Well friends, looks like im done.

So im at my crappy part time job tonight and my phone goes off. Lucky theres a new guy training so I can sneak out back. Well its my landlord, asking me if I got the letter from the city. Apparantly Someones been complaining about my scrapping. He read to me about how the inspector found "excessive amounts of scrap metal on the side of the detatched garage, scrap under the awning of the detatched garage, chairs, multiple tables, air conditioners, and assorted electronics." Im not sure when this was, but i broke down my ac units a month ago and their long gone, a truckload of shred has already been removed, and "tables and chairs" are my fu***** patio furniture for my fu***** fire pit. Apparantly patio furniture is illegal...

So my landlord asks me why I have all this. I told him "all im trying to do is make a couple bucks." he told me I can still work out of the garage, he doesnt care at all, but i need to clean up whats outside...but im sure now every move i make will be monitored and then theyll bi*** that im workin in the garage...

I dont have the slightest clue who called but it took them a year and a half, and it pisses me off because instead of catching me and asking politly to pick up a bit they go and whine to the city, which now leaves me till monday to cash in at the worst possible time...

Im simply trying to be independant, get through school, NOT rely on the government to take care of me, and now soon raise a child...so its back to school full time in a week, so my crappy job will cut my hours to MAYBE 10 a week, I dont do drugs, I dont smoke, I barely drink...where did I go wrong and wtf did I do to get s**t on...

**** man thats harsh..too many crybabies out there..dont give up..ya still gota garage..you will find a way..btw nothing wrong with smoking..not comparable to crank..just sayin

Nothing against it Scrappy, half my family are smokers. Its a big issue in this area right now with butt littering snd all, but i dont care...im just saying that from a "higher power" point of view they can't say im supporting a habit, hell the last 12 pack of beer I got was in May, and that was for using my expensive snap on/matco tools to do a tune up on an old friends car...

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Originally Posted by Gnraxlrose88

So im at my crappy part time job tonight and my phone goes off. Lucky theres a new guy training so I can sneak out back. Well its my landlord, asking me if I got the letter from the city. Apparantly Someones been complaining about my scrapping. He read to me about how the inspector found "excessive amounts of scrap metal on the side of the detatched garage, scrap under the awning of the detatched garage, chairs, multiple tables, air conditioners, and assorted electronics." Im not sure when this was, but i broke down my ac units a month ago and their long gone, a truckload of shred has already been removed, and "tables and chairs" are my fu***** patio furniture for my fu***** fire pit. Apparantly patio furniture is illegal...

So my landlord asks me why I have all this. I told him "all im trying to do is make a couple bucks." he told me I can still work out of the garage, he doesnt care at all, but i need to clean up whats outside...but im sure now every move i make will be monitored and then theyll bi*** that im workin in the garage...

I dont have the slightest clue who called but it took them a year and a half, and it pisses me off because instead of catching me and asking politly to pick up a bit they go and whine to the city, which now leaves me till monday to cash in at the worst possible time...

Im simply trying to be independant, get through school, NOT rely on the government to take care of me, and now soon raise a child...so its back to school full time in a week, so my crappy job will cut my hours to MAYBE 10 a week, I dont do drugs, I dont smoke, I barely drink...where did I go wrong and wtf did I do to get s**t on...

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Thats life for you bro. Be grateful the landlord is cool. Continue to scrap..long as you keep it in the garage and dont make a lot of noise after a reasonable hour, then you will be fine. Inspectors dont care about what it is "hidden" just what can be seen.

:(

I'm sorry to hear this but I also don't want to see you give up or give in. Is there anywhere you could work from different? Like a friend or familys home?

A lot of the time the city inspectors cannot go onto your property to be able to see violations for themselves. Now you have to consider your neighbors too; most people don't want a recycling yard to open up next to their homes. Ever thought about concealing the stuff in bins or large trash cans? Leaving it out in the open is what's biting you in the a$$. Take measures to stash the stuff better, and I bet nobody complains again.

If a city inspector sees scrap outside(mostly in residential neighborhoods) they will send you a letter of violation...Not too many people call the city them self unless you have a grumpy and or someone that has nothing to do with his life so he f**ks other life's neighbors.

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Originally Posted by Gnraxlrose88

So im at my crappy part time job tonight and my phone goes off. Lucky theres a new guy training so I can sneak out back. Well its my landlord, asking me if I got the letter from the city. Apparantly Someones been complaining about my scrapping. He read to me about how the inspector found "excessive amounts of scrap metal on the side of the detatched garage, scrap under the awning of the detatched garage, chairs, multiple tables, air conditioners, and assorted electronics." Im not sure when this was, but i broke down my ac units a month ago and their long gone, a truckload of shred has already been removed, and "tables and chairs" are my fu***** patio furniture for my fu***** fire pit. Apparantly patio furniture is illegal...

So my landlord asks me why I have all this. I told him "all im trying to do is make a couple bucks." he told me I can still work out of the garage, he doesnt care at all, but i need to clean up whats outside...but im sure now every move i make will be monitored and then theyll bi*** that im workin in the garage...

