the next hoa meeting you guys should have a vote concerning the issue with car washing, if it's cost related. environmentally, for me there is a difference between storm drains and sewer drains. storm drains carry rainfall directly to the ocean. one drop of oil supposedly contaminates 100,000 gallons of water. i don't know what cleaning products do though.

 

my HOA also has a peculiar rule too when it comes to car washing. all residents are only allowed to wash their own cars, any outside parties are forbidden. why? because the association cannot afford to lose money from extra water used. go figure lol

 

Thanks for everyone's help. I plan on trying out the ONR. I'm planning on calling the property manager and telling him I'm going to continue washing my car in my driveway (using ONR with 'distilled' water and a bio-degradable product.)

I am 99% sure this memo went out because there are bitter homeowners in the other building upset that they can't wash their cars because they don't have a driveway or garage. They can shove it.

Thanks again for the help and links! VERY useful!!!

 

Do it anyways just at like 3:30 in the morning when no one sees you.

 

Maybe you should buy in bulk, to get wholesale pricing, on ONR and sell that stuff at the next HOA meeting.

 

i could care less for the f'in environment, HOAs piss me off exactly because of this kind of bs, and screw the "water shortage" in california-- it rained for a mother f'in week... let me correct myself, it STORMED for a week.

 

^lmao u dont sound too happy...

i do think it is important to take care of the environment, but i also dont want mother nature used as an excuse when others may b jealous or ill-informed.

 

^ its not been my day today. i'm usually a happier person lol. i guess its the over exposure to the hippies... couldnt be helped since i live in the bay area and someone's always saying "don't do this because it pollutes"

 

Back when I had my condo, I ran into the same problem.

First they had restricted car washing in the private driveways. Too many people complained about it so they setup a community car wash area. Everyone still washed their cars in their driveways. Well then, since we had a shared water setup also, people still complained about the water usage and the costs going up.

So I decided to start going to the HOA meetings. When the part about the water usage and the dues going up to cover it, I suggested that they meter the individual units. No one liked that idea. Fast forward to the next HOA meeting. The same thing was brought up. So again, I suggest metering the individual units.

My argument was that me as a single person living by myself, and my water consumption of car washing once a week plus showers, minimal dishes and laundry (let's face it...i was 21...I wasn't doing a lot of cleaning. haha), in NO WAY came close to the family of 5 in the next unit.

It took 4 HOA meetings before they "allowed" car washing in the driveways again. Turns out, the dad of the family of 5 was actually on the HOA board. He knew that if they metered the individual units that he would be paying a lot more than what he was. Meanwhile me by myself was stuck paying the rates of a family of 4.


You might be able to get some leverage with that route. I was never able to get them to meter the units. I don't think my note that I left them helped either when I moved out. haha.

Good luck dude. Unless you get some sympathetic people on the board, you're in for an uphill battle.

 

This is such a good idea. I didn't stop to think about how a family of 5 vs. me in terms of water-usage might pan out... but I think it's a great argument.

I already sent the property manager a note, but I'm going to attend an HOA meeting and bring this up.

This brings up another issue with me about water usage vs. me and a family of 5. I HATE how we have shared water expense! It's not fair either.