April 17, 2007

More Nor'easter Wreckage, Prospect Heights Edition

And you thought your house got hit hard by the torrential rains of the last two days! A reader sent in this photo of the tree that used to stand in her back yard. Since it's as tall as a five-story house it reached as far as four-yards away when it toppled yesterday. The estimated cost of removal? $1,800. It's pretty amazing it didn't crush any fences or nice garden furniture. (Gotta love those 130-foot lots they got over there.)
Rain, Rain, Go Away [Brownstoner]

Posted by Brownstoner at 9:59 AM | Comments (21)
Categories: Brownstones

April 16, 2007

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Anticipation of the Nor'easter which began yesterday morning gave us uneasy flashbacks to the biblical floods of October 2005. A month after moving into our newly renovated house, we learned the hard way that the original waste line (which was made of out clay pipe back in the day) had basically disintegrated. When the pounding rains came that fall, the rain collected on the roof, ran down the drain pipe (which fed into the waste line, we learned) and smacked into the pile of earth that our century-old pipe had become. With no place else to go, the water surged up to the first point of release--the tenant's tub and toilet. We ended up having two episodes of major flooding in the apartment. Amazingly, there was only a couple of thousand dollars of damage and the parquet floors emerged unwarped. Still, to say it was a traumatic experience would be an understatement.

So we felt some sympathy for the poor Park Sloper whose clogged drain pipe (above) caused his basement to flood. There have also been some three posts (count 'em one, two, three) on the Forum so far; if you have any experience in these matters, please take a moment to lend your advice. We'd also be interested in hearing other stories of rain damage from the last 24 hours. Watcha got?
The Great Flood of Aught Seven [Flickr]

Posted by Brownstoner at 10:31 AM | Comments (26)
Categories: Brownstones, Discussion, Maintenance

April 11, 2007

Arch Prof: Brownstones, Good. New Construction, Bad

Over on Stay Free! magazine's blog, there's a great interview with Robert Zagaroli by editor (and limestone owner) Carrie McLaren, associate professor of architectural technology at New York City College of Technology and life-long Brooklynite. The Topic: Were older buildings in general (and brownstones in particular) really built better than today's new construction? Here's what Mr. Z had to say:

It's a cliché, but brownstones truly were built to last. New construction tends to be cheaper in two senses: it costs less and is lower quality. Today, it's perfectly legal to build with half-inch gypsum board, but most people can put their fist through it. If the house gets wet or moldy, the walls can't handle the wear and tear. The standard in brownstones was plaster. You still have plaster walls in 200-year-old houses because plaster is very durable. The materials used in 18th and 19th century construction lasted longer: plaster, brick, and wood from old-growth forests. Today, the labor doesn't exist to install those products. The technology has changed. All wood now is farmed. There is no old-growth forest to tear down, so the wood industry has harvested trees for the last 30 years. It plants fast-growing trees, but the wood shrinks and therefore it's not as reliable, not as durable, not as sturdy, accurate, or dimensionally accurate. Newer wood has a shorter shelf life.

More on planned obsolescence, the NYC building code and why stainless steel kitchen are so 'nineties on the link.
Are Old Houses Really Built to Last? [Stay Free! via Curbed]

Posted by Brownstoner at 10:00 AM | Comments (7)
Categories: Architecture, Brooklyn, Brownstones

April 10, 2007

Front Page Forum: Brownstone Trim Color

Over the weekend, the owner of this brownstone in the Capital Hill nabe of Washington D.C. posted on the Forum, looking for some input on what color to paint his window trim. Since we're partially color-blind, we won't weigh in too much on this one, except to say that we think white should be avoided at all costs on brownstones and even many brick houses (unless it's clearly a Georgian thing). We're probably overly biased against white windows since it's the predominant color of the vinyl windows that mar otherwise beautiful facades in many of the less expensive parts of Brownstone Brooklyn. We went with black, which is pretty much the default color. There were a couple of commenters on the Forum banging the table for dark, dark green. Where do you stand on the issue?
Help Selecting Trim Color for Brownstone [Forum]

Posted by Brownstoner at 9:59 AM | Comments (10)
Categories: Architecture, Brooklyn, Brownstones