I dont have the slightest clue who called but it took them a year and a half, and it pisses me off because instead of catching me and asking politly to pick up a bit they go and whine to the city, which now leaves me till monday to cash in at the worst possible time...

Im simply trying to be independant, get through school, NOT rely on the government to take care of me, and now soon raise a child...so its back to school full time in a week, so my crappy job will cut my hours to MAYBE 10 a week, I dont do drugs, I dont smoke, I barely drink...where did I go wrong and wtf did I do to get s**t on...

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Its unfortunate that ur renting..my neighbors a prick but since I own my house there is nothing he can do other than complain to the association..so I clean up for a bit to plz them..do the same..its guna takr more than a bit of junk to get ya kicked out

I rent, and don't have this issue, but then again, I'm the only full time year round resident on my street for 9 months out of the year. The one neighbor I do have around the corner, gives me stuff now and then to scrap/recycle get rid of for them. Heh. I do worry about this though now and then. A couple of suggestions/solutions:

1. Tubs/containers as others have said.
2. Work from the garage or at lest put everything away when your done. I bring some stuff outdoors to work on like lawn mowers an such as I don't really want gas/oil in my shop as it also doubles as my woodworking shop.
3. Rent a storage spot. I know finances are tough in this day and age(more with a lil one on the way) but perhaps what you make in scrap will pay for the storage.
4. Cover it up with a tarp. I do this when I get a big load (to me) of TV's. I'll put'm on a table under my deck, throw a blue tarp over it, and strap it down till I get to them.

Either way, don't give up if you enjoy doing this and/or need that extra income. Long as your landlord is cool you got options. Judging by the screen name your a GnR fan (I'm quick aren't I? lol) throw on some Welcome to the Jungle, and keep on keeping on man. The game didn't end, the rules just changed.

Adapt, overcome, preserve.

Brief rant - Smokers and butts. I smoke, and I don't flick my butts, and I try to be polite around others with my habit. Flicking butts lit or not is bad. Living in AZ taught me this. Saw enough fires out that way to make me realize it's easier to strip my butts then to flick'm.

Good luck either way and hope to see ya stick with it.

Sirscrapalot - Enjoys being the only full time resident on his street sept - may.

Tarping the pile helps some

Sorry to here about your troubles bro...seems no body respects peoples privacy anymore and to be a model citizen you have to piss, whine and moan about what everyone else is doing. All I can say is step up your game and make a challenge out of it. Vamp up the organization of things so that it is out of site, go to the yard more often, (even if prices are down) and don't give up. Keep us posted on the new family member.

Sounds like a tough situation but don't give up.

I'd find out what the local ordinances are regarding the type of activity you are doing. Different localities have different laws. And various levels of enforcement. This will give you a base point of knowing what violations may be on the table. I keep my "junk" out of sight. If it is not in my fenced-in back yard, it is covered up.

Regardless what the ordinances are I would respect my landlord's request and work out of the garage. It might mean more frequent trips to the yard but if that's what it takes then you have to learn to live with it.

Rusty

I agree, you want to keep your landlord happy. I searched Mesa's regulations for dumpster diving, etc. What is allowed to be visible on your property. Business restrictions. Fines. I also have had numerous conversations with local police. I wanted to know the laws, the level of enforcement, and possible financial repercussions for potential violations. I had no idea what the regulations permitted.

axlrose may find out that there is a more suitable arrangement.

Paul

Paul

Don't give up because of a couple of neighbors. Sounds like the landlord wants you to stay and keep at it. Just keep it out of sight somehow. Any chance on getting an old pop up camper and just loading it up? Closed trailer would be ideal, but you don't see those cheap often, so the pop up may be easier to accquire.

I can understand community regulations. didn't say I liked them but understwnd them. looking through my copy of the U.S. constitution I cant seem to find the section that governs what your neighbor does with his property. In addition to that hard times some times dictate hard measures. perhaps when your neighbors loose their jobs, they will come to you for advice.

one axiom that may apply here is "out of sight out of mind" you are however lucky to have the land lord you have. Perhaps a storage unit would solve the problem.

The price we pay for "renting" from uncle Sam, try not paying your property taxes once and you will find out who really owns all our places!

Don't give up bro! Find a niche and run with that. Think copper, aluminum, batteries, e-waste, cell phones(a lot of places encourage recycling and will allow small boxes for community collection of certain things, i.e. cellphones and certain batteries). Just streamline and focus your operations and you might find that you are more profitable! Good luck, I hope you keep going. If einstein quit every time he was told "no", where would we be? W/o tv, nuclear weapons, automatic doors, MRI body scanners and probably speaking Japanese.(joke) Don't sell yourself so short!











“Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value.”
—Albert Einstein


The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self.”
---Albert Einstein

I break down stuff in my carpot in the back of my truck, neighbors always look at what I am doing, but I have gotten lot's of stuff from them. If it is a large steel item I move it in the back but try to get rid of it as soon as I can. As far as stockpiling stuff I have an extruded alum pile, painted alum pile, cast alum pile, dirty alum pile and buckets, stainless steel area, boxes for insulated wire, copper #2, die cast zinc, lead wheel weights, brass and elect motors. I crush my alum cans and keep them in 35 gal rubbermade cans. Small steel items usually stay in the truck or go into buckets as I hate to move steel more than twice (pick up and unload at the yard!) Small pile of auto batteries, ewaste goes in the shead to keep it dry. Neighbors yards are worse looking than mine so I feel I am ok. Tarps do sound like a good idea though, next time I am at Harbor freight I will pick up a few.

“Do or do not... there is no try.” - Yoda

Another thought may be to get some large used trash cans like 96 gallon and store everything in them. Then it will look like trash cans lined up and not a working scarp area.

You can build stuff to make the yard look nice that can also hold stuff, such as a fake phone booth, lighthouse, manger, etc.

Find out which neighbor it was and put on the ski masks and break his leg. I am obviously not being serious I guess I should ask do you have neighbors that are hassling you or just a prick for a neighbor? How do you know it was a neighbor and just not the inspector cruising the streets.

I am convinced for sure that the amount of scrap in -stock - Inventoried - horded - call it as you want - can overwhelm the space you possess If you gave me a foot ball field I'll find away to fill it . To get it ready for market thats the true Battle . When you get to the point of having to keep it out in the open, thats a problem as here you you are braking down things - thats messy as is and to make matters worse you have items with no rhyme or reason all about. Outsiders don't recognize how you just moved out 900 lbs of stock cause you quickly replaced it with 800 lbs more, all looks the same to them. At the very least cover all your stuff with tarps as this is a nasty dirty business that when radar is on you, you will find that it's not even legal to pull stuff from the curb and take it home.By the way using you car for that also can be illegal.
I have found for me living amongst non scrapping neighbors - that I have to keep it under control. AND I am way out now and had no choice but to slow down .
If I knew about this way to earn money I would pick a place with privacy , how else can one really do this kinda work .

Thanks for the encouragement and ideas everyone...I dont know whp it was who complained, and honestly my stash was hard to see from the roads so the idea of an inspector is dim...im still sore about the situation but it is what it is, at least my landlord is cool about the garage. And as for storage, my basement is devoted to bins for boards, diff alum, wires, etc.

The worst part is is for a year my neighbor had an old camper behind the garage, one from the 70s that her and her ex renovated...and it was ugly, gaudy, and stood out like a sore thumb...and nobody said anything, then in spring they sold it, it actually helped conceal my scrap lol

I keep all of my stuff in either trash cans or chlorine tablet buckets from the community pools trash, and I keep everything very compact and clean. I am slowly replacing all of my trash cans as they are getting pretty bad looking, and I'm replacing them with Rubbermaid Brute Trash cans. They are about 20-50 bucks each at Home Depot, but they stack and last forever.

http://yardsurfer.com/wp-content/upl...-trash-can.jpg

DO NOT GIVE UP!! This is part of what I call "the fine art of outlaw suburban junking". The code drones have no choice but to respond to complaints by nosy (really jealous) neighbors, I have known many code inspectors and they hate that part of the job. I have been there many times, keep up the dialog with your landlord/ and the code inspector it really helps. My solution was to tarp it all, and keep it moving. Keeping stuff of the ground really helps, old pick-up bed trailers can be had for cheap and HF tarps don't cost much. Move stuff in and out of garage early in the am or late. I hear your frustration, realize that in a hyper-consumer society recycling is a revolutionary act as far as the system is concerned, Stand tall and scrap on!

hey GnR. There have been many fine replies to your problem. I would do everything in my power to hide your outside scrap either in tarps or cans or whatever and make sure to keep the string trimming (weed-eating) done around your pile. These are all excellent suggestions. Also, were it me, I would begin a dialog with your city's ordinance coordinator, explain to the him or her that you are attempting to better yourself and that of your new baby (when he/she is born), explain that you are a full time student and that you are trying to provide for your family as best you can, without resorting to government programs for free handouts. You might be surprised at how much a simple explanation to your local code enforcement officer could help your situation, also, ask the CEO (code enforcement officer) how you can continue in your side business, yet remain within city ordinances. Either way, I would continue to do your best in trying to provide for your family, hide the processed materials, work out of the garage. I wish you the best.

To H#LL with people that try to bring a good scrapper down !!!!

I am so glad that I live out in the boonies. I have scrap laying everywhere, different piles, for different materials. Maybe start looking for new living arrangements, I understand that might not be possible. However, I would do all within my power to figure a way out of/around this situation. I am quite sure you can do it.

Good Luck!

Like everyone else said dont give up! Hey we all hit a bump in the road every once in a while. I recently lost my job and my scrap business is super slow not to mention high gas prices and low scrap prices, but guess what? Im going to make it because im not a quitter and you aren't either, so dust yourself off and try again because thats what im doing.

Great advise above, use what you think works best for your situation. IMHO, since your walking a fine line, leave the business part out as this could open a whole new can of worms that would complicate your situation. You don't want to be seen as running a business there since many residential codes forbid this.

Several air conditioners or similar items could be stacked and draped, with a head on top. Giant puppet, statue, etc.