A Painter's Perspective: The Importance of Protecting Your Home (and Your Health) with Paint

Rain, wind and UV rays weather down your house by causing peeling and flaking paint and cracks in the wood. 

Wood damage
Cracks in the wood are hard to fill, and you'll never have the same structural Integrity and aesthetic image as intended; and heavily damaged wood is costly to replace. 

Stucco damage
When stucco is left unprotected, water damage is common, which could cause mold and fungus. If you see patches of black specks that look like dirt, it could be mold, fungus or algae. It's important to remove what you can with a pressure washer and treat the spot with a paint that has mold killing additives. 

Repairing stucco that has water damage could be costly. Water can even waste away the underlying concrete by making it like chalk and break away. 

Painting your home today can prevent MAJOR repairs later and protect your health from mold and fungus spores and loose paint chips. 

Daniel Burke
Burke Painting

Mendocino at Encinitas Ranch HOA Agenda & Meeting Notice May 29, 6:00 PM San Diego County Credit Union, 501 N El Camino Real

Call to Order 6:30 PM / Open Forum 6:00 - 6:30 PM

Approve Minutes/Financials

Management Report / Project Status Update

- small claims court (Chris); landscape update (Slav); parking enforcement (Samer); "wet" driveway strips (Anita, Samer)

Treasurer's Report (Anita)

- delinquency status (Chris, Anita)

- collection policy (Anita)

- CD laddering (Anita)

Architectural Committee (Jon)

Landscape Committee Report

- state of irrigation / sprinkler repair (Slav)

Regular Business to be Conducted

- owl house pilot (Kay)

- blog traffic

Executive Matters (closed to membership) 7:30 PM

- homeowner hearings

Next Board Meeting

Adjournment

Owners are welcome and encouraged to attend

The meeting is closed to the membership

Questions? Please contact Mills Property Management at: 760.978.9609

Grass damaged by cottontails:

If you see irregularly shaped dry/yellow grass spots by your home, chances are it's not a lack of water or a disease but cottontails. Cottontails are territorial -  once they get to like a spot they keep coming back to it.

Inspect the dry patch: if you see small round black droppings, especially when the soil underneath is wet, it's a sure sign the damage is caused by cottontails.

There is no known solution to the problem (other than breeding coyotes 😉), and if you replace the dry grass patch there is no guarantee that the cottontails won't come back to the same spot.

Please report irrigation water leaks to MMS ASAP:

- water runoff from a broken/stuck sprinkler
- unusually wet spots
- standing/ponding water

If water leaks go unreported, in addition to wasting water, the HOA loses a lot of money on sky-high water bills.

Our irrigation system is 20 years old and parts of it are beginning to fail: stuck valves, cracked pipes, broken sprinklers. Failure rate increases in the summer months as more frequent watering puts additional pressure on the irrigation infrastructure.

HELP CONSERVE WATER AND REDUCE HOA BUDGET WASTE!

Message from the President: Arch Review

Fellow homeowners,

The newly appointed Architectural Committee (AC) has been hard at work - and it's about time!

Mendocino is not getting any younger, and the signs of aging are everywhere - fading paint, rusting metal, termite-damaged wood. It's easy to overlook these when real estate prices are at record highs and homes in Mendocino are selling for over $800,000 and are hard to come by. But if we don't "keep up appearances," signs of aging and deferred maintenance will only get worse, impacting property values.

The AC recently undertook a comprehensive evaluation of the Mendocino homes. Each home's exterior was rated in 12 different categories - from stucco to garage doors to driveways - and scored 1 through 5, with 1 being the best and 5 - the worst score; so 12 was the best combined score a house could get.

The AC will share its detailed findings and recommendations with the board on May 29 - that's one meeting you don't want to miss.

If you look at the glass as half-full:

Out of the 71 homes, 27 (38%) got the a combined score of 12 - as good as it gets! 8 homes (11%) scored 13 due to a minor blemish here and there that might require attention in the future. 14 and 15 - another 8 homes (11%)  - had 1 or 2 issues that are cause for concern, but still nothing major.

However, things went downhill from there. 16 through 30 (the remaining 28 homes, or a whopping 40%) require some serious TLC.

Our CC&Rs (8.1) require and empower the Board to ensure that homeowners keep their homes up to a certain standard. After all, it's only fair: we should all contribute equally to the attractiveness of Mendocino that we all equally benefit from.

Slav

Fresh Mulch Around New Plants

SML will be spreading mulch around the new plants in the coming weeks. The mulch is very fresh and nutritious (for your plants 😎) but if you prefer a different look feel free to add a top layer of your choice.

Architectural Review: Notable Findings

With our homes approaching (and in some cases surpassing) the legal age for alcohol consumption, the AC noted a number of instances of unsightly stucco mold and faded paint (mainly on wooden elements). To be sure, there were other conditions requiring repair, but these two stand out as a bit more common. The good news is that in no case did the AC see conditions requiring demolition of the structure! (Whew.  :-)  )  

Also on the plus side: over the past 12 months, we've seen a record number of homeowners pick up the gauntlet of home maintenance by repainting their homes.

WE also noted that a full repaint is not always the only solution. Some cheaper options:

• Power wash. Oftentimes, those black stucco spots are not mold but mineral deposits -- dirt that has splashed off the roof in a rain. One of our neighbors had their house power-washed, put in a vinyl fence and had nice plants planted upfront - the house looks like new!
• Partial/select repaint. Just taking care of a rusted railing or south-facing front door and shutters particularly vulnerable to the effects of UV (paint fading/flaking) will dramatically improve the overall look.

