I feel your pain. What a horrible light polluter! I was reading some of the newer ordinances which not only include angles, but also the height from the ground. How high is that stupid light bomb?

I solved a similar problem in this way. I filed a zoning complaint and submited via email with a link to photos and vids of the offending light (50,000 lumens). While I waited on the Zoning Dept, I bought an Imalent M18 100,000 Lumen searchlight for a few hundred bux and shined it onto their house accross the street. Wouldn't you know it? The neighbor fixed the problem immediately without Zoning Dept feed back. Enjoy :)

What a shame he probably jealous of the jacuzi im having this problem here with the neighbors flood

dont know if you resolved this yet. you say they have a camera blast it out with an infered led. supper cheap to buy and supper anoying to the person recording. you cant see it by eye that well. when they complain tell them its for your security camera and tell them if they repostion the light you will repositon yours.

Ever heard of a pellet gun⁉️

“It was’nt me...it was my child”🤣

@HU-297etc..: Use of a pellet-dispensing device in that application is probably illegal, as innocent as it might sound.

@Deb S: Did you ever get the light trespass problem resolved?

I have somewhat less severe problems with light trespass myself. I have a few ideas that might help.

I like the brella but you have to go reflective even mirror to maximize the return. Modify your umbrella on the exterior Please for your fellow sky gazer.

I soaked in a friend's hot tub once and he ran over and asked his neighbors to turn off their lights for us and it was really sweet but you know what he shouldn't have to do that and you shouldn't either particularly if your neighbors are like mine unless you're illuminating your own property not one Photon should be on someone else's

I think it's time for us to start construction even if it's dilapidated looking I don't care the retractable thing sounded cool if it could be mirrored and retracted on the sideways which is the way it seems like you need it. I think just hammer and nails stick build you something with a mirror and just flash it right back on them and I really do. That's the method I'm going to try at the lake. If your build is some code violation, which I doubt, have them bring out the cops or the codes people let him look at what you're dealing with because what you're dealing with is bullshit in Knoxville there isn't a law because we don't like laws but the police will come out and talk to people about it because it's a nuisance I'll let you know how it goes if I can ever find this post again. Try wearing shades in your hot tub if you have to for now and definitely get a giant black umbrella and put a Spotlight on the back of it please God do that for me. Right back at you baby they are the ones that want light after all right.

I knoe tit for tat blows buy Id say if youve talked to them and they insist on having some kind of security light to light up a football field of that magnitude shining on your property it's time to play ball baby

There is a comment from Sophie that says it all she's thinking right and we all have to take a stand against this nonsense because it's complete and utter bullshit those lights are designed for people with massive amounts of property not subdivisions.

Further those lights are easily programmed to do whatever you want and positioned wherever you want and the bulb wattage can be lowered because I assure you when they start shining on only their property they want something less bright. If you have talked to people and it's not working out I say it's time to get your own spot light reflective material and spotlights of your own on their property into their home or some other private space they don't want illuminated and see how they like it. Perhaps misery will lead to some kind of a accord.

I understand what you're going through. Don't let them bully nor harrass you with thier floodlights. There is a law called light trespass. Go to your local code enforcement office and file a complaint. They will be forced by law to move thier flood lights downwards away from your property. And if they don't comply, they will be fined. I hope this helps

Take photos, email every town official and mayor. Do it. Complain. Write the neighbor a certified letter. I did. Then I won in court.

I have a huge issue with my neighbors across the canal. . I use an umbrella too

.

It works, hes hollered over and asks why my umbrella is like that, I told him then he turned on mega watt flood lights.

I may have called him an A##hole

@Eve Slocum

There is often not much point in trying to reason with these people.

In your situation, I might be tempted to have some floodlights of my own, pre-aimed at vulnerable places such as his patio. Leave the lights OFF until he is out there one night having a BBQ with guests, then at the appropriate time, hit the switch!

