Plans Change Fast

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Raymond

Raymond
Staff member
Corporate Member
My first free weekend in months and the plan was to do do some holiday turnings. However, upon arriving home Friday evening, I discovered my mailbox busted to pieces laying on its side along-side my driveway. Apparently, the waste disposal driver decided my 19 year-old mailbox needed refreshing. So, I did get some woodworking in today, just not what I intended; and, of course, it had to be done on our first windy and chilly fall day so far this year.

And as those of you who live in an HOA controlled community know - that darn mailbox has to be the same design and specifications as laid out in the HOA CC&R's and don't forget that special shade of off-white paint and the 4-1/2" tall brass numbers on both sides of the paper-chute below the mailbox. Of course, you must match the design of all the other 287 other mailboxes in the community, with those three vertical grooves routed into the side panels nailed the 4x4 pressure-treated post.

But the real treat is trying to find those darn numbers in that forgotten style that no one can tell you the name of because they forgot to record the style name in the CC&R's and finally, after a 2 hour internet search you finally finds them. Those numbers cost more than any exotic wood that I can think of - $23.59 per number multiplied by 2. Yep, on each side of the mailbox. It cost more for those darn numbers than it did for the lumber, paint, nails and my labor.

Hopefully, I will have some time tomorrow to get some turning in. :D How was your Saturday?
 

Dave Richards

Dave
Senior User
Bummer on the mailbox. Did you already get the numbers? If not, maybe I can get the font and make you full size patterns to cut out so you don't have to buy them. I won't even charge you $23.00 for the lot. ;)
 

Phil S

Phil Soper
Staff member
Corporate Member
My Saturday you ask.
Blew some leaves
Did a line
Blew some more leaves
Did another line
Cleaned the gutters
Did another line
More leaves
And more lines

Maybe I should explain, the lines are holly stringing on the front door of another spice box

Tomorrow it will be lots of berries
And probably more leaves
 

Graywolf

Board of Directors, President
Richard
Staff member
Corporate Member
Yep, I was afraid you had a problem for a moment.
Raymond, I'm truly sorry for your mail box adventure.
Me I finished another set of winding sticks, re sawed some more holly, and prepped some materials for some drawers. nothing as exciting as you guys
 

Dee2

Board of Directors, Vice President
Gene
Staff member
Corporate Member
Cleaned the clothes dryer vent. Installed the last hose bib insulated box. Trip to blue box to get some ceiling spray paint. Brought the ponytail palm into the garage for the winter. Applied sanding sealer to two bowls and one platter while watching foolsball. Cheered for AU. Teleconferenced with siblings on the internment plans for my mother's ashes.
 

Dave Richards

Dave
Senior User
Shoveled a little snow and spent most of the morning putting out door tags for Scouting for Food with my son, ate lunch, took a nap, puttered in the shop. Leaves were raked up a week ago and the lawn work is done for the season.
 

ehpoole

Administrator
Ethan
Raymond, at least your HOA specified 4x4s. Ours chose to go with 4x6s with a finial of sorts cut into the top — pretty much a special order item as not many local big box stores carry 4x6s.

If you are not a woodworker and want/need to have one made then it will set you back $300-500 to have one made depending upon whether other homeowners will buy in with you. As a result there are a lot of very rundown mailboxes in our neighborhood.

But for the life of me I do not get why HOAs bother to specify mailboxes at all. I can see a rule saying no Rubbermaid style plastic mailboxes in an upscale neighborhood, but beyond that it makes no sense whatsoever. Who should care what their neighbor has as their mailbox?

I’m still waiting for the day when I finally find that one person who actually tells me they really liked that house and neighborhood they looked at, but they just could not buy that house because they could not stand the mailbox a neighbor 10 houses down had! Who thinks like that and is it really such a large percentage of people that a mailbox would have a remotely noticeable effect on property values throughout a neighborhood? I can’t imagine so, but then it seems like there are many who run HOAs who seem to believe that anything different is a mortal threat — we run into that a lot with antennas and amateur radio even though studies show they have no detectable effect on neighboring property values (not even when 1000+ foot commercial antennas are installed or removed next door to a property or neighborhood!). Aesthetically, I find all the trampolines to be more of an eyesore, but I’m much more a “to each their own” sort of person and they don’t really bother me because I know they brought enjoyment to someone (or at least they once did in the case of abandoned and neglected trampolines!).

