yeah…tell me about it
Mr Jimmychuck,
I’ve got a story that hits pretty close. About two weeks ago a good friend of mine calls me up from north county SD all stressed out (super mellow guy). He said the cops just left and the lady next door says she’ll have the EPA over here tomorrow morning. He was asking me advice since I built out of a garage for 15-plus years with no real problems. He’s made 4 boards and has been super careful about when he does the resin work (time of day, wind, no weekends, etc.) and still this happens. He said the neighbor was now obsessed with busting him. It’s like the dog and the shit on the lawn thing.
My friend had to stop altogether. He packed it all up that night and sure enough the next day some guy (though he produced no ID) with a clipboard came to his place twice to see what was going on. My friend said he was fixing a surfboard and that he would never do it again.
Needless to say I was bummed for him (and you as well as all the budding boardbuilders out there) as his boards were coming out sick. He’s pretty shook. He is not even looking at alternatives. The neighbor lady is so dominating compared to him; he can’t afford to move right now either.
Not sure what to tell you as fumeless resin will buy you time, then the neighbor starts to complain about the incessant noise and that she “thinks you are a terrorist building devices or something”. There are high-energy Feds that love to prosecute that kind of paranoid suspicion. If you lay low for a while and then start back up, experience shows that this will only make the neighbor freak out even worse…
Hope you find a solution.
PS: Mr. Pandanus, I need a slang lesson bro’ What part of the (female) anatomy is the “Clacker”? It sounds so cool man, I want to get it right before I start going out there and using that term… …I might stencil it across my next board “Lip Clacker” but I need that lesson first. Thanks.
Just use epoxy and no one will bother you. Easier to use, stronger, lighter boards and no BS from authorities. In our building in Melbourne only epoxy is allowed. No polyester guys, and this has been for over 10 years. We had a guy come in about two years ago and start with polyester two doors down. All the other builders in the building told the guy he couldn’t and he was just adamant that he was going to do it anyway. Finally the fire marshall busted him and he’s gone. Now we don’t have to breath that stinky stuff anymore. We had another guy fixing cars a few doors down and he’d leave cars running for hours just fuming the place up. He’s gone too. I don’t really want to take the landladies side here, but it’s unfair that everyone else has to breath your business. All of us at our FL factory, in both instances, had to and it wasn’t pleasent. Especially when there was a cleaner, safer and better alternative that was right in the surfboard guys face as he was ducking fire marshalls, EPA and others. One small change and that guy was golden instead the stubborn idiot ran himself out of business.
i just finished using rr and there is very very little smell. i did it in my garage with the door open and all i had to wear was a dust mask. i was mixing them and i didnt have and kind of protection on.
my mom was in the house and didnt complain at all about the smell.
I see a comon theme in many of these reponses : The real issue is that you (collectively) are building surfboards on the premises of a rental property. You are in a residential neighborhood, creating noticeable levels of air and noise polution, and working with toxic materials without adequate safety and disposal devices. You say, “No, not me!”, but I read the posts in this forum and some of the questions and suggestions on ventilation and storage of hazardous materials just make me cringe. Some of your neighbors might as well be living next to a meth lab.
And here’s the deal with the neighbors: As a home owner myself, it seems like the entire world has me by the balls: The bank; the boss; the insurance companies; the city and county. But to survive in the First World, provide adequately for a family, retire in a state that actually has as ocean, and have more than Kraft Dinner on the menu in the twilight years, you need to do whatever you have to do now to buy and maintain a home. And the stress of all of this is probably slowly killing them. So when your neighbor comes home from a long day at the office or finally gets a Saturday to just chill, and all they want out of life at that moment is a few beers on their own porch, the last thing they want is to be chased inside by your fumes and screaming planer.
