Leaf blowers

[Laura2592]

So we had a guest complain that the neighbors were using a leaf blower and it disturbed them for about a half hour. Beyond rolling my eyes I am wondering if anyone else has had this issue? I am not sure exactly which neighbor this might be TBH but I really don't feel like its my place to tell them to stop maintaining their lawns while we have delicate guests. Should I put this in my listing as "potential for noise"? This is the first such complaint we have had on this. 

[Sarah977]

@Laura2592  While it's quite precious for the guests to complain about a half hour of yard clean-up noise, are you aware that leaf blowers are actually banned in many places? The decibel level they put out is damaging to human hearing.

I have never understood the reason for leaf blowers. You blow the leaves off your property onto a neighbor's property, or somewheere else? Why? It's environmentally unsound to get rid of the leaves anyway. What is recommended is to mow them, so they are in small bits, which break down and nourish the soil and the lawn. They also provide habitat for insects which the birds then eat in the lean winter months.

[Michelle53]

@Sarah977  I hate leaf blowers, personally. I'm not a fan of lawn either.  I mulched out most of the lawn at my place to plant perennials.  I left a small patch at the back for when I still had a dog.  I use a push mower on that. 

Mostly, the people using leaf blowers around here are landscaping companies.  I always leave the leaves on the ground all winter. I even sweep the ones from the sidewalk onto the parkway beds. 

[Z-2]

@Sarah977 

If you have a house with trees around, you are not blowing the leaves off your property onto a neighbor's property, you just blowing them away from the house, away from the driveway, deck, stairs or swimming pool. If you don’t do that, then

1. Drive way, stairs will be covered with all leaves and looks messy
2. Swimming pool will have a lot of leaves and hard to clean.
3. The leaves also provide habitat for insects. So a lot of bugs around the house.All above is bad for vacation houses.
   If you don’t use blower, but sweep them, how long you expect to finish all those jobs?

[Z-2]

We blowing them together and put into trash can and county will collect them.

[Sarah977]

@Z-2  But they aren't trash. They are organic material that can be used to mulch around plants and trees. 

[Z-2]

I don’t know how country deal with them. We just followed their instructions.

[Anonymous]

@Z-2  it's a shame that so many homeowners feel obliged to treat their yards as though they aren't part of an ecosystem, but I understand the social pressure you might be under to make it look totally unnatural. 

@Sarah977 @Michelle53 This article sure is timely: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/25/opinion/leaf-blowers-california-emissions.html 

[Michelle53]

@Anonymous  Great article !  Thanks for posting.   

Every year, someone around here tries to plant grass under the shade trees on the parkway. They feed it. They water it. Every year they fail. You'd think they'd try planting something that thrives in shade. 

[J-Renato0]

@Laura2592 

I think the guest in question is an exception. He was the first one to complain about the neighbors were using a leaf blower! So, I think you should disconsider it.

Only if it was a recurrent complaint you should put it on the listing.
We as hosts should focus on the normal type of guest, not on the exception.

Just my 2 cents 🙂

[M199]

@Laura2592, et al

Just a thought, I did not read all the responses. 

As a bit of information,  our local bylaws and impending Town imposed STR licensing requires the we post Noise and Fireworks bylaws prominenty.  The fine for a leaf blower, snowblower, that size machinery is $250Cdn with no recourse.

Point is check your local bylaws.  The renter probably has a right to complain (or not?). Every municipality is different.

[Kevin1322]

We had one complain that the sound of the sea kept them awake.  "Handy for the south west coast path" in the listing title wasn't enough of a clue 🤣