u/Responsible-Mess-699

Hi! I’m dealing with some conflict regarding a tree between my house and my neighbors and am curious how others would approach the situation.

Backstory: we bought our house late last year and a short time after living here, our neighbor kept mentioning the tree, asking if we would “help” her cut it down so she could extend her driveway. To be completely honest, I could not hear/understand her most times as she is typically under the influence of alcohol and slurring her speech. We would just listen, vaguely acknowledge her, and go on about our day. Then one day it turned to her asking us if we would cut it down but we let her know that we enjoyed the shade that it provided, so we were going to keep it.

Fast forward to last month or so, we were getting some appliances delivered, and she walked up to our front porch yelling at us, stating that we were to do something about the tree before it messes up her car.

I am truly unsure if the tree is on our property or not. When we purchased the home, the property map that was given to us shows the tree on her property. However, I know these aren’t 100% accurate. Either way, it’s my understanding that (at least in our state - TN), she is legally entitled to trim back any limbs that are hanging over her property.

Now, every time we walk outside, she is out there yelling at us. I did tell her that she is welcome to get them cut herself, but her landlord would need to contact us regarding any other matters about the tree.

Since then, she has sat outside at the edge of our yard yelling about us. She has came out and interrupted us when a contractor had to come look at the exterior of our house for some repairs we are needing to yell at all of us. Then, tonight when my partner arrived home from work, she stated that she is going to “f*ck up (our) car” if any limbs fall from the tree and scratch her car.

I really do not want to cut down this tree. Even if I did, I’m not even sure that I’d be able to legally do so, as I’m not certain it’s on my property and she does not own her house. She claims the tree is on my property, but says that she wants it cut down so she can widen her driveway (which would then put her driveway on “my property”).

At this point, I’m not sure if I should contact her landlord? I considered mailing her a certified letter with the laws highlighted pointing out that she is able to trim them herself and telling her to stop with the harassment and threats or legal action will be taken. I’m not even sure what else I could do? I’m just starting to get annoyed that I’m not even able to step outside in peace at this point.

Photo of said tree and neighbors driveway

Hi! I’m having a problem with water entering my house, soaking into the subfloor and floor joists and bubbling under the paint on the door frame.

I started smelling a mildew smell some weeks ago and couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Then, my floorboards near my front door were starting to bow. After going into my basement and removing the insulation near my front door, I noticed it had been holding in moisture and there was a ton of water.

I have had multiple people take a look and all have given me different possibilities and fixes.

-Get gutters cleaned
-Install a French drain on either side of my porch
-Install J Channel around my front door
-Patch my roof (there is not a leak that seems to be coming from above - no ceiling stains, no wet walls, etc.)
-Remove and install a larger porch
-move/re-angle the awning above my porch

The list goes on.

No one could really give a clear answer on what was causing the issue nor a specific solution to the issue. I really didn’t want to spend thousands on a solution that doesn’t fix the issue and still need to pay additional money to try different things.

I ended up testing a few different things to try to find where the water was coming from.

After any storm, water pools on my porch. The siding does not seem like it is attached well on either side of my front door. When lifting the corner of that siding, you can see sunlight in the basement. It seems that the pooling water on the porch is running from the porch and soaking into the subfloor and joists under the siding.

My next question is how can this be fixed?! Both contractors that came out to look at the issue didn’t really seem to have solutions that would target this issue (I.e. patching the roof and installing a French drain).