But then I really do not get the appeal of HOAs even though they are nearly impossible to avoid in many areas of the country without either buying very old homes in need of major work or moving to a rural area (though even some rural areas have HOAs now which boggles my mind having grown up in rural America). I don’t understand why bland cookie cutter homes where they all look more or less alike, the same color scheme, similar landscaping, and little ability to change anything (for better or worse) on the assumption that anything even a little different will somehow destroy the value of everyone’s property? Why is such absolute, and sometimes draconian, conformity even seen as something desirable by so many? We did not even want a property with a HOA when we bought back in 2006, but the only other choices were much older homes in need of major work — none of the newer homes in our area were available that did not include a HOA so we were effectively forced into one whether we wanted such or not since we did not want to/could not spend 12+ months renovating an old home before moving in to het such up to Code and spec (some even had some dangerous uninspected “improvements” made that would have required major structural work to fix and make safe).

Can you all tell how much I love HOAs? lol!
 

golfdad

Co-director of Outreach
Dirk
Corporate Member
Was getting worried about Phil.....lol. Get waste disposal co to reimburse for new mail box Raymond. Blew leaves here and turned a bowl after I got oil changed in the truck
 
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Raymond

Raymond
Staff member
Corporate Member
David, I already ordered the numbers - they will arrive on Wednesday. Thanks for the offer. :icon_thum

Good one, Phil! I am glad you splaind that to us. :)

Don't rake or blow leaves - mulch them up and let them enrich your soil!:widea:

Ethan, I promised my wife that when we retired from the US Army - that she would be in charge of where we were going to live after nearly 18 years of dragging her and the girls to places they had no choice over. Well, she chose Charlotte, NC and we found the same builder here that built our house in Texas and drew up the blue prints for the house we live in now. Our house (size and design) is unique to the community but the outside style fits in; so the local builder used our blue prints to build on the lot we chose as they were still in Phase 1 of building this community in 1999.

HOA living is something I can do without but it has not been a hindrance to our quality and way of life - so no real complaints on that front. I was on the HOA BoD for nearly 15 years but had to resign from the BoD as my work duties were demanding too many of my waking hours to be able to help the BoD I way I was used to. I do plan on getting back on the BoD but only after I retire in DEC 2019.
 

bowman

Board of Directors, Webmaster
Neal
Staff member
Corporate Member
Blew leaves for 2-3 hours, then worked on basement floor, installing a water-resistant vinyl laminate that connects with the click/lock style.

After the below-freezing temp overnight, I have a new layer of leaves that will have to wait for a few more days.
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
I buy treated 4 x 6s at the local BORGs or a building lumber supplier in my area of NC.

I think HOAs often sit around and think up new and improved restrictions for the residents. One local HOA dictates that garage door openings can't face the street! We live in a local "neighborhood" with moderately high end homes, a BOD and annual membership dues. There are general covenants but not picky nickel & dime stuff like mailboxes.
 

DSWalker

David
Corporate Member
That's a bummer. Is the waste disposal company accepting liability?

HOA's are one reason I live on 25 acres and my nearest neighbors [cattle] don't give a darn what my mailbox looks like or what color the post is! :rotflm:
 

Phil S

Phil Soper
Staff member
Corporate Member
Plan B might be to put up what you want and ask for forgiveness. I live under a HOA also but just do not pay much attention to it and nobody complains. Of course, if they did they could not come borrow tools
 

MarkE

Mark
Corporate Member
Plan B might be to put up what you want and ask for forgiveness. I live under a HOA also but just do not pay much attention to it and nobody complains. Of course, if they did they could not come borrow tools


:rotflm:
 

TENdriver

New User
TENdriver
HOAs do serve some good. My former 400 home NJ neighborhood didn’t have an HOA. Neighbor converted his traditional American Center Hall Colonial into a Hellenic palace or temple replete with numerous columns and bright red and orange statuary.

Oh yeah, the statues (and there were at least a dozen of them just on the roof) had their unmentionable parts painted gold.

As if all that wasn’t enough, the house was on the main street, on a rise in the first cul-de-sac next to the main entrance. No way to miss it.

Truth is stranger-than-fiction. Not only am I not even exaggerating, I didn’t begin to describe the front and back yards!

Who knows how much the conversion cost, but there was plenty of marble everywhere.
 

Gotcha6

Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
I'd think an HOA that specified a particular type of mailbox and post could go to the trouble of having a couple of spares stored somewhere for sale.
As for HOAs in general, they are somewhat of a necessary evil in some cases. In others, they can be little fiefdoms for some power hungry Town Council wannabes. Case in point; a few years ago, a homeowner with an HOA that specified what lawn service could be used decided to do his own lawn as therapy. Problem was, his lawn looked so much better than everyone else's that the HOA sent him a ''Cease and Desist" order. Some people....
 
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