...to tell me to clean out my gutters. Now I admit I haven't cleaned my gutters recently, so it does need to be done. It's been on the short list of my to do items, but I've been very busy and haven't gotten around to it. I was definitely planning on it before the rain starts up again. I don't own a tall enough ladder, so I usually borrow one to do this. Also keep in mind, they aren't visibly overflowing with gunk. The only time you notice is during heavy rains, and then only a slight bit of water runs off.

Inspector left his card while I was at work and spoke by phone. He was actually embarassed about the incident. He said this was a first for him, and when he responded he saw that our house was in good condition and well maintained and didn't even bother to get up on a ladder to check the gutters.

It can only be one of two neighbors (adjacent to my house), since I don't think anyone across the street or behind would notice or even care since it would not effect them. I consider one of the neighbors as a friend, so I seriously doubt it is him or his wife. I'm on friendly terms with the second, but I suspect him. He has been living there for a while, I believe since his mother (the former owner) passed away. It took him a few years to work out the legal battles with his family members over the house. He didn't take very good care of the home or yard during those years, but now suddenly he's pouring money into it. Of course I minded my own business and never bothered him over his lack of maintenance over the years. I guess he's suddenly gotten uppity since he's finally a homeowner.

Now I admit I'm the only one responsible for the maintenance of my own gutters. That's my fault, and I've been neglectful. But what kind of pussy calls the city inspector over dirty gutters? How can you look a man in the face one day and make small talk, and not just say: "Hey HKocher, I noticed your gutters are getting full, do you mind taking care of that?" Or even crack a not-so subtle joke/hint about it? Instead you've got to rely on the gov't to pass your message along?

I don't know about you guys, but I try to keep 'the Man' out of my life as much as possible. What if the inspector had been a dick and took a hard look at my house. I'm sure it's easy to find a ton of minor code violations in an old house if you're looking hard enough. If you're my neighbor, and you're reading this right now: Yeah, my gutters are dirty, but you're a spineless bitch, and I'll get to it on my next days off. Can I borrow your ladder?

its your house on your property and nobody but you can tell you how to maintain it.

Those pesky blighted property rules can.





Only a man with no balls calls the inspector before talking to you about it.
 

Unfortunately I'm sure there are plenty of city ordinances that would disagree with that statment. I've always felt that there was too much gov't interference in folks daily lives, and I still believe that. The thing that pisses me off the most is our house and lawn are generally very well maintained, definitely compared to some of the houses on our block. Ironically there's a crazy old guy across the street that does absolutely nothing to maintain his house or lawn. He doesn't even mow his lawn, EVER. He does have aluminum foil of his windows (I shit you not), so at least he's not completely nuts.

Can not believe there is a building code for clean gutters.  But then I don't have gutters and all rain drains away from the house saving me a call from the inspector.

borrow his ladder to do the job and forget to give it back. that will fix him

Go take a picture of your home from the street and post it before I make a decision.

While this is 100% untrue, and sounds like it's coming from someone who rents, your neighbor is still a fucking douchenozzle.

Here's an idea.  Tell the inspector that there are parasites that are on the endangered species list that lives in your gutters.
If you are bothered anymore, you will contact the EPA and have their attorneys letigate this intrusion with your city commissioners.
Problem solved..................  Until the EPA confiscates your property for special habitat.          

Don't worry about "endangered." Think "wetlands habitat."

Lol. I understand what you're saying, but I don't like to put that type of stuff on the interweb. Call me paranoid, like my tinfoil window neighbor.

He is complaining about my gutters?, I never complained about his rat problem, jees.

This....
 

it will be a cold day in hell when i live in a community that can come to my home and tell me what to do with it.



nobody around here has a shitbox home. some are in need of minor repairs, but thats their business.

OK, here is a more logical solution.  If this guy has aluminum foil on his windows, he definetly has a grow house in there.
Call DEA, take pics of the arrest, post here...........
The way the housing market is, it'll be some time before the feds can sell the confiscated house.

I'm shocked that "cleaning out the gutters" is something your city concerns itself with.

No kidding.



 

Google maps already has it on the map page, I guarantee you ( google your house address )

Why in the world would it matter to him if your gutters are dirty or not?

It sure does, that's even more reason not to post pics of my house on the interweb.

oops.

According to the inspector the neighbor was afraid of water leaking into his basement. It's an old neighborhood, so most of the houses have some minor leakage in the basements during heavy rains. Also the houses are pretty close together, so I suppose his concerns may be warranted. I don't know, perhaps someone else more knowledgeable can chime in and support or refute that claim.

