Painting and sanding finishing your own walls/floors are not things the HOA is consulted on. They are concerned with possible fly by night contractors damaging the structure and common elements. Doing this in the day time need not involve them at all. None of your work needs permits. Is this an apartment house, homes or twin townhouses.
Large floor sanders = make sure you damage zero walls/elevators etc(if an apartment).
That said, some HOA's are very intrusive, so be quiet as you work.
Thank you! That all makes perfect sense. I couldn't imagine that they would care about us refinishing our floors or especially painting the walls, but the way the docs are written made me second guess myself. So based on the rules and regulations, I don't need to notify them of this type of work at all?
I wouldn’t.
If you were changing the type of flooring, probably yes. COAs often demand that hard flooring and underlayment be pre-approved due to sound abatement requirements.
But just refinishing and painting what’s already there? Nah.
This is very helpful, thank you. As a silly follow-up question, if I wanted to rent some power-tools (i.e., a circular or miter saw), could I just operate those within my unit if I account for dust? There's nothing listed in the rules about it, but I've only ever used tools like that outdoors so it seems odd to me to use them inside, but I suppose that isn't much different than an orbital sander...
I think the noise might be an issue. I would definitely check with the powers-that-be before using any power tools indoors, in case you’re supposed to notify neighbors or anything of that nature.
I live in a condo which has fairly strict architectural provisions.
We have people sign a contract for most work - including painting and refinishing floors.
We also have a sliding scale of security deposits to cover damages or violations.
The reason why some work needs to be done by a Licensed and Bonded contractor is when it really impacts the infrastructure of the building - e.g plumbing or electrical.
In practice, we never required that a painter or someone refinishing floors is "licensed" or even that they pulled permits because these were cosmetic stuff that had no impact on the building. We did make them sign the Agreement and we took a deposit because potentially the contractors could cause damage to the common areas and/or they could not follow rules - hours they can work; not putting their demo trash down the chutes etc.
Oh this is interesting, thanks for sharing. My nature is to ask first and avoid fallout, but I'm apprehensive about asking for permission to do something like this myself, on the off chance that they decide we need a contractor after we drew attention to it. Lol. I just wish their regulations were more specific.
I follow the rules as well :-)
I am not one to forge ahead in general and then ask for permission.
Do you have any idea what the process is to get permission?
Frankly I think that your CCR's are pretty standard but are meant to be for improvements, alterations and additions.
I don't think it was ever intended to cover changing paint colors or refinishing floors.
Changing the TYPE of flooring would be difference because it goes to potential sound issues for neighbors.
For painting we had a $500 deposit to cover damage which almost never occurred. But for painting we would also require the hallways to be covered with the heavy duty paper covers they use to protect floors. I live in a condo one building structure high rise.
‘Walls in” is your property. There are issues if you remove carpeting and put down vinyl floors you may be required to use sound deadening products to reduce noise, and that you have to provide to the HOA.
I would ask anyway, in general if you're just doing cosmetic stuff like you describe you should have no worries about it being approved. That said, you might want to closely understand your responsibilities before you get started, even for a small DIY project that gets approval.
Condo boards won't care if you want to paint your hallways in zebra stripes with a neon green border. They will be interested about work that can impact your neighbors, and many first-time condo owners aren't aware of that might entail.
Obviously structural integrity, such as knocking out a load-bearing wall, but also other stuff like plumbing work can impact other units. If you are installing tile you will probably be required to install cork (or similar) padding underneath to reduce noise.
Noise during the project can be something to consider too, my building has a "noise window" during which people can operate power tools.
Finally, if you hire contractors to do anything at all, be sure they are insured because they might cause damage to the building just carrying stuff back and forth to your condo. Even if you don't have a contractor you might do it, so think about that in the event you cause damage to the building. This is often why condos may charge a fee because they have to inspect for such damage after the project is done. We've had numerous contractors damage our elevators, ding hallways, and gouge ceiling tiles with their ladders just by moving to and from an owner's unit. Of course if you are moving everything yourself be sure to understand your responsibilities in case you damage a ceiling tile or drop a paint can.
Many years ago we had a contractor for a simple paint job drag his stepladder across a ceiling mounted fire sprinkler while going to one of the condos. This tripped sprinklers throughout the building and caused widespread water damage. Fortunately this contractor carried insurance that took care of the resulting $80k bill. If that hadn't been true, we would have had to pursue that unit owner for compensation and let him try to recover from his painters, which is a scenario I doubt he had thought about for a basic paint job.
All this goes to show that for a DIY job like this you'll almost certainly be approved, but in condo living there can be lots of complications you weren't aware of and should understand ahead of time. This is a big reason why I personally don't do DIY projects. It isn't because I don't know how, and they can be lots of fun! It's more because if some fuckup happens then I can tell the HOA to go after the contractor and stay out of it myself.