My neighbors recently built a deck higher than the required 4 foot fence by our HOA. I have had to put up with dust bring blown all over my deck and yard. I have to live next door to my neighbors and unfortunately it has turned out be be an inconvenience for me. I now have to remove everything from the deck to power wash it. The rug , chairs and my umbrella. I just had sod put downed in my yard and had a 4 ft fence installed. My landscape guy also put in a fire pit which now I can’t use because the lights from the deck next door keeps my solar lights from coming on as well the other neighbor next my her lights as well. A complete waste of my money because as a homeowner I can’t enjoy what I’m paying for every month. This sucks completely.

This picture is my yard and as you can see the light is shining from my neighbor “s deck

It does suck. I harassed the property manager daily to do something about it. I’m sure he thought I was a huge pain, but I didn’t care. PMs come and they go. It was actually my goal to make it as painful on him as it was on me bc he wasn’t doing his job. Finally he resolved it to my satisfaction. Why is your neighbor’s yard higher than yours? I would be taking a deep dive into their permitting process and see if there has been approvals and inspections. There has to be a weak spot in this build.

Thank you for your response but I don’t want to cause any problems. They are my neighbors and I live next door to them and last thing I don’t want is any level of hostility.

@Donna- better to light a candle than curse the darkness. Try diplomacy . My neighbors were out of control and had a blatant disregard for anyone other than themselves. Maybe yours are nicer.

A good neighbor will shield and redirect the light. A bad neighbor will flood your yard with their lights after you have asked them to shield/move/redirect their light as it ruins your yard, house, etc.

Read the CC&Rs or other documents for your HOA and find out what the rules are regarding the permitted height of fencing, exterior light wattage, etc. Also familiarize yourself with what can be done when there are reported violations and a failure by your Board of Directors and the manager to address your concerns. Some documents only govern what happens in the front yard, but you mention that the fence height is regulated. Do your homework if this really bothers you. It’s up to you to decide if this is an annoyance that you can live with, or a major quality of life issue. I put blackout curtains when my back neighbors hung party lights. They were great neighbors and it wasn’t worth mentioning. Good luck!

Donna…. #1. check your city, county, state lighting ordinances specifically for outdoor light fixtures. these ordinances are typically easy to search online. you can also contact your city or county and ask ”how can i access the ordinances?”

#2. once you find the ordinance file a complaint with city code enforcment.

#3. if code enforcment falls short on enforcment then see if your county coty counselor rep can advise you or see if you have a state property ombudsman.

I'm thinking of hanging huge mirrors in their direction.

At: Amellanpartner Riley, Those mirrors will have no useful effect. If you can give some details about your situation, maybe I or some others could come up with something.

I do not deal with churlish neighbors that I believe know what they are doing; I have security lights too, but my bright lights are motion lights—I am considerate of my neighbors. More importantly, I need to live in peace at home, since I will be in my home for long time. I made the decision to handle this gingerly, diplomatically with a little creativity. I chose to manage the issue by way of not responding, to not give them any feedback about what bothers me; it could get bad, even if I speak to them nicely their response may make matters worst or If they do nothing or do something else? I do not want too spend/give any energy to this type of behavior; I can’t take that chance after all peace at Home trumps responding in my mind. This is how I handled managing ignorant, budding neighbors. . .

I had purchased 5 small Giant Arboratias, that were 1- 2’ tall and 1/2’ wide, Privacy Evergreen Trees four years prior to my new neighbors moving in their home in which our backyards face each other. The Giant Arboratias block neighbors view, muffle sound, stop wind and are green all year round with low maintain! Once Giant Arboratias are established, (after 2-3 years), they grow faster, 3’-4’ a year, and can grow up to 20’-40’ in height—note all electrical wires are in the front of the property, so the sky is the limit (unlike my countys rule—fences must be no higher then 4’. It is important to note, these trees have a lead branch, center top, cut it off when you want the tree to stop growing in height! I wished I had brought larger trees to speed growth instead of the smaller ones.

In the meantime. . .

I purchased a portable/extendable 20’ Flag Pole ($52), and a 3’x5’ Large Garden Flag ($15), and blocked some of the glare of the flood light, which they have on a timer set at 7PM-7AM, and until my privacy trees grow to be taller than the height of the flood light, then I will cut the tree leads to stop the height growth. I take solace in knowing my neighbor’s blinding flood light will be permanently blocked, in about 4-5 years and my plan—B, the large garden flag will properly be a permanent fixture as well.

