You think your HOA is bad?

[HeroHog]

http://fna.speedsociety.com/car-blocked-in-driveway-by-hoa-is-this-legal 

The youtube site has more to the story in the poster's comment/description.

[zxcvbob]

Move 'em out into the street* then grind the loops off the top 

*put a pipe or big rebar in the loop as a lever to tip one end up, the put some kind of rollers under it.

[Hawkmoon]

Move 'em out into the street* then grind the loops off the top 

Easier said than done. Visual scale, I'd guess they're at least 2 feet in each dimension, so 8 cubic feet. Concrete weighs 150 pounds per cubic foot, so that's a minimum of 1200 pounds -- more than half a ton. Contractors use heavy equipment to move those things around. They aren't nick-named "mafia blocks" for nothing.

[dogmush]

My engine hoist would easily move 1200 lbs.  The hardest part of this situation would be deciding where the best place to put them would be: in the HOA prez's driveway, or the trunk of his car.

[sumpnz]

My engine hoist would easily move 1200 lbs.  The hardest part of this situation would be deciding where the best place to put them would be.  In the HOA prez's driveway, or the trunk of his car.

I'd probably put them in each of his entry doors.

Note that I said in.  Not just blocking.

[BlueStarLizzard]

I don't get how that's legal, even with an HOA. 

I get that they can make life hell with paperwork and legal action taken through lawyers and whatnot, but actually vandalizing someones property over fee's due? I'm not getting into the youtube commentary, but did they have some sort of court order saying they could do that?

[HeroHog]

This is why HOA board members should keep VERY good home insurance, in case of "accidents."

[never_retreat]

Call a friend over with a truck and a chain.
If you have no friends with a truck, find a guy with a wrecker and offer him $100.

[dogmush]

Those are probably rented.  I doubt the HOA had them lying around.  It would also be kinda fun to rent a flat trailer and engine hoist (if one doesn't already own such things) and haul them away in the dead of night.  Then play dumb.  "What huge concrete blocks?  I didn't see any huge blocks."

[Perd Hapley]

The one time detcord is even a relevant response, and it takes 9 replies? Pretty weak, guys. 



(Not that you'd really want to detcord your own driveway...)

[Nick1911]

Man, what luck! 

I'd be thrilled if someone offered to gift me some free concrete blocks by abandoning them on my personal property.  I'd spray paint them pretty florescent colors and put them right in my front yard as a work of modern art.

[BlueStarLizzard]

... Isn't there some mad chemistry trick one could use to dissolve concrete? or at least some easily homemade concoction that you drill a hole and pour it in for boomy effect?

Where is the APS chemist when you need him? I know we have one...

[zxcvbob]

... Isn't there some mad chemistry trick one could use to dissolve concrete? or at least some easily homemade concoction that you drill a hole and pour it in for boomy effect?

Where is the APS chemist when you need him? I know we have one...

Not a chemist, but you'd need huge amounts of the chemicals (hydrochloric acid, maybe) to dissolve 1000 lbs of concrete because the chemical will be consumed by the process.

Drilling a hole with a star drill and filling with a small amount of high explosive could work.  Getting the charge exactly right might be tricky, and you don't get many tries.

[dogmush]

Drilling a hole with a star drill and filling with a small amount of high explosive could work.  Getting the charge exactly right might be tricky, and you don't get many tries.

You get at least three just in that picture.

[BlueStarLizzard]

What about a little spritzing of liquid nitrogen and a hammer?

[sumpnz]

What about a little spritzing of liquid nitrogen and a hammer?

You'd need quite a bit of LN2 to make a real difference in the temp of that block.  Lots of mass there.  And I don't think cryo temps really do all that much to concrete.  Might be able to crack it with thermal stress.  It's not like rubber or plastic that goes past its glass transition temperature and is easily shattered.

[just Warren]

http://www.boulderbuster.ca/


Wally Wallington is the man when it come to moving large rocks without big machines.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

The variety of responses that come to mind give me goosebumps. Especially the ones that violate the Geneva convention

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

[RoadKingLarry]

It's just a hunk of concrete, likely not any kind of reinforcement. A few enthusiastic minutes with a proper sledge hammer will reduce it to manageable pieces.

[Mannlicher]

HOAs get away with stuff like this because of what kind of contract the home owner signs.  If you give away your rights, you have none.

[cordex]

HOAs get away with stuff like this because of what kind of contract the home owner signs.  If you give away your rights, you have none.

I have a very hard time believing that an HOA contract covers this sort of thing, or that an HOA would survive the liability lawsuits should their enthusiastic pursuit of overdue fees delay prompt medical treatment or something.

[mtnbkr]

I have a very hard time believing that an HOA contract covers this sort of thing, or that an HOA would survive the liability lawsuits should their enthusiastic pursuit of overdue fees delay prompt medical treatment or something.

This.  The typical remedy for nonpayment of HOA dues is legal action through the courts or some sort of action taken in conjunction with the sale of the home.

HOAs are not all-powerful and living in one doesn't make you a serf in fiefdom. 

Chris

Chris

[lupinus]

This.  The typical remedy for nonpayment of HOA dues is legal action through the courts or some sort of action taken in conjunction with the sale of the home.

HOAs are not all-powerful and living in one doesn't make you a serf in fiefdom. 

Chris

Chris

What?!?

You shall bow before the concrete pillars of the HOA! Now peasant! [/whip crack]

[French G.]

Counterweight, trebuchet, some assembly required. Piles of free ammo, some disassembly required.

[K Frame]

The laws have changed a lot in the past years, but I don't think that crap would EVER fly in Virginia. You can deny someone who is behind on their payments use of community property (pool, even parking spaces), but blocking free access to property and preventing travel? I'd have a lawyer on them so fast it wouldn't be funny.