We hope the AC updates have been informative and will answer at least some questions that may arise as the Board strives to fulfill its duty to preserve the appearance of our neighborhood and protect our property values.

-Your Architectural Committee

Architectural Review Process

To ensure maximum fairness and objectivity the AC has evaluated each home based on the following criteria:

• Mold / dark stains on the stucco
• Moisture damaged stucco
•  Chipped, peeling, or substantially faded paint
• Exposed wall anchors
• Bent, loose or missing siding
• Gutters and/or downspouts in disrepair
• Rusting metal surfaces
• Broken or missing shutters / other decorative elements
• Badly weathered/ deteriorated "hardware" (metal door handles, knobs, and locks; exterior, metal light fixtures attached to residence, etc.)
• Significantly dented/ damaged garage doors
• Extensive, visible termite damage, broken/missing/rotted elements (to fences, visible architectural elements, etc.)
• Improvement maintenance (e.g., driveway strips)

(These minimum standards were previously developed by the AC and approved by the Board - please see the documents on the right.)

The AC then adopted a rating scale for its volunteers to use to reflect the degree of severity/urgency of each maintenance condition for each house: 

1. No adverse observations 
2. Limited adverse observations, monitoring recommended, no action recommended at this time 
3. Limited adverse observations, monitoring recommended, warning recommended 
4. Fairly significant observations, action recommended
5. Significant observations, action required

Each committee volunteer was allocated a group of houses (excluding his/her own) to evaluate. Pictures were taken to document noted areas of concern.The AC then used the above scale (along with a total scoring for each house) to prioritize the most problematic houses in need of attention.

Once it's double-checked the scores needing action (3,4, and 5) the AC will forward its recommendations to the HOA Board of Directors for ultimate disposition.

We will share the most notable findings here.

- Your Architectural Committee

Driveway Hardscape Conversion Pitfalls

If you have recently converted or are considering converting your driveway to a hardscape, please bear in mind:

1) You MUST have the sprinklers professionally capped.

2) Please be mindful of the irrigation pipes under the driveway. Our irrigation is 20 years old and getting brittle. It does not take much to accidentally break an irrigation pipe under the driveway when removing the old sod or installing a hardscape. In one unfortunate instance a broken pipe leaking water under the hardscape was discovered AFTER concrete was poured in, necessitating cumbersome and costly repairs.

3) Please control the weeds. Driveway hardscape is your property and your responsibility. Stones seem to be a popular solution but weeds will grow between them if a weed barrier is not installed properly.

New Plantings

Finally! The new plantings have arrived at the affected front yards!

The plants were carefully selected from the Approved Plant List for maximum variety and cohesive look and professionally matched to a specific location (house orientation, sun, proximity to the driveway, surrounding plants, water and maintenance requirements).

This marks the beginning of Mendocino's planned transition from woody, "heavy", sculpted shrubs to a "softer", natural, drought tolerant look.

From the Architectural Committee:

One of the benefits of living in an HOA is having neighbors who share your interest in maintaining and enhancing the value of your (probably biggest) investment and have the means to act on that interest, at least to the extent that the appearance of the neighborhood impacts your home's value. Without an HOA, pointing out how your neighbor's maintenance (or lack thereof) is adversely affecting Your investment might be considered -- well -- downright rude! Isn't it good to have community volunteers willing to undertake this job?

The Board has delegated to the Architectural Committee (AC) the task of identifying home (non-landscape-related) maintenance issues that are visible to the rest of the community and which are in need of remediation in order to preserve everyone's property values and maintain the appeal and appearance of the neighborhood. 

The AC currently comprises two non-Board homeowners, one Board member, and technically the President in an ex-officio capacity who is not participating in the AC work - all of whom are your neighbors. Of course, we'd expect the main beneficiary of these repairs to be the homeowners' of those properties themselves. (Remember: "a stitch in time saves nine" - that fading flaking paint isn't protecting that wood, stucco or metal like it used to, and who needs the added hassle and expense of dealing with rotted wood, damaged stucco, or rusted metal?) But even if that benefit doesn't pay off monetarily immediately to the homeowners undertaking the repairs, there could be such benefit to their neighbors in the form of restoration of Their property values, not to mention the intangible value for everyone in living in a beautified community.  

The AC is in the process of assessing the conditions of all 71 homes in Mendocino based on the common criteria approved by the HOA Board of Directors, and will be sharing periodic updates here.

- Your Architectural Committee

Landscaping on the Corner of Via Vantebria and Garden View Rd

Many homeowners are concerned about the landscaping (or rather lack thereof) on the corner of Via Cantebria and Garden View Rd. Why is it so uneven, with such abrupt boundaries?

Parking strips (the narrow strips of land between the sidewalk and the road) belong to the city but must be maintained by the homes bordering on them, thus the responsibility to landscape and maintain the corner of Via Cantebria and Garden View Rd. rests with the two non-Mendocino homes on the corner. The even narrower strips between the fence and the sidewalk are the property and responsibility of those homes.

The city approved the construction of the two homes on the condition that they create and maintain the outer perimeter landscaping to the city standards but has not been enforcing its own rules; and the non-Mendocino homes have not done anything with the landscaping. Mendocino HOA does its best to maintain the parking strips up to the boundary of its responsibility - hence the abrupt change in appearance.

It's unfortunate that the two non-Mendocino homes subtract from the neighborhood appeal while benefiting form the proximity to Mendocino. One of the homes has recently done some landscaping but it still falls short of the responsibility of the Garden View HOA which those two homes comprise.

Approved Plant List

An updated Approved Plant List is available upon request from MMS.

We want to have a unifying landscape theme throughout Mendocino while allowing for variety and individual character.