Not sure what you're doing but

perimeter = 2*length + 2*width

52 = 2x + 2(x-4) or expanded 52 = x + x + x - 4 + x - 4

ahh fuck missed the two times the width part

I ignored most of what was written and just did 52 - (2 x 18.66) = 14.68, then divided that by 2 and got 7.34 feet.

Adding everything together you get 52 feet (18.66 + 18.66 + 7.34 + 7.34 = 52) but I don't know if that's the way to do it.

Edit: length - 4 = 2 x width (?) so 18.66 - 4 = 14.66/2 = 7.33 ∴ length = 18.66, width = 7.33. Calculating the perimeter will give you 51.98.

I'm presuming the 18.66 is your answer? If so, you did something weird because going solely based off the words:

it turns out its me misreading(more so misunderstanding(I was thinking of both sides of the length and width as one)) and my hatred of doing things the algebra way is the reason its wrong  this is how it was supposed to be done but fuck algebra...

I thought the 18.66 is the length and the rectangle is an illustration, not a text box

yeah... the site that is used by my school is a bit broken when it comes to the math lessons, didn't even think that might be a cause for confusion