I hope this helped!

Ugh that is so unneighborly of them. Does your jurisdiction have a downward lighting requirement? (Where lights are required to shine downward only)

I wonder if you could purchase a motion sensor for them. Approach might be to say you have an extra and perhaps they would use it.

This post is from 2017. I would think once it became mosquitoe season that light went dark pretty quick.

You’re right! This problem initially was solved by shielding the light with a metal shield. My neighbor begrudgingly put this up at the insistence of the property manager, but he left that darn light on 24/7/365. They sold their home last year and I contacted the new property manager to discuss fixing the problem before he was allowed to get his estoppel for closing. She made sure he removed the floodlight permanently. All is well that ends well!

Congrats Deb S! It may be an old post but it’s still relevant to others.

My?? This! I'm in the boondocks & side Street where across from my block is plant parking lot loading semis on the docks early early morning evenings Someone might EVEN stay overnight with their own private & trailer. Drivers? From everywhere. Problem:: Huge Security light ! 1 that goes on & shining right at the place of mine. DISTANCE? About a half block long Yet? Blinding me. Soon as I step out of the door, it's getting brighter. Does not see the way I'm moving? It searches & EVEN looks like it the Entire block one night. Why's the lights doing that? CANNOT handle it. HELP, , HELP

Owner of park has led stadium like light aimed st our home across lake Won’t move it . people next to it moved one down so they arent lit but wont move other. residents taunt prople here along with bully owner. He has land all as one huge parcel so code cant help with lot division on nuisance law. we have lanai eith 3 long screens. even tarp fidnt help. tarp tacky & too closed in.

Permeated house , kitchen etc.

Wow, just read all these comments. We live in a suburb at the foothills of a moutain, the houses are not that close, BUT the neighborhood is definitely not a friendly place and we didn't know that when we moved here. We've been dealing with floodlights since we moved in 5 years ago. I've had to put up tarps in several areas around my property, using parachute cords, duct tape, ladders, etc. to keep the floodlights from invading our backyard, all our windows in the backyard from end to end of our home. One neighbor who recently bought a house in the development put up floodlights all over her house from the side to the front and the back, these lights which are more than 1,000 feet away from us, stream into our yard and house (windows, sliding glass door, etc.) off and on throughout the night, every night. There are neighbors in the front of our house that have floodlights that stream into our windows and light up our entire home from end to end, top to bottom, going onto the side areas of our backyard. They are motion lights, but are so annoying, as they are placed so high on their garages and pointed out straight to our house. Really?! No Brains at all. One neighbor has a light so strong and powerful that I can actually read a book from the light steaming into the window and his light points straight at the road, houses, comes on whether its light our dark out and if a car goes by in front of his house. All in all, I have so many tarps up, and cannot wait to move away! Not worth fencing or staying. Had to share with you all.

@HU-992 : Some people are just deathly afraid of the dark. It sounds so bad that you probably have nothing to lose by seeking legal action.

Have you priced some fast-growing evergreen trees? They are called Arborvitae or Thuja, I think.

We'll be moving, no sense in planting trees. We are surrounded by trees, but they all drop their leaves in the Fall, leaving many months of light pollution. People who are afraid of the dark really shouldn't be living in the country because most people who live in the country prefer to have quietness and privacy which includes intrusion of other people's lights. I suggest downcast lights would be so much better for anyone who is afraid of the dark. However, if one lives in a place that doesn't have an HOA, there's not too much you can do besides blocking the intruding lights or move. By the way, the tarps are on the trees, not ladders, used the ladders to hang the tarps because I need them quite high. Have a great day!

Those lights should not be higher than the fence height regulations. Amazing how rude people are. I’m sure everyone knows them since it’s probably the only house that looks that obnoxious. Nyctophobia for sure!

