Infuriated homeowner concerned after HOA uses dangerous method to clean their roof: ‘How many ways can this go badly?’
One homeowner said they were alarmed to wake up and find their HOA’s contractors spraying bleach on their roof.
HOAs are often responsible for maintaining shared amenities in the community. The exact details vary from one HOA to another, with some covering yard work and exterior home maintenance. However, the terms are usually made available to members of the HOA, and information about services and dates is supposed to be shared so they know what to expect.
This Redditor, however, was taken completely by surprise.
“My HOA hired a company to spray a fire hose of bleach to clean our rooftops,” they said. “Woke up this morning with my face melting and my wife saying ‘wtf is this, babe; it smells like bleach!’”
According to the Redditor, that seemed to be exactly what it was. “Go outside to see a tanker truck out front and dudes on my roof spraying bleach all over the place,” they said. “How many ways can this go badly? Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?”
Bleach is, in fact, one of many cleaning chemicals used to clean roofs. But as Spooner’s Cleaning Services explains on its website, bleach is an extremely poor choice. It doesn’t penetrate roofing materials to clean below the surface, it doesn’t work well against algae and moss, and it doesn’t provide long-term protection.
What it does do is damage roofing materials while threatening the safety of residents and harming the environment.
Sadly, HOAs looking for the quickest solution to a cosmetic problem don’t always worry about the health or environmental impact of their chemical choices. One outraged homeowner claimed they had to throw away their child’s toys after a careless HOA sprayed them with herbicide, while another ignored spilled gasoline.
Commenters immediately saw the problem that the HOA apparently couldn’t. “Where is the bleach supposed to drain to?” asked one user. “Does the runoff end up killing the grass and plants around a house?”
“This is what blows my mind,” said another user. “I don’t understand how everyone is acting like it’s perfectly okay to douse an entire yard with bleach.”
“I’m a member of an HOA board,” said a third commenter. “They absolutely had a duty to communicate this to you and the other members of the HOA … Your board sucks at communicating and needs to be yelled at.”
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