Snowblower etiquette?

august06mom

Surely the Nest would know!

Last winter, DH helped our neighbors shovel out their van after a three-foot blizzard. He also helped them fix their gutters during a record rainstorm (think monsoon) so their house didin't flood. This is among helping them shovel during a few other less-severe storms.

Neighbors just got a shiny new (really nice) snowblower. I think the neighborly thing to do would have been to offer to let DH use it to at least get through the four-foot banks from the snowplows at the end of the drivway. DH just shrugged and said he wasn't going to ask to use it -- that it wasn't polite since he's able to shovel snow.

It took them 20 minutes to do their driveway, and it took DH three hours, so I felt bad for him. We've lived here for a year.  

WWYD? Is there a snowblower code?

mollynpatrick

We live in the snow capital of the world so we have some experience :-) I wouldn't have asked to borrow it but the neighborly thing to do would have been to come over and snowblow you guys out. They should have at least done the end of the driveway where it gets really deep. That was kind of sh!tty of your neighbors, especially since your DH has been so nice about helping them out.

littlemermaid

Your neighbors should be the one to offer up their snowblower or offer to snowblow your driveway themselves.  That would be the neighborly thing for them to do.  If I were your husband I would not ask to use it either. 

jessicaclare

They could have come and snowblowed for him. To be honest, if I were your DH, I wouldn't have used it myself. We let our neighbor use our snowblower for awhile when his wasn't working and he broke it (and didn't really pay to fix it). After that, I don't really like to borrow expensive things from other people.

august06mom

In all honesty, I really thought the neighborly thing to do would have been to offer to snowblow us out, but I thought that might be asking too much. I totally get not wanting to lend expensive tools out.

ridesbuttons

I know of no snow-removal code of ethics.  Most neighbours will help out if there is obvious need, but expecting help (even if you have been on the receiving end of it) is not really heard of.

Of course, we only got snow here 10 out of 12 months here last year, so not sure I'm qualified to offer any opinion on this matter.  

AnnapolisLari

We have a brand new shiny snowblower. I wouldn't really want to lend it out, because I doubt that if it got broken, they would pay for a new one.

But if it were really that bad, I'd offer to do at least part of the drive for them.

SuperCuteBenz

I don't post here much... We got a new snow blower, and thankfully we have only had to use it once so far. Anyway, we are only really good friends with 2 of the families on our street, so we will do theirs. However, this last snow storm, my DH did 5 driveways (plus ours) on our street. Even one of our neighbors that we have never met.

I would think that if you know them well enough, they would at least offer to help you out. 

jlw2505

Sorry no etiquette and it really vary's based on your neighbors.  In my sisters neighborhood, people always offer to do each others driveways or just do it and have no issue lending out their blowers.  In mine, forget it!  It is the very rare time that someone will help someone out.  My DH has helped one of our neighbors a few times but no one has ever offered to help us and I would never ask to borrow one.  Heck, the guy next door watched me shovel the other week (my DH was sick and out blower was broken) and this guy was out blowing and saw me and even waved.  If it had been me with the blower - I would have offered to do it or at least let the guy use it but that is just me.

Printergirl

Your neighbor should have done your drive given the conditions and the help your husband has been to him in crappy weather.

Our neighborhood is very much 'stick to yourself' but when it's snowing we all pitch in. The one guy does his drive and the sidewalk in front of 2-3 other houses in the mornings. If it's really bad his son comes over with his massive snowblower and takes care of some of the older folks houses.

My husband does ours and will assist with our friend across the street when she doesn't have help. He also tag teams with our 87 year old neighbor next door bc he always beats us to it during the day when we are at work. So Sunday mornings while they are at church he will do theirs. That same neighbor did ours when we were having DS so we didn't have to worry about it when we came home. Such a gem!

I swear, people in our hood never are outside socializing but give it a good snow and it's a party out there. Have someone get thier car stuck and it would be a pot luck!