Like I said the gutters aren't too clogged, so only a little water overflows in heavy rain.

Should be public record of who called. If they take nameless calls
just mention to both neighbors that some gutless coward called, and
didnt have the nuts to leave their name.

You probably know who did it, that is really petty. Dont forget,
everyone makes a mistake sooner or later. Just wait, and return
the favor.

Other than revenge I don't get it either.  



 

Wrong neighbor. I'm sure tinfoil windows didn't call, because he definitely doesn't want 'the Man' in his life. One of these days I'm going to walk across the street and find out what his screen name is.

You can talk big (and with poor grammar), but you'll change your story when the city comes to take your property.  A friend of mine in SC tried to get away without maintaining his property.  He no longer owns it.  The city took it from him and sheriff deputies threw him out of the house he owned for over forty years.z

Standing water creates a wonderful breeding ground for mosquitoes. The health department can give you crap about clogged gutters, old tires and other stuff that creates a nice area for mosquitoes, rats and other pests to breed and then wander around your neighborhood. It's not about the eyesore, it's about the vermin / pests.

Ya, I'm not sure about "Gutter Enforcement".  Are you even required by code to HAVE gutters?  I know you wouldn't want to, but it'd be fun to fill 'em up with Crazy Foam or cover them up with something.

If it is the guy next door, maybe you could re-route them all to discharge into a 12" downtube or something and shoot ALL the water over toward his property.  Make sure they're spotless so the water really flows!

I chuckled when I read about the dirty gutters....

My neighbors still have all their Christmas decoration in their yard, lights in the tress and about 20-25 of those inflatable things laying on the ground. Along with the usual assorted collection of crap...Looks real nice

And kids here's why I live in the boonies

Old tires need to appear in his yard one night, lots of them

Hmmm.... I guess.  Not really an issue here where we get 4" or less annually.

Maybe neighbor has a basement leakage problem and wants to blame you, sue you, to fix it, and is trying to start a record of complaints.

Hmm, interesting theory. Makes sense.

Exactly!



 

Have a BBQ and announce that some cock fag called the city on you and if you ever find out who did it they'd be sorry.  It shouldn't be too hard to tell who it was.

Ok, Nevada. Didn't look earlier. I forget: do most houses there even have gutters? (Florida houses often don't. I guess because they can't really keep up with storms there.) How do they get clogged?

Says the guy who wanted to sue someone over a dog bite

 

I only say this because we called the City Inspector when our neighbors (rental, all on disability, all Obama voters) had more then one car on blocks and were throwing the bags of trash in the abandoned 5th wheel...Nice people, well mannered when spoken to, neighborly when they are outside, nobody took the time to teach them how not to be white trash.  And they didn't clean up the 87 times me and the neighbors ask them to.  So we called the city in.

We pointed out that when they come home from closing down the bars, standing outside and talking when the neighbors are trying to sleep, isn't neighborly.  They don't seem to hear, so we call the cops, they send a cruiser through, neighbors go inside.

There gutters were full and it flooded out their basement.   So they had an excavator come in to do some trenching for laying pipe, I'll post a picture of all the hay laid down to stop erosion between our houses.  

That is if their fucking Pit Bull "Bruno" doesn't get a hold of me...

Sometimes all us neighbors have is a direct line to the City Inspector.  Nothing personal.

This. We need to make this known to all.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT! They even have my truck in the parking lot...

Where do you live that can afford to have "gutter police"?

And the most interesting point in this post is that you TALKED to them about it first.  This is a clear example of the proper way to do things.  Skipping the neighborly courtesy route and going straight to the city inspector, as OP's neighbor has done seems like straight douchebaggery to me.  I would clean them out, and call the city inspector BACK out to ensure that they say you are compliant.  This way, if the neighbor is trying to log complaints for whatever reason, you might have your ass covered.  .02

cant people mind their own damn business anymore? if i was you i would go over to the suspected neighbors house and tell him if he has a problem with your gutters to talk to you before he gets the city after you

That's nothing.  There's another site that can have you virtually drive right down the street.  Street level view, right into your windows.
 Hubby showed it to me.... zillow.com, I think?

We were actually talking about putting a small gutter over our front porch because when it does rain, it rains hard and fast, and it beats up our little flower bed we have there.  It'd be the first rain gutter I've ever had, and I was born and raised here.