You Can't Fix Stupid

[sawguy21]

An HOA spread laundry detergent on the roofs to control moss. Then it rained filling the yards and a creek which is a riparian management area with suds. Environmental department is investigating. No, I didn't make this up. :D

[mike_belben]

how is that any different than hiring a powerwasher to come blast it off with a detergent?  


At some point people have to accept that humanity will dirty the creek and the earth is self healing. 

[sawguy21]

The powerwasher doesn't fill the yards and creek with suds, the operator can clean up as he goes.

[Roxie]

Sawguy  :D 

My son in Delaware has a HOA that doesn't permit a clothes line, the original solar power. In fact they also forbid said neighborhood children from throwing towels on the fence to dry after a dip in the pool. 

[mike_belben]

That is the associative property of homeowners associations roxy.  Put plainly, it is a reciprocal tendency for HOA's to keep out the rednecks and rednecks to keep out the HOA's.  

What does the HOA say about year round Christmas lights and washers on the porch?

[Southside]

We looked REALLY hard at a non operating dairy that really fit well with what we needed - until it was revealed that the farm was being surrounded by a HOA.  Ummm -- when worlds collide, ran away from that one.  

I can see it now..."Mommy why is that cow on top of that other cow?"... :D

[Ianab]

how is that any different than hiring a powerwasher to come blast it off with a detergent?  


At some point people have to accept that humanity will dirty the creek and the earth is self healing.

Detergent + fish = dead fish. 
Sure the water will clean up again, and the fish will come back, in a few years. But it's still not a good idea.
If someone did that to our backyard creek it would take out ~50 year old fish (eels). I'd be pretty wild about that.

[HemlockKing]

Bet the lawn smells nice a fresh now. 

[HemlockKing]

how is that any different than hiring a powerwasher to come blast it off with a detergent?  


At some point people have to accept that humanity will dirty the creek and the earth is self healing.

Heck you don’t even need to pressure wash it off all you need is water bleach and a scrubber broom... scrub.. hose off. Also bleach mixed with spray nine/water in a pump sprayer for vinyl siding and let sit for 5 minutes then hose off. The green mold comes right off like nothing. IMO pressure washing is just asking to blast water behind your siding when you really don’t need to, people who pressure wash as their job wouldn’t want ya to know that though  ;D

[Kindlinmaker]

I once heard HOA defined as another layer of government which regularly runs amuck and unchecked that otherwise intelligent folks subscribe to; voluntarily.  Wars have been fought for less infringement of rights.

And a bigger bunch of hypocrites you will never meet.  Run out to the Prius wearing the latest in recycled cloth tennis wear carrying a reusable water bottle made of ocean plastic collected in southeast Asia, made in China and shipped to the U.S.  All while their lawn care company sprays the lawn with the flavor of the month carcinogenic toxins that will run off and kill everything in their path so the neighbors can appreciate the perfect Scott lawn prescribed in the bylaws.  And the family dog can die very young of some "undefined" disease.

I've been involved with more than one HOA property and I have formed some rather strong opinions.  Not a one of them favorable.

My family has deep ties to coastal Maine which has yielded to the HOA frenzy as gentrification has taken over great swaths of land and beautiful old summer homes have yielded to McMansions during my lifetime.  The value of mixed socioeconomic communities are being lost at warp speed.  I cannot seem to locate the exact passage but a famous Pulitzer Prize winning author, who had a beautiful coastal summer estate 100 years ago, wrote something akin to..... The aesthetic distraction of a few tarpaper covered shacks is but a very small price to pay for the eclectic mix that makes our community so wonderful.  I wouldn't change a thing.....One of those profound things you read and retain for decades.  

[HemlockKing]

My family has deep ties to coastal Maine which has yielded to the HOA frenzy as gentrification has taken over great swaths of land and beautiful old summer homes have yielded to McMansions during my lifetime.  The value of mixed socioeconomic communities are being lost at warp speed.  I cannot seem to locate the exact passage but a famous Pulitzer Prize winning author, who had a beautiful coastal summer estate 100 years ago, wrote something akin to..... The aesthetic distraction of a few tarpaper covered shacks is but a very small price to pay for the eclectic mix that makes our community so wonderful.  I wouldn't change a thing.....One of those profound things you read and retain for decades.  

this is one of my biggest fears and why I'm FAR away from any city, it's already happening in this province, up to a hour outside the city

[WV Sawmiller]

Roxie,

   I think we share similar opinions of HOA's. We have a good friend in Tucson who used to talk about how great their HOA was. She told me a house in the subdivision sat empty and became a crack house. Somebody finally got some kind of special loan to buy it. Since the house had been empty a year or so the weeds had grown and died in the front yard which was an eye-sore and a fire hazard. The place was so bad the new owner had to rip out the carpet for fear of drug needles in it. As soon as he moved in the HOA sent him a nasty note telling him to pull his weeds or they would hire someone to do it and backbill him for it. The poor guy was no doubt strapped for cash and time having just moved in and trying to get settled now he is getting threats from the HOA. I asked my friend "Why didn't you all get together and have a block party to welcome him to the neighborhood and have a weedpulling party to help him out?" That's the way I was raised. 

