Neighbor two doors down is anti-smoke nazi

[kalevi]

I had to get a permit to install the insert, the city guy inspected it 3 times while the install was going on. It meets code. Yes, it is an external chimney. Homeowner's association here can't ban indoor woodburning. I get more smoke smell from one of my other neighbor's BBQs (grease, meat) than I have wood smoke smell. Milner351 has it much worse than I do.

 

[Homefire]

Oh the joy's of co-mingling with the masses in the suburbs!

Soccer Moms & Emasculated men!

Where did the Country of our Forefathers go?

Welcome to the new america, The Land of The Fee & Home of The Slave.......

Be a good citizen and Turn in your Guns & Your Wood Burning Stoves......

And don't forget to buy a jap M/C....now thats a real ahmerichan , right thear buddy

 

[mayhem]

I agree with others here. make sure you do your part of being a good neighbor by keeping your wood dry and your fires hot. Its possible that this guy actually has an asthmatic condition or something and small amounts of wood smoke really do affect his health and subsequently his quality of life.

Its also possible that he's a chronic complainer and nothing you cna do will ever appease him.

Personally I would just keep to myself and do my best to keep my stove running as cleanly and efficiently as possible. Wave when I see him on the street and don't be afraid to say "hi" when you have the chance...thats all part of living ina neighborhood. If he gives you any grief about the smoke do your best to educate him on the subject and see if there is anything you cna do in a compromise to resolve the issue. If he's just being a prick and looking for trouble then ignore him and keep burning.

 

[Henz]

My cousin is going through this right now with his neighbor, not in a homeowners assocation though..His neighbor has complained to himn several times etc. His chimney is up to code..His neighbor has called the cops, the Code enforcer and is hassling him over it,. So he basically said this, if you think that adding another section of pipe to my chimney, then I will have it done, be YOU pay for it.

 

[milner351]

I've gone back through my gas bills for the past few years, and figured my average bill at $44 dollars - this includes some weeks on vacation when we set the tstat to 50F, and some weekends out of town as well - for me, that makes the work of burning wood well worth it.

The neighbor insulted us by offering $50 per month to stop burning - I estimate that our bills would be no less than $200 per month for natural gas if we were heating to 70F 24/7 with gas, therefore - he'd be paying us $200 a month to stop burning.

Since the lawyer and police have instructed us to ignore them, I've made the decision not to reply to any of their letters, though I must admit putting up a sign facing their house that reads: "Jesus would fix his own leaky house, not blame his neighbors for his problem" sure comes to mind.

At this point we have at least another years' worth of wood on hand, and plenty more at the shop waiting to be cut and split, I have no intentions of stopping.

The only way we'll move is if the perfect property comes up for sale in the perfect location - and then I'd be happy to move -- and I'd most likely take our summit insert with us and convert it back to a free standing unit with plenty of interior chimney so I could really get some heat from the thing!

 

[SlyFerret]

Every house in the whole neighborhood has a stack. I'm one of the few with an insert. We have fairly large lots and are pretty far apart. I do burn dry wood but like I said, when I start the fire and when I put in new wood, there is about 20 minutes of some smoke smell. I don't see much coming out of the stack ever except for when I first start the fire.

I don't think the guy is being polite when he says he can't figure out where it's coming from. If every house has a stack, I think he's being honest that he can't tell where it's coming from! If you're one of the FEW with an insert, and you're operating it correctly, I'd venture a guess that your burning isn't the problem.

It may be one of the other neighbors that doesn't know what they're doing, maybe with an open fireplace.

-SF

 

[savageactor7]

I agree with the others to burn hot and don't' create any smoke. Also stay friendly with this person cause you don't want to create any hard feelings...hey maybe his wifes got asthma ...ya don't know.

If your power goes off a lot up there maybe you can convince him to get a wood stove too...now you have a wood cutting buddy to make production with.

 

[Chettt]

I can see this problem growing with the rise in envirofreaks. No matter how clean your smoke is it will still produce an odor. I would respond to someone complaining that I spent lots of money on an EPA approved stove that reburns the smoke before it leaves the stove. Tell him that rotting dead trees give off the same amount of pollution as burning them. Tell him that wood is renewable in 30 to 50 years where coal and oil takes forever.

I imagine I have neighbors who don't like the smell of my burning as well but haven't commented yet. If someone is truly upset, I may try to burn less in the months where the temperature is above freezing. The smoke seems to be more when it is warmer.

 

[milner351]

One of my primary reasons for burning is to reduce dependency on foreign oil - almost nobody can argue with that savings, and most agree with it.

Time will tell, my neighbor complains of a pulmonary condition - but it can't be very severe - she mows the lawn with a push mower and plays golf everyday all summer long!

 

[drizler]

One of my primary reasons for burning is to reduce dependency on foreign oil - almost nobody can argue with that savings, and most agree with it.

Time will tell, my neighbor complains of a pulmonary condition - but it can't be very severe - she mows the lawn with a push mower and plays golf everyday all summer long!

Ah, The profile of a perfect complainer!

 

[DriftWood]

Where did the Country of our Forefathers go?

Be a good citizen and Turn in your Guns & Your Wood Burning Stoves......

Across the boarder to Canada where he lives. The British Empire (United Kingdom Canadians)and our Revolutionary War,and The War of 1812 are the main reasons we carry and bear arms, to keep them at the boarder.

 

[swestall]

If that neighbor did that to me, you couldn't have women and children in the room while I was "talking" to them.
I just can not stand people who think the world has to comply with their special needs....