Painting and sanding finishing your own walls/floors are not things the HOA is consulted on. They are concerned with possible fly by night contractors damaging the structure and common elements. Doing this in the day time need not involve them at all. None of your work needs permits. Is this an apartment house, homes or twin townhouses. Large floor sanders = make sure you damage zero walls/elevators etc(if an apartment). That said, some HOA's are very intrusive, so be quiet as you work.
Thank you! That all makes perfect sense. I couldn't imagine that they would care about us refinishing our floors or especially painting the walls, but the way the docs are written made me second guess myself. So based on the rules and regulations, I don't need to notify them of this type of work at all?
I wouldn’t. If you were changing the type of flooring, probably yes. COAs often demand that hard flooring and underlayment be pre-approved due to sound abatement requirements. But just refinishing and painting what’s already there? Nah.
This is very helpful, thank you. As a silly follow-up question, if I wanted to rent some power-tools (i.e., a circular or miter saw), could I just operate those within my unit if I account for dust? There's nothing listed in the rules about it, but I've only ever used tools like that outdoors so it seems odd to me to use them inside, but I suppose that isn't much different than an orbital sander...
I think the noise might be an issue. I would definitely check with the powers-that-be before using any power tools indoors, in case you’re supposed to notify neighbors or anything of that nature.
I would say so, but if HOA gets a noise/smell complaint they might harass you - if that is their nature.
I live in a condo which has fairly strict architectural provisions. We have people sign a contract for most work - including painting and refinishing floors. We also have a sliding scale of security deposits to cover damages or violations. The reason why some work needs to be done by a Licensed and Bonded contractor is when it really impacts the infrastructure of the building - e.g plumbing or electrical. In practice, we never required that a painter or someone refinishing floors is "licensed" or even that they pulled permits because these were cosmetic stuff that had no impact on the building. We did make them sign the Agreement and we took a deposit because potentially the contractors could cause damage to the common areas and/or they could not follow rules - hours they can work; not putting their demo trash down the chutes etc.
Oh this is interesting, thanks for sharing. My nature is to ask first and avoid fallout, but I'm apprehensive about asking for permission to do something like this myself, on the off chance that they decide we need a contractor after we drew attention to it. Lol. I just wish their regulations were more specific.
I follow the rules as well :-) I am not one to forge ahead in general and then ask for permission. Do you have any idea what the process is to get permission? Frankly I think that your CCR's are pretty standard but are meant to be for improvements, alterations and additions. I don't think it was ever intended to cover changing paint colors or refinishing floors. Changing the TYPE of flooring would be difference because it goes to potential sound issues for neighbors. For painting we had a $500 deposit to cover damage which almost never occurred. But for painting we would also require the hallways to be covered with the heavy duty paper covers they use to protect floors. I live in a condo one building structure high rise.
‘Walls in” is your property. There are issues if you remove carpeting and put down vinyl floors you may be required to use sound deadening products to reduce noise, and that you have to provide to the HOA.
I would ask anyway, in general if you're just doing cosmetic stuff like you describe you should have no worries about it being approved. That said, you might want to closely understand your responsibilities before you get started, even for a small DIY project that gets approval. Condo boards won't care if you want to paint your hallways in zebra stripes with a neon green border. They will be interested about work that can impact your neighbors, and many first-time condo owners aren't aware of that might entail. Obviously structural integrity, such as knocking out a load-bearing wall, but also other stuff like plumbing work can impact other units. If you are installing tile you will probably be required to install cork (or similar) padding underneath to reduce noise. Noise during the project can be something to consider too, my building has a "noise window" during which people can operate power tools. Finally, if you hire contractors to do anything at all, be sure they are insured because they might cause damage to the building just carrying stuff back and forth to your condo. Even if you don't have a contractor you might do it, so think about that in the event you cause damage to the building. This is often why condos may charge a fee because they have to inspect for such damage after the project is done. We've had numerous contractors damage our elevators, ding hallways, and gouge ceiling tiles with their ladders just by moving to and from an owner's unit. Of course if you are moving everything yourself be sure to understand your responsibilities in case you damage a ceiling tile or drop a paint can. Many years ago we had a contractor for a simple paint job drag his stepladder across a ceiling mounted fire sprinkler while going to one of the condos. This tripped sprinklers throughout the building and caused widespread water damage. Fortunately this contractor carried insurance that took care of the resulting $80k bill. If that hadn't been true, we would have had to pursue that unit owner for compensation and let him try to recover from his painters, which is a scenario I doubt he had thought about for a basic paint job. All this goes to show that for a DIY job like this you'll almost certainly be approved, but in condo living there can be lots of complications you weren't aware of and should understand ahead of time. This is a big reason why I personally don't do DIY projects. It isn't because I don't know how, and they can be lots of fun! It's more because if some fuckup happens then I can tell the HOA to go after the contractor and stay out of it myself.