Sempervirens,
I don't know about your zone but here in zone 5 we had our house roofed and sided in the winter when all my perennials were dormant. We covered them with about 6 inches of straw because I knew the guys would have to be walking all over them when they put up the siding. I also cut back some of my shrubs that I knew would be in their way. I put garbage cans over shrubs that were small enough. Everything came back fine in the spring.
I can't remember exactly how the roofing went because it was so long ago. But I know I didn't have much damage because that I would remember (also my garden was smaller then). You could perhaps ask them to throw the shingles off the side of the house that has the least plants to protect, if you have such an area. The north side of my house has only a thin strip of lilies of the valley and a sidewalk and the roofers dumped most of the debris there. Fortunately my neighbor had no garden on that side either.
As for your neighbor, that was exactly my situation this summer. The roofers working next door placed sheets of MDF resting against my fence. You can see it a bit in the pictures I posted above. They created a slide for the debris and it almost worked but in one place the MDF broke and it, along with a load of debris crashed into my garden. So, as someone mentioned above, be sure they use plywood and not MDF. Also ask them to be careful to drop the debris straight down, not shovel it off with force as that caused a good deal of it to fly right over the MDF into my garden.
So if you can have the job done in the winter (and they do work right through the winter), that will help some, but you'll have to get creative to protect your shrubs.
Good Luck
Chris
This message was edited Jul 8, 2007 10:41 AM
roofers mashed my garden
Mobi,
I'll check around and ask about landscape protection. It has been my experience in the past that the foreman or company owner will promise anything and is only on site periodically. It is the workers who are on tight schedules who do the damage. Can you tell I just went through some major construction that had some serious problems?
chris,
Thanks for the detailed information and suggestions ( straw, garbage cans, plywood). There is an one small area I haven't replanted yet I can ask them to use as the dumping area on one side. I have heavily planted almost every available space and removed most of the grass.
Semper,
The should be able to run a dumpster up close to the house -- a big dumpster they can't miss when they toss. That's what we had, but they couldn't take it past the walk for fear of breaking the bluestone, so they had to hand carry the shingles down on part of the house (we had a complete tear off). The insurance company paid for the hand carrying, but the dumpster was something they do for every roof. (Of course you have to have a place to put a dumpster in the 1st place)
Yeah, no kidding - I have a bunch of carp laying around from just a minor repair of my roof this last fall - every time I think I have it all I find another piece.... I think it's breeding.
So, in addition to putting on a metal roof in a few years, Dh and I are thinking about extending the porch all the way around the house, or at least the front of it. We have a leaky basement that seems mainly to come from the front area, so I thought perhaps the porch extension would work, since excavating seems to be so costly with no other benefit. But guess where all my beds are?
Chris,
I think the brick falling next to my head would be the last straw for me too. Nice neighbors are a rarity though, so your talking to them and expressing tolerance and patience with them, as well as their gesture to replace your damaged plants is a credit to you, and to them.
I cultivate good neighbors the way I cultivate good plants. Generous nurturing, occasional pruning, and encouragement of growth in desirable directions while subtly discouraging growth in ways that are less compatible with the rest of the neighborhood. A month ago I went to a plant sale and found a bunch of night-blooming stock on sale. Although it helps that the neighbor lady is a plant nut too, it's amazing the bonhommie that can be generated by a simple $10 gift of bedding plants. :)
My only gripe with them, because our houses are so close together and their parking area literally abuts one of my shade beds, her husband's spent cigarette filters have a way of finding their way to my lawn and my beds. They stick around for a long time, and if they get run over by a mower they look even worse. The neighbor lady now badgers her husband about dropping his butts on the ground. Things are improving. :)
They also know that if I do something that bothers them they are free to get ahold of me and let me know. It's a two way street, and I ain't perfect. :)
As for those roofers. Once the job is finished you might consider giving them a "reference" with the local better business bureau, and even the local chamber of commerce.
