On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 11:26:25 -0700, Don Y
wrote:

On 2/19/2016 10:33 AM, wrote:
My "village" has pretty much decreed that baby poop beige is the
standard here but my neighbors have all sorts of different colors on
their house.

Many HOA's, here, are mandatory and impose covenants on residents.
Some of those make sense (keep up appearance, etc.). Others are
just overzealous attempts at control.

Our HOA deed restrictions "sunset" over 30 years ago and any attempt
to reinstate them has gone down decisively (last time it was 44-14 for
"no"). We operate as a voluntary non-profit corporation and usually
still get 90% participation on the dues. Disputes are dealt with using
friendly negotiation and not threats. It seems to work as well as the
coercive operations.

Our HOA is "voluntary participation". So, the only way to "enforce"
any notion of consistency is personal intimidation. I.e., same neighbor
who intimidated other neighbor NOT to paint "blue" was unsuccessful
in "convincing" neighbor on the other side of him to not paint
*teal* (blue-green).
"If you want my house to be painted beige, you can BUY IT from me
and paint it as you like!"


We got over the problem of what color you paint things a long time
ago. Basically all we try to stay on top of is the boat ramp and using
the park. The boat ramp is easy, If you screw up there too much, we
won't let you have a new key next year but it really has not been a
problem.

Pools here tend to have some form of cement (?) decking -- with drains
interspersed (to keep water from accumulating on top -- perhaps it just
drains to the soil beneath?).

That "Deco drain" is supposed to route the water away from the slab.
They are closed on the bottom.

So, it's effectively a *pipe*? (trough)

Yes it is 1.5" wide and 4" deep

This is the brand we see most of the time here.
http://www.advancedsurfaces.com/Engl...DeckDrain.html

You may get away with draining directly into the soil out there but
if you do it here you will end up with a sink hole under the slab.
Drainage here is done with grading. The pool deck pitches down away
from the pool. I have pieces of deco drain here but they are mostly
decorative, just to break new sections from the older ones. The 2000+
square feet of stone deck evolved over the years. We keep adding on.
I imagine some water does go in there and they do end off of the deck.

Lots here are small -- often just 1/3 ac. Put in a front yard
(and driveway) and a decent size pool out back and there's little
room for anything else!

Folks behind me have maybe 150-200 sq ft of "lawn" and the rest is
pool.

I have a tad over a 1/3d of an acre but I also have functional use of
the FPL right of way behind me, the DOT right of way in front and a
quarter of an acre of HOA property next to me.
That is still a lot of grass to mow. We are running out of land we can
actually build on tho.

We wanted a yard (less maintenance?) but have considered an "infinite
pool" (a spa seems to be a total waste of space -- giant bathtub?)

But, then we're back to yet another maintenance issue...

My spa swaps water with the pool so the maintenance is negligible. We
don't heat it in the summer and when we do the solars do most of the
heavy lifting.

It's more than just treating the water (pools go green REALLY fast,
here -- mosquito hazzard -- city fine). As lots are small and
most of the trees generate lots of litter -- palms, mesquite
(millions of little leaflets the size of a grain of wild rice),
pine needles, etc. -- so you're always fishing stuff out of the
pool.

Pools here are pretty much always "caged". I have 2300 sq/ft under
screen. That eliminates most of the leaf and bug problems.


[One neighbor had to fish a palm *tree* out of his! Hint: they are
very heavy when they've had a chance to sit *in* water!]

I fish them out of the river now and them.

It is a little labor intensive laying them but the time consuming part
is doing the puzzle. We always end up playing with rocks for days
deciding which one goes where. It is sort of fun tho.

Are they somewhat standardized shapes -- i.e., to limit the number of
possibilities that you'd have to address?

Not at all. This is natural stone and they just break it up into
manageable chunks. Occasionally I will score the back side and make
the rock I need but that is only when we are scraping the bottom of
the barrel. Usually you can put a pattern together that works with
existing stone. It is time consuming but we usually start laying them
out and then spend a week or so just walking by and playing with the
rocks for a while then doing something else. When we get a pattern we
like we mud them in. The sections we got in a hurry with, look like
it. After a while you do get a pretty good eye for it. Like most
homeowner projects, about the time you are done, you are getting
pretty good. I am still not sure we are done tho. Every time we stop,
my wife says, "you know ..." and I am building something else. ;-)

Wow, that seems like a LOT of work! E.g., each porch would be a couple
hundred feet of wall space. Back porch would be the worst, by far, as it
has lots of window openings into it that would essentially act as
"border multipliers" (where adjoining stones would have to "fit perfectly")



E.g., if they were just random/natural stones (size/shape), you could
see yourself getting into a situation where you needed a 3" stone
but only had 4's and 2's (silly example). OTOH, if they are all
4, 8 and 12 inches, then you really can't create a "void" that
also isn't 4, 8 or 12 inches! (ignoring, for the moment, the boundary
conditions)

Said another way, is it truly a puzzle (like a store bought puzzle!)
or more like a *chore* (just some motions that you have to go through
but you KNOW there WILL be a solution)

Exactly. It gets to be a Zen thing. As I said. you do develop an eye
for it. You definitely want to do the puzzle before you start mixing
mortar.

That's how I did the walkway -- laid everything in place before setting
them properly. End up with pieces that you can't use (that find homes
as singletons elsewhere in the yard -- e.g., under water faucets)

If you use the diamond cut stones, they do tend to be regular heights.
The split stones are just that, split wherever the grain in the rock
goes. It does make a more pleasing wall when you are done tho.

There's a new building going up a couple miles from here -- which is
what gave me the idea. I will see if I can get a sympathetic workman
to let me onto the lot so I can inspect (and question!) up close...

Thx!

If you use the man made product it does go up easier because they are
basically Lego blocks, (regular sizes). The diamond cut are similar
except for length. They come in multiples of a given dimension. That
is truly stacking stone.