First off someone mentioned HOA and ”country” living in the same sentence and i need to clarify that ”country living” by definition = rural County laws = no HOA. A lot of County ordinances aka laws are being made to promote the ”dark sky” initiatives and ban unshileded lighting aka light trespassing and light pollution. Check withUtah your city ordinances or if you are in the country check your county ordinances because unincoporated cities adhere to county laws while urban cities have to abide by city ordinances.

next is the fact that many houses are built on hills or are taller than fences so there is no ”law” or rule that could ever limit the height of a light fixture but it can dictate that light should not trespass beyond a property boundry regardless of the presence of a physical fence boundary.

Thank you W, kozmo, Liz Ramirez for all the helpful answers. If there was true enforcement from the Town, then the Ordinances would be a remedy and also regulations. However, this Town won't do anything, unfortunately, and also unfortunately most of the neighbors are pretty much oblivious in respecting other neighbors' privacy and noise pollution for that matter. Solution = moving to a private area, no neighborhoods for us.

100% understand! i have neighbors who intentionally installed industrial grade spot lights on the back of their house amd directed it into our home out of their anger and spite for me informing them that they legally have zero water rights according to the State water rights registry! So i spent 6+ long years fighting the city to enforce the existing laws and get a fence permit. still zero enforcment but i did finally get a permit to build a fence but it does not go high enough to stop the light.

@Liz Ramirez: What are the laws and regulations about trees or does the region not get enough rain to support them?

How much higher would the fence need to be?

Is there a height limit on other structures?

trees are not an option due to the region growth issues and high wind storms but i did find this alternative that i am considering building when we start construction on our back yard landscaping plans. it is a stand alone raised privacy screen that can technically be built higher than our existing fence and does not require any permits!

our house has a basement and is 2 stories and all of the houses around us are single level homes so they sit lower than us. we installed the legal limit of a 7ft high solid panel fence and it is Amazing because now the neighbors cant just come out and stare at us and yell and cuss at me whenever we are in our back yard! of course they did install this motion activated dog barking alarm, in the back yard near our property line, so anytime a tree branch moves we have to listen to this dumb dog barking alarm… which is better than the neighbors next to them, whom they are friends with, who would just set their dogs loose to bark and lunge at us until we were driven back inside our house because according to them they never liked us and felt we dont belong in the neighborhood

so this stand alone screen without any cross beams is my ultimate solution aside from bringing a lawsuit against the city and beighbkrs for gross negligence and ongoing harassment of my peacful enjoyment of my property.

https://ozcobp.com/diy-outdoor-privacy-screen-ideas-functional-deck-decorations-cozy-backyard-living-space/

Liz, so sorry to hear about your situation. The neighborhood where we are is a close second in light pollution, noise and dog issues - and yes I've thought of lawsuits as well. Suggestion about the barking dog alarm, there are motion sensor alarms that have different sounds you could use - one is called Hulppre Solar Outdoor Motion Sensor - it has 13 different sounds and you can record you own Sound as well - maybe a certain piece of music that your neighbor doesn't like to hear i.e. Opera - if you wanted to go that route; the other suggestion is for your privacy screen or any other fencing you may want to do, maybe you could build up a raised bank/berm to where you want to place a screeen/fence, that way you would still be at the 7 feet legal limit, but it would sit on top of a little hill that could add a couple extra feet which could make a difference for light privacy, just a few ideas I thought of, if you are interested. I liked the link to the privacy screen you shared, gave me a few ideas as well.

We just got home from a week away and the second set of neighbors behind us, the ones who told us we dont belong.. have even brighter industrial spot lights they are using shined into our house now. i cant screen off the entire back property which spans 100ft across their two back yards so 🤷🏻‍♀️. i have thermal insulated black out curtains in all of my main level rooms and i still need to make them for the upstairs bedrooms and office. sadly the curtains are extremely effective and we cant open the windows to cool the house at night because of all of the light from the three neighboring houses and the church parking lot lights infront of our house. also the sound of countless dogs barking all night long howling to be let inside the house or from neglect + the illegal drag racing that police know about but never do anything to stop it..

