Most neighborly relationships survive on small favors and a shared sense of goodwill.

So when one homeowner walked outside to find her car buried in sawdust thanks to her neighbors’ construction project, the years of cordial back-and-forth suddenly felt a lot less stable.

Read on to find out what happened next.

AITA: Neighbors set up construction project in my driveway, surprised that I’m mad

So I have a decent relationship with my neighbors usually — every week they take out our trash cans, I bring them all in.

Things aren’t always perfect, but the homeowner still tries to make the best of it.

I did catch them shooting fireworks from my front yard on NYE when they thought I wasn’t home and I had a drunk friend show up at their house instead for a party, so neither of us are perfect but we’re always cordial.

But when the neighbors started on some new constructions, everything started falling apart.

They’ve set up a construction project in our shared front alley area (about 10×4) which is connected to my driveway (1 single parking spot, directly next to the alley area).

They do not have a driveway and don’t have room to park there.

Everything came to a head when the homeowner’s car got totally trashed.

They seemed very surprised when I angrily asked them why they would set up right next to my car while examining all the sawdust covering it.

They did apologize but had been out there for hours already and could have set up in their own backyard, so obviously aren’t that sorry.

I did not accept the apology and may have overreacted in general since it will wash off.

AITA?

Sounds like tensions have been boiling for a while now.

What did Reddit have to say?

Staying cordial with the neighbors will stand to benefit this homeowner a lot more than throwing a petty tantrum.

It’s not wrong to refuse an apology without a change in behavior.

Maybe it’s time to talk to whoever’s in charge of the construction project.

Or perhaps it’s time to admit that no one is totally blameless here.

Sawdust washes off, but the neighborly relationship might not.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a tenant who called the landlord after they hadn’t seen or heard their neighbor in days.