And as is also probably the case with the neighbors: Last year it was the renter next door who built and raced Harley engines in the garage; two years ago the renter who thought he was Jimi Hendrix; and this year its a “surfboard builder”. Someone asked where the common decency was in the world. How’s this? As a home owner I simply don’t give a rat’s ass about renters. And if they are making themselves known to me more than a handful of times a year then I’ve got the home owner’s number right here in my book, or I’m going to make the city work for me for a change, and I’m going to file a complaint. It’s only common sense that you don’t move into someone’s neighborhood and stink the place up. I ask where the common decency is in that?
If board building is a business to you, then rent your own industrial space and handle your materials and waste in accordance to the law. Or move out to the desert with the boat builders. Or how about China or Mexico?
Or if this is a hobby, then rent a shaping bay.
Or why be a board builder? Be a shaper instead.
And as a hobby-shaper, why use a power planer for everything? Just keep the power planer usage to within reason: five minutes to skin and cut in a bottom and five minutes to foil a deck. Then go at it with those nice, quiet Surforms, block planes, and sandpaper.
And when it’s done, take it to your local glass shop. One that has permits, and ventilation, and is in the middle of a field or industrial park somewhere on the bad side of town. A professional glasser could only do better job, make the most out of your amateur shaping skills, and still only charge you $150-180 for a glass job, leash plug and fin system. Isn’t that worth the savings in aggravation alone?
You’ll be having fun again rather than worrying, and your neighbors can get back to riding you about taking their parking spaces and playing the stereo too loud. 
I also had a problem with a neighbor once when I was sanding my board and unfortunately he had a hangover from the night before. So each sanding pass I did was like someone splitting his head open. We’re friends now as I went over to his place and gave him one of my homebrews (the 9% ABV kind).
I would have brought it to a local glasser but my local glasser doesn’t do epoxy or s-glass or even the right kind of resin swirl pattern that I like.
Rio
boo hoo for the feelings of everybody. well i guess that i better lock myself in the house and never create any kind of nose or enviromental polution ever again. enviromental pollution should be limited but hey its fun.
i guess i better put up a letter telling my neighbors that i am going to mow the lawn this weekend. this way i dont disturb anyone
no matter what happens you and i are annoying at any given time. we cant avoid it, but dont mow foam with your planer at midnight and you probably shouldnt be using poly resin if you are glassing in a neighborhood.
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Some of your neighbors might as well be living next to a meth lab.
in fact, some of them probably are.
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Someone asked where the common decency was in the world. How’s this? … It’s only common sense that you don’t move into someone’s neighborhood and stink the place up. I ask where the common decency is in that?
i made the comment regarding decency, but it was with respect to the person whining to the landlady rather than confronting the boardbuilder, or at least giving him a heads up. if i told someone to nix the fumes, and they told me to go screw myself (as was greg’s experience), THEN i’d seek help from an outside authority. but i wouldn’t just jump right up to the top of the ladder…it’s just not decent.
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As a home owner I simply don’t give a rat’s ass about renters.
elitest prick, much? owners…renters…squatters…we’re all just people. and maybe if more people gave a rat’s ass about other people, then everyone could live a more chilled out life without some of the stresses our world imposes on us all.
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And if they are making themselves known to me more than a handful of times a year then I’ve got the home owner’s number right here in my book, or I’m going to make the city work for me for a change, and I’m going to file a complaint.
i always thought it was good to know your neighbors…i know all mine…and for the most part, we all get along. i especially like your “cry to the homeowner” tactic…it’s nice to see that you’ve matured beyond kindergarten…anyone ever tell you that you’re kind of an ass? and people wonder why there’s so much conflict on every level of our world…from internationally to right next door…obviously, it’s because people just can’t seem to talk to one another. granted, that may not be the only reason, but fixing it would certainly be a start.
clacker? ass, bum , anus: to shove up his /her clacker.
Hey JC,
Epoxy alone has a faint smell that reminds me of nutty, almond like smell. Now Greg’s additive F does put out a little smell (a thinner, kerosene’ish smell) but if you were working outside, you’d have to be right on top of the board to smell it. For example: If you spilled a little gas while filling your lawn mower, that would smell a heck of a lot more. Don’t sweat the transition - I actually find that polyester is a lot more complex to use, compared to epoxy’s simplicity.