 

[DriftWood]

The anti-smoke guy and his wife literally run into the house when they see the weed and feed truck come to treat another one of our neighbor's lawns. (I'm not in favor of lawn treatments but I'm not going to get too upset when someone close by does it.) I

They still spray in your neighborhood???

Canada’s Supreme Court supports pesticide ban!!
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2006/jan/policy/jp_canada.html

Even the other Canada, Quebec beefs up pesticide ban (broken link removed to http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/montreal/story.html?id=50a34c28-106f-4ced-8376-619db1f348d9)

 

[karl]

The one thing on your side is, that this guy is probably complaining about other people doing other things, so most the neighborhood know who he is and they probably don't like him either.

I doubt you're going to pasify him.

I had some older neighbors years ago, when I was in my twentys and they were in their sixties. I don't think they liked the hot tub parties of my bachelor days. I started helping them with their yard work whenever they were doing something strenuous and we got to be pretty good friends. I still don't think they liked naked people running around the yard at night but they never complained.

 

[Jimbob]

The one thing on your side is, that this guy is probably complaining about other people doing other things, so most the neighborhood know who he is and they probably don't like him either.

I doubt you're going to pasify him.

I had some older neighbors years ago, when I was in my twentys and they were in their sixties. I still don't think they liked naked people running around the yard at night but they never complained.

If I was in my sixties, I definitely wouldn't complain about 20 Y.O. naked people running around the yard. Even being in my thirties I probably still wouldn't complain...:lol:

 

[Jimbob]

Holy Cow I saw this after I posted "Ottawa Ontario"..............Woops, I feel sorry for you, your in a Land owned by a queen, sorry again.

Owned by the queen or not, I definitely couldn't imagine living in any other country!......Long live Canada :coolsmile:

 

[eernest4]

Oh the joy's of co-mingling with the masses in the suburbs!

Soccer Moms & Emasculated men!

Where did the Country of our Forefathers go?

Welcome to the new america, The Land of The Fee & Home of The Slave.......

Be a good citizen and Turn in your Guns & Your Wood Burning Stoves......

Woops , to late for that , The canadian anti gun government already made then turn in their guns , back in 1999, so I guess , since the guns are already gone, that just leaves the wood stoves ?????

The world used to be going to hell in a hand basket, but that was not good enough for them, now, they are going to hell in a red toyota celica GTS at 160 mph. (see avitar)

 

[mtarbert]

Next time you see a dead cat along the road....pick it up and put it in his trash....then call the SPCA and report him for animal abuse....nothing you have seen, mind you but, I Think

 

[milner351]

Well
These people just won't give up.
They've wasted an enormous amount of time at the township building and ordinance office.

So much so, that the township supervisor has asked us to have a "mediation" meeting with himself, and the complainers.

What to do?

We've had our house inspected many times - he admits we are doing nothing wrong, nothing outside of any ordinance or law.... yet the complaints continue.

What REALLY irks me is the fact we voluntarily installed a new high efficiency wood stove, yet they've done NOTHING to fix their drafty house.

 

[SPED]

Tell the township people you will stop burning wood, when they agree IN WRITING to pay all your heating costs. If you're not breaking any laws/codes/regulations I really don't see what they can do about it.

 

[JustWood]

Well
These people just won't give up.
They've wasted an enormous amount of time at the township building and ordinance office.

So much so, that the township supervisor has asked us to have a "mediation" meeting with himself, and the complainers.

What to do?

We've had our house inspected many times - he admits we are doing nothing wrong, nothing outside of any ordinance or law.... yet the complaints continue.

What REALLY irks me is the fact we voluntarily installed a new high efficiency wood stove, yet they've done NOTHING to fix their drafty house.

File harassment charges.

 

[MishMouse]

Talk to your other neighbors about how much you save buring wood, and all of the other benifits.
Hopefully people around you will pick up wood burning, causing the complainer to move.

 

[CREEKY]

this guy is ridiculous. Maybe he owns an oil delivery service. as fuel prices and electricity rates increase I'm sure other neighbors will be looking at less expensive heating options.

 

[milner351]

I've considered both of your suggestions.

They insulted our intelligence in a previous letter suggesting they would pay us $50 per month to "offset the cost of not burning"

ridiculous - I estimate the cost to stop burning at more like $200 per month.

At this point I'm not even sure I can stay civil in a meeting with them -

I've requested the supervisor give me a written 'agenda' of what he has in mind for the meeting.

If the meeting doesn't go well - I think harassment charges would be the most sensible next step.

at this point they are complaining about us not shuttnig down the stove when the wind shifts in their direction...
so -

1. they expect us to predict / monitor wind shifts

2. they expect us to be able to shut down our stove immediately upon discovering the wind shift.

-- just because they asked us to?

people like this make me completely insane - TGIF everyone - I think I need an adult beverage

 

[SPED]

I was kinda tongue in cheek with the pay you not to burn idea, cuz honestly for me, even if natural gas was the same price, i'd still burn wood, i like it, and this is america dang it. Are these people ridiculous like this for every other thing too? Are they bothering other neighbors with other issues? If so, get those neighbors to go to the supervisor as well. I would tell the supervisor that you are NOT going to stop burning wood, you are doing it in a safe manner and ask him what it is he expects you to do to satisfy these people in the meeting. If he expects to cut down your wood burning time, then tell him forget it. Might be time to call a lawyer, even what has been done so far sounds like harassment, especially the sign on the car, restraining orders can work wonders....