this new light situation is most likely retaliation for me reporting their illegal spot lights to the city.. they are very petty spiteful angry people in this neck of the US. we just got back from my Native born home State and i got to wake up every single morning to the sound of doves or a squirrels using our roof as a bypass freeway to get to his favorite tree. i really domt understamd this stramge phenomena of people leaving their 6,500 kelvin 1500 lumen bright back porch lights on all night long to shine into other peoples houses! i mean i know why the neihbors around me do ot.l because i have spokem to each of them before about shielding the lights and well this is their spiteful way of sticking it to us for stopping them from freely accessing and using our property as their own. we notice all of the lighting trespassing when we are in vacation rentals or hotels, the worst are the National parks camp grounds.. the lighting is just so horrific you cant see any night sky from the newer camp grounds at most of the National park camps in Yellow stone.

The only thing I can think of is to place some aluminum foil or even a mirror in back of your black-out curtains that would reflect the spotlight light back at your neighbor. Maybe even put something similar outside to reflect the spot light back as well. That way, they would get their own light back at them. Not that I would want to have an already bad situation even worse, but at this point, your neighbors are really bad, and would only receive back what they are dishing out to you. I do hope there is a positive solution on the legal end from this situation.

I now live in a State where laws are merely a whim or passing thought. people think they have laws to protect themselves but the laws are worthless because the people paid to enforce them choose not to. There was a couple, husband and wife,.. nearby at a major local event and the husband was mugged by a group of guys in a parking lot with many witnesses but the police said ”unless you got it on film then there is nothing we can do”. i too was a victim of a crime in my home and the police told me the same thing. A State attorney told me she couldn’t help me because city officials and employees here can pick and choose what laws to enforce or ignore. Law enforcement (code enforcement officers, police officer’s, and animal control officers) have all told me and my neighbors on various issues how to circumvent the laws instead of enforcing them and i have been witness to them all saying this to my neighbors as well as them telling me directly.

like i said it took me 6 years to get a fence building permit here.. because the manager of the permit department didnt like the aesthetic look of the fence i wanted to build. i was told ”you need to wait for the manager to retire and hope someone

better is given the job”. obviously i did not adhere to that advice.

ok so the lighting issue solution that many of us face… is to build a screen that legally is not a fence and can be built higher than fences to help block out light. use sheet metal flashing and paint the side facing inward and leave the back side shiny and reflective! the flashing needs to be installed in a wave form to allow airflow in high wind areas.. also triple check with below ground depths etc.. the higher a structure like this screen is built than the farther in the ground the footings need to be dug. i think we had to go down 2.5-3ft for our fence post footings for a 7ft high solid privacy fence.

Really like both photos and ideas. Agree on the total lack of enforcement of ordinaces, regulations. Seems like the people who want to live in peace, have privacy and enjoy their space (gardening, etc.) are having the worst time in this day and age. Hope you are able to get your panels/privacy all set-up real soon. We all need some place to distress and our home is supposed to be a peaceful retreat from everything.

At Liz Ramirez: There is a Website called "Empress of Dirt" that showed a way to brace such a structure against the fence ("Making Fence Taller" ?) and the footings might not have to be quite so deep that way. You'll have to check local codes to see if such an idea is even allowed where you live.

i hope this i formation can help others find a viable solution to blocking their neighbirs light pollution.

@luvprimrose Thanks.. my battle against bad neighbors and their intentional light pollution has existed for almost nearing 10 years now so i hope to start gaining traction on our landscaping projects sooner than later now that our fence is finished.

@startazer1000 i think i am fully prepared to tackle this project once we break ground.

For anyone following along and wamting more information here is a guide i wrote on fence building.. all infirmation on footing and post digging are applicable to privacy shielding. i gathered information from engineering fence design plans and manuals etc.. https://diysoldier.com/corrugated-metal-fence/

digging post holes rule of thumb include ..

#1. digging a hole that is 3x larger (wider) than the post being installed and at a depth 1/3 – 1/2 the height of the finished fence above ground. However this is a privacy screening and it wont be as weight bearing as a full privacy fence. However i would still follow this rule of post hole and footings.

#2. Posts should be buried to a depth below the frost line.