Double hedge wall replacing half with fence

[Nate0918]

Looking for advice on building a fence up against my neighbors arborvitae. One side of my property has a separate hedge on either side of the line, one planted by the PO and the other by my neighbor. This leaves a double-walled hedge with arborvitae on the neighbor side and an unidentified bush on my side with a wire fence intertwined in-between. The hedge lines are only about 3 feet from each other, with my hedge branches growing through the arbor vitae. I'm ripping up the hedge on my side for more space and replacing with a privacy fence. I've got a few issues that I was hoping for some advice with. What damage might I do to my neighbors arborvitae if I tear mine up, considering how close they are together? The arbor vitae are around 10ft tall or so. Around half of the neighbors hedge looks ok, but he has had several die and hasn't replaced them. The surviving ones are all brown on my side as they are up against my hedge, they look good on his side. Unless I build a 10ft tall fence, I'm going to be looking at a row of brown-sided arborvitae. Any ideas for dealing with this? What type of fence would work best against these arborvitae? The portion of the property line with arborvitae is 150ft long. My proposed fence would be a total of 250ft.

Side note: I already offered my neighbor to help pay for repairing his hedge. He seemed nice enough and receptive to it, but I could tell he wasn't taking it seriously at the time. We didn't talk specifics yet, but I'd be willing to pay for most of it since some of the arborvitae look fine on his side. If he would go for it, I would put up a much simpler wire fence that the arborvitae would grow through. His surviving arborvitae are well established and thick on his side, he would be giving up a lot of privacy until the new hedge filled in.

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Raintree]

How is a simpler wire fence a privacy fence?

 

[Nate0918]

I would only put in the simple wire fence if my neighbor opted for replacing his arborvitae. The new, green arborvitae would provide the privacy. If he doesn't, then I need to put something more solid up that blocks the view of is browning arborvitae.

 

[Raintree]

OK got it, in situations like yours I would advise remove everything on your side that's going to be removed first. This activity should not harm your neighbors Arbs, providing you are being respectful to your neighbors property.
At this point stand back and take a good look at exactly what you're dealing with. Invite your neighbor to look from your side also. Post pics for us to see. You'll also have key information on what your neighbor is willing to do or not do.
Some Arbs can rejuvenate on the dead branch side with pruning.

 

[Nate0918]

I chopped a small section of my hedge out to get a better idea of what the arborvitae look like last night. I'll take some pics tonight and post them. Hopefully you guys can give me an idea on the likelihood that they can rejuvenate.

 

[Nate0918]

Pics of the hedge behind the hedge. Think these arborvitae will fill in eventually?

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Oh those will bounce back

 

[Nate0918]

That's good to know. I'll cut down what I can of my hedge in the winter to let some sun in. Should I prune off any of the brown tips on the arborvitae around spring time?

 

[Raintree]

Give it a full season before you prune out the dead. Many of the brown limbs you'll find will green up.

 

[Nate0918]

That would be great. I will be pleasantly surprised, a lot of the brown stuff looks real crispy. I'll talk with the neighbor about fertilizing and watering.