, so my neighbor is in no danger of losing the fence between us, But just be aware that there are two things at play here. One is the legal issue of whether or not you can, and the other is whether or not there is some sort of “gentlemen’s agreement” type of arrangement with the neighbor, which, legalities aside, could dramatically influence your relationship with your neighbor.
Do you really want to potentially piss off your neighbor and make them your enemy in all things?
And if the neighbor originally paid for half of the fence that borders your two properties, there might actually be some legal issues involved as well.
And as others have said, there may be some legal issues that are dependent on the laws in your particular jurisdiction.
Exactly. Both from a legal and a practical viewpoint, this makes the most sense.