As for the neighbors (both sides): Every once in awhile when I see them, I’ll make sure they know that I’ll pull the plug on a tool if and when they just need a break. As hummingfin said, sometimes my neighbor just wants “a few beers” on his porch after a hard day down in the salt mine.
Best,
Herb Bean
edit: spelling
Right on. Thanks to all for your input and views. Didn’t figure I’d launch a nice little debate today!
Photos of the offending board in a day or two… it’s glossed now I just need to let it cure and then sand/polish… based on the forecast it looks like I’ve got a couple of days on my hand anyway!
Santiago
Howzit Herb, The only time a neighbor complained was about the music in the shop being to loud. The house nearest my shop is a vacation rental and 1 time when the owners were in town and the Kona winds were blowing all they said to me was " we could smell the fumes and hoped you are OK" Hows that for some good neughbors. Aloha,Kokua
ROIGHT!!! right up the ol’ CLACKAH!
thanks Pandanus.
(terrible mental picture though…)
(9’2"?!! What kind of nose template?)
Clacker shaped I hope, otherwise,
THATS GONNA HURT!!!
he he he he he
Hicksy
I live next door to a nutty old lady too - 65 or so - and her mom (!) who’s about 99 1/2. They’re pretty tolerant, and I only use epoxy resins. (But I switched when I had kids, not neighbors - I didn’t want any ethylmethylbadshits going into my kids if they happen to breathe in the wrong place.) I usually only use power tools in the early evening or on weekends, but one day I’m off work and running the tablesaw with the garage door open. I turn around and see my neighbor with her hands on her hips, looking at me in my earmuffs. She indicates the earmuffs and says, that’s kind of chickenshit. (!) The next day, I handed her a new pair with a ribbon tied around. She grinned real big and has never complained again.
As to getting used to epoxy and the cost, here’s what I did. I’d always keep some extra pieces of glass sitting on a workbench on top of some wax paper whenever I was glassing. If you have extra resin, lay up some fin stock. You can build up your fins over time with as many layers at a time as you have resin to saturate. Just sand with 80 in between. I also make my own squeegees, stir sticks, glass bases for wood fins, etc. Sure its not as cost-efficient as buying a plastic squeegee for $.75, but its better than just letting the resin cure in the bottom of a bucket. Lay it all up in 12" squares and you can cut out anything you want with a jigsaw or bandsaw…nothing wasted.
As a homeowner with 3 kids in a rental town (beachgoers June - August, college kids September - May, I understand Hummingfin’s sentiments perfectly, but that doesn’t mean that calling landlords or the cops is the right thing in the first instance.
Every September when the college kids move in I make a point to go over and introduce myself before anything happens. I figure that they’re less likely to ignore me if they have a name and a person to go with the house. Then I point out the houses around them, name all the families and their kids and explain that while they may not have classes until noon, we have to get up and go to work and school. I tell them that I have nothing against friends and parties (I was in college once too) so long as they’re not excessive in number and late night noise level or endanger me, my neigbors or our kids with drunk driving. I point out that the neighborhood school bus stop is on the corner of their property and ask them to drive slowly and watch for the kids in the neighborhood. I give them my phone number and I get theirs; I tell them that I have their landlord’s number; and I tell them that I will always TRY and resolve things with them FIRST … after that however, I tell them in no ambiguous terms that I will become the neighbor from hell.
Since I’ve started doing this, I’ve never even had to lift the phone once.
I got some serious Ice heads living next door so i think they are probubly stoked for a free extra buzz off the fumes. I want to switch to epoxy just cause i live in a small culdesac and the smell is pretty intrusive, but hey the neighbor can’t complain when i am waking up to their kids smoking ice they stole from their parents under my bedroom window.
Try asking her WHY the smell bothers her. Is she worried about health issues? Some people with asthma or similar problems are legitimately affected by strong odors. Just a thought.