How would you like to receive a letter from your homeowner’s association that starts out like this? During a recent inspection it was noted that you were in violation of the Covenants and Architectural Guidelines for the following reason:
General Maintenance – Paint Metal Roof: "Each homeowner shall keep and maintain each Lot and Structure owner by him, as well as all landscaping located thereon, in good condition and repair…"
Specifically please paint the metal roof on the front of the house to match the shutters.
We will recheck your property in approximately twenty (20) days from the date of this letter. Please note that violations that are not corrected by that date or continue to be repeat violations will incur a fine of $25 per day. The association has the right of abatement (the right to correct the violation at your expense) and the right to membership suspension. Please refer to the Covenants.
In my subdivision many of the bay windows and Queen Anne returns are covered with copper. Now if the copper roof is to be painted the same color as the shutters, then just on my cul-de-sac of 7 homes there would be grey, taupe, reddish orange, blue and black painted copper. I think it is easy to visualize just how silly that would look. Obviously the individual that wrote this letter was not very well versed about copper roofs and their maintenance. For those who don’t know as it ages, copper naturally goes through several stages. Rather than educating themselves first, it is sad that the homeowner’s association just sent out this letter for no good reason.
After several phone conversations and countless hours of research obtaining documentation about copper roofs along with emailing these documents to the homeowner’s association the violation was dropped. The resident was guilty until proven innocent. Seems a bit backwards from the way we have all been brought up don’t you think? Below you will see a picture of a monument that started out as bright shiny cooper and been going through the aging process for some time. I think we can all agree that it would be a shame to paint this structure.