   I don't have patience to live in a subdivision or tolerate low level politicians and bullies on an HOA trying to tell me what to do or what I can't do with my property. Places where they say you can't put a fence forward of your house or plant a dogwood or apple tree in your front yard for fear it will harm the appearance and prices of other nearby property are not for me. My thoughts are if you can't sight in your deer rifle or pee off your front porch you are too close to your nearest neighbor! 

[Brucer]

To put Sawguy's post in perspective, the suds were rising up to 8 feet above the creek down a good portion of it's length. The creek wanders through the woods, so it was pretty surreal.

[mike_belben]

I guess im just too stupid to understand the difference between rain washing detergent downhill vs a powerwasher doing it.  Seriously.

:-\

[sawguy21]

Powerwashing mixes a small amount of detergent with the water and is spread over a limited area. These clowns covered the roofs of a large complex with raw detergent, the rain hit and the lawns, parking area and creek were covered in a layer of foam.

[Southside]

Kinda surprised the authorities were able to nab them actually.  I mean from the sounds of it they should have made a clean get away.   :D

[mike_belben]

Well theyre all washed up now. 


I guess i didnt grasp the scope.  Im thinking a gallon sprayer with a quart of dawn and water mix.  Not a 55g drum of pure detergent and someone down bottom cranking the derrick handle. 

[Southside]

The image reminds me of the time I ran out of dish washing detergent.  Being a bachelor I improvised and filled the reservoir with good old fashioned liquid dish soap, Dawn or whatever I had.  Came back a couple of hours later to suds up to the counter and the cleanest tile floor you ever saw!!   8)

[mike_belben]

Ive been washing my laundry in dawn for years and showering in it for decades.  And mounting tires, degreasing engines, washing dishes.  I bet it cures hemherroids too.


Blue Dawn ultra is the milwaukee tool of soap.

[Kindlinmaker]

I got all carried away with the HOA portion of the story, which hit a nerve, and I responded to that above.    Now that I'm thinking more about it, this has got to go down in the annals of "what were they thinking".  That was a whole lot of soap that cost a bunch of money.  I don't think I've ever read any "crazy internet remedies" for removing moss using straight soap and waiting for rain.  Somebody actually went to a whole lot of trouble and effort to do this...... and they probably got paid to do it.....Oh well, I guess the title of the post says it all.

[Roxie]

Been in the same house now for 34 years. The original aluminum siding part doesn't get algae but the vinyl siding does. Another example of going backwards in technology. Never treated the lawn with anything and each April beautiful waves of dandelions and violets look as pretty as my intentionally planted hyacinths. My dirt and gravel driveway are grandfathered in as permissible by the Township but new homes must macadam the drive to get their occupancy permit. Another backwards improvement, why not let the earth breathe and perk down rainwater?  Why would anyone want a driveway that burns your feet in summer and reflects and holds heat?  

I would be an HOA's worst nightmare, but I would never buy a home and forfeit my rights to live as I please. 

Now for anyone that needs to know, that algae will disappear without any scrubbing or pressure washing by diluting one cup of white vinegar to a gallon of water and just put that in a spray bottle, spray it and wait a few days.  Gets windows sparkling clean too. Need weed killer?  Just add a cup of epson salt and a few drops of dawn liquid to the above diluted vinegar. 

[Al_Smith]

 :D Being a red neck I look at HOA's about the same as I do "time shares " .,Not for me .They might be appealing to the country club set though .

[Al_Smith]

Funny thing  about hoity toits .I've had three different women ,all city girls ,classy ladies .For some reason when I get them in the country they fit right in and have no desire to go back .They put up with my 5 to 15 cords of firewood, bull dozer in the woods ,strategically placed junk hiding in the woods and drinking beer on the patio ,out of the can .From evening dresses to blue jeans in a flash . 8)

[HemlockKing]

,strategically placed junk hiding in the woods

:D :D :D :D

[thecfarm]

I have a brother that has a $150,000 house with junk cars in front of it and probably a couple dead riding lawn mowers and various other pieces of iron too. Now nothing really a matter with that, but I'm like Al. Come to my house and you would have no idea the junk I have out in the woods.  ;)