-Joe
Joe,
You are so right about neighbors. The house in question used to be rental property (a two flat) and renters changed frequently and some of them over the years were real pains in the neck. That's one reason I appreciate the current owners.
They are a large family with three generations living in the two apartments. When they moved in, only the children spoke English. We started helping each other - with English and Spanish. Now all but the grandma and grandpa speak English quite well and even grandpa has a small English vocabulary. My husband and I have a small but useful vocabulary of Spanish words. We are not very good at making sentences but they love it when we try.
They invite us to all their family parties. The grandma loves my garden and I give her plants when I am dividing mine. She came over one year, all cute and shy, with her grandson to translate, to give me a gift on Mother's Day.
See why I love them?
That is delightful - you are a very special person, Chris!
Well, thanks, Murmur...........but you haven't seen me when I get mad!
Oh... I bet that's special, too!!!
Chris, I'm with Murmur on this! Your neighbors are very fortunate to have YOU as their neighbor. Wonderful neighbors are indeed a rarity.
Chris you are truly the best of neighbors.
Now I'm embarrassed. I do have my limits. I did actually call code enforcement on the rarely present owners of a vacant house on the other side of us who only show up to mow their lawn when they get a warning from the city. I've just about had it with them. Grrrrrr.
LOL - it is your right to get annoyed with such people, Chris!!!
I agree with the posters above, you sound like a wonderful neighbor, and the abuela coming over to give you a gift, absolutely priceless! :) Regarding my neighbors, the neighbors before these had a dropping problem. If they dropped it, no matter what it was, it stayed where they dropped it.
I had the distinct pleasure of watching a cell phone go from being a lost, working piece of electronics to a fossil embedded in mud over the period of three months from February to May of one year. Their dog would dig under my fence and then come at me, growling, in my own yard. They liked to crank their stereo at 3 AM (that stopped after they popped out their first kid, although to their credit he arrived ten months after their wedding.)
My big complaint with them though was the intentional disrespect of my property, walking through my flower beds, dumping their ashtray in my flower bed, throwing their bags and cans into my bushes.
They were decent kids, no drugs at least, but they didn't have any respect for other people or their property. I tried being nice to them, tried talking to them -- it didn't work. I finally ended up simply taking the trash that found its way to my property and leaving it on their doorstep.
I was happy to see 'em go.
-Joe
Boy, Joe, I guess!!!!
Well, I have a confession. When we first moved here 35 years ago in the winter I sometimes saw the next door neighbor open her front door and let her BIG dog out to trot over into my yard to go to the bathroom. When I went out the first spring my side yard reeked of urine but the big surprise came after the last snow melted. I went out eager to clean up the old leaves and winter debris in the front yard. Much to my disgust I found a mountain of dog poop in the flower bed that was just about 8 feet from the neighbor's front steps. I was very shy at the time but this made me angry enough to confront her. When I said she could not let her dog poop in my yard she said "But it's cold outside!". (She didn't want to go out in the cold to clean up after her dog.) I told her she was the one who decided to have a dog and therefore she would have to deal with it. (She also had three teenage sons who could have helped.)
But here's the mean part. After that conversation, when I found dog poop in my garden again, I shoveled it up and threw it on her sidewalk. I truly didn't aim for the sidewalk but when it landed there, I wasn't about to pick it back up.
I must say it worked. I never found dog poop in my yard again. Eventually when we could afford it we put up a fence. Fortunately they moved after just a couple of years.
So I was glad to hear about you throwing your neighbors trash back into their yard, Joe. I still feel a little guilty about the dog poop, though.
No need for guilt!! Once many moons ago (and boy was I a shy young woman!), a neighbor kept bringing her Afghans by my place to poop. I was so furious (I had small children), I told her if she brought them by again, I would put it on her front porch. To this day (remembering how timid I was at the time), I am astounded I did it. But I have zero guilt!!!!
I feel so much better. Now I can go to bed and sleep like a baby.
Whew . . . thank goodness! Glad I served some sort of purpose.
