Nightmare neighbour and new fence panel!

[Northernlass1234]

Background: elderly lady 70s, lives alone, rarely goes out, has two adult sons, one nice, one not - we were previously friendly but had loft extension and neighbour got very upset about lots of things - that was two years ago and i thought things were de-frosting

anyway she texted saying she was repairing fence post but got home from work to find this - see pic.

anything i can do as she clearly did this to wind me up?

The problem is that replacing the whole fence is expensive, I've just had a quote for £2,900 for mine. So as a pensioner who also has a bill for a new boiler and roof repairs which together come close to £9k do I replace the broken panel or find another £2.9k?

Yes I guess painting it is the answer

As it is not op's fence they would need permission to paint it or we will have another thread like he one a few weeks ago where it had seeped through and looked bad on other side.

Fence panels don't come in orange as standard! There are many that are less offensive (No pun intended) than that and it does look awful! It was never going to match your weathered ones, but there are panels which look more natural.

Are there? Many fence panels with the same pattern and the right size that aren't orange?

I think those bottom of the range panels just come in the one colour but it looks really jarring at the moment because it is next to the weathered ones and because it's brand new and hasn't had even a few days weathering.

I wouldn't advise painting it because the paint will seep through the horizontals and run down the other side.

If that's the only "nightmare" an elderly person has presented you with then you should try living next door to some of the other neighbours spoken about on here! I'd gladly swap.

So you hacked her off by (presumably) reducing the level of light her property gets, then you're whining about a new fence panel. Right. If/when you move your neighbour will be throwing a fucking party (ask me how I know)

I really wish people would replace the whole lot if they're going to do it!

Doubt the neighbour could afford to replace the whole fence.

I'd also think it isn't great for the environment to pull down the whole fence when only one panel needs replacing.

I wish my neighbours would pay for new fence panels (nice high ones too). Can you paint it? What's the issue?

I just replaced a fence panel like that and I chose a natural colour, rather than gold, so it can be done.

I'd paint it.

A pressure treated one would look much more natural and stand out less. I'm sure OP could find 1 in a similar size and design somewhere.

Well, sure, if you have spare thousands of pounds lying about, but many of us don't. Fence prices have gone through the roof. Replacing a panel is a sensible, decent option if it solves the problem.

Mine didn't. They weren't weathered but they were a light colour, definitely not bright orange!

To the poster who mentioned ivy, the bloody stuff should be banned! Our neighbour let it grow all over his side of our fence. When we moved in the fence was falling down because of it. Thankfully DH managed to kill the plant when we replaced the fence.

That's not how mumsnet works! You don't get to delete because you don't like the answers

Unfortunately MN do seem to pander more and more to people who are just pissed off with the responses. Usually because the thread was 'identifying'
(not that anything could be identified from THAT photo )

It is stupid to have bought one that's a different design and you can buy ones with different stains etc.
I think she's fine for the cheapest option tbh.

The solution is to buy a paint which will help it to blend in AND offer to paint it from her side as well so that the other colour won't dribble through the gaps.

Just put trellis in front of it and grow something up it.

You could paint your side in a similar shade to the rest of the fence panels. Cuprinol does a range called "Garden Shades" and I'm thinking that either "Coastal Mist", "Cool Marble" or "Pebble Trail" might work here:

Sorry - I had actually included a hyperlink but instead of deleting the preview, it appears to have deleted and removed the whole link from my post.

Take two!

Cuprinol Garden Shades - Colour and Protect | Cuprinol

Do Cuprinol do 'manky blurry elephant's bum'?!

Orange doesn't come as standard? Really? Link

People have lost their reason about this, of course it will colour down in no time. It probably wouldn't be so noticeable if OPs garden ha a bit more interest in it.

Attach some wires to it and grow something up it.

All those advising the OP to paint the panel or attach trellis to it are giving bad advice. The fence does not belong to OP, it is her neighbours. She would need to seek permission from her neighbour to do anything of this. There's plenty gardening law advice online to source advice from.

Attach some wires to it and grow something up it.

It doesn't belong to op. She can't attach anything to it, grow anything up it, or paint it any colour, without permission from the person it does belong to. That would be the person who paid for it.