Chris, no need for guilt. Before I got the fence I could look out my dining room window only to see the neighbor's dog doing its business under their burning bush! (Now I know why it doesn't "burn" in the fall!)
It's not my trash, it's not my job to pick up after my messy neighbors. On the other hand, I will clean up *my* yard, and what they seem so freely to leave here I have no problem returning to them. I consider it work by proxy. One way or another they'll pick up their own garbage, even if they have to step in it/fall over it on their front step in the morning. If I am inconvenienced, I have no problem sharing the load. :)
I'm a decent neighbor if you treat me well. I find that reciprocity works, both positively and negatively.
As for dog poop, I think of it as stinky karma. :)
-Joe
Lol - Joe, I will remember that one (stinky karma)!
It is surprising how inconsiderate some neighbors can be. Even the most basic respect for other people seems to be missing. Which is why Joe's philosophy about "cultivating good neighbors" is so wise - good karma.
I originally read this because sooner or later we will have to have roofers here and I was thinking about how to protect my roses. Hey, how about, in the winter and surround them with straw bales? Maybe with some kind of a roof if I could stack the bales high enough! In the zone 5 winter that might work! Then I read the neighbor stories. We have the "neighbor-from-hell". Fortunately, she rents her house out when she can, so she isn't there some of the time. This spring, once the snow melted, I noticed the top row of blocks on our wall were missing. The neighbor, when asked, told us her tennant had taken the blocks to use to hold a tarp! There was no apology or suggestion that she might fix the wall or re-pay us. My D.H. didn't want to stress out about it, cinder block and concrete being cheap, and just fixed it himself. I thought the whole incident was bizarre. But you all made me feel a little better...at least it isn't just me!
Roybird, that's totally inexcusable of them to do that. I'd really raise a fuss! Sounds like something my neighbors would try to do.
That is totally beyond my imagination. I've not always had "perfect" neighbors, but Roybird, that's downright disgusting behavior on the part of any human being! Your DH probably has the right idea, but my blood would be boiling and the bp would probably go through the roof!!!
Thanks for understanding. The woman has some problems. Right now the current tennant seems o.k. Lets hope he stays.
All your stories serve to remind us what a blessing good neighbors are. I feel like I should bake some brownies for mine.
I baked a loaf of banana bread for my new neighbors last fall when they moved in. In retrospect, I regret every minute I spent in the kitchen baking that loaf!
I am sorry to hear all the neighbor problems. I sympathize. It would be nice if we could pick our neighbors as well as our houses. Fences do seem to help to make good neighbors. Boundaries are set, although roybirds wall was vandalized, so even that is not the perfect answer.
I was walking in my neighborhood yesterday and saw roofers at work on one of the houses. They had the biggest ,longest, tarps I had ever seen. To protect the plantings and grass they laid out tarps to cover them and another tarp over that which they slid the debris clear to the driveway or sidewalk, at least 15 ft. away from the house. I was thrilled to see such a well equipped company. Maybe this won't be a disaster after all. Fingers crossed.
Now I have a good experience with workers to report. This week men arrived to put up new gutters on the house next door (the one that was roofed). My heart sank when I saw them because, of course, they would have no choice but to use my garden for their ladders. I went straight over to tell them they must not to put their ladders on plants or step on plants. The crew boss said my neighbor had talked to them about it and they would be very careful.
Well, they did a great job. They placed their ladders very carefully and diligently used the stepping stones I have in the flower beds when going in and out of the border. When they were finished you would never know they had been there.
And my neighbors came over to apologize for the need to have the workers in my yard.
Yeah! I win one.
Chris, you are very, very fortunate! You've set an example and have shown them how to be a good neighbor! (I'm sure many people want to be good neighbors, but simply don't know how it's done -- and then there are others... )
I think that sometimes we get so caught up in our own lives and projects that we just don't pay attention to how our actions affect other people. The neighbor on the other side of our house is sweet and fun to know.