Maintenance
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]
December 6, 2006
Waddup with 75 Henry Street?
75 Henry Street is the 370-unit, 33-story tower you see as you come off the ramp from the Brooklyn Bridge. From the looks of this photo put up on Flickr this weekend, the building is getting caught up on some repairs. We've always wondered about this place: For some reason it looks like a building that was built in the Sixties as subsidized middle-income housing, but from the looks of recent sales prices (an apartment on the 21st floor sold for over a million bucks last February), that would appear not to be the case. So what's the deal on it? GMAP
November 30, 2006
Answers On The Fulton Street Dig
We got an email asking us if we knew what all the construction on Fulton Street in Clinton Hill was about. We didn't, so we did some hard-hitting reporting on our way to work yesterday. According to one of the workers who was on a coffee break, they are now removing the old trolley tracks that run down the middle of the street; then they are going to lay a bunch of new water and sewer pipes under the road.
October 9, 2006
Nibble, Nibble Like a Mouse
The scene above looks like our kitchen for the past two weeks. After having not seen a mouse all summer, one day, they were just there. And not just one or two, but a lot. On Saturday afternoon, Mrs. B walked in to the kitchen, and three of them were having a powwow on the counter. As yesterday's article in The Times points out, the common house mouse "weighs about an ounce, has a two-inch-long body and can slip through a hole just a little bit bigger than a pencil." So the biggest preventative measure you can take is to seal up as many holes as possible. We had someone come in last winter and spray a hard foam-like substance around (steel wool is another DIY option) but in a house like ours, there's really no way to cover all your bases. Traps and poison are the two standard remedies; if you're going with the former, the article recommends, you gotta go all out: “If you’re not starting with a dozen traps, you’re not serious about catching mice,” said one expert. As for bait, forget about cheese and go with peanut butter.
When Mice Move in to Spend the Winter [NY Times]
Photo by viralbus
September 15, 2006
It's Almost Boiler Season: Time for a Primer
The heating season is right around the corner. The time is now to finish those insulation projects you started and seal or replace drafty windows and door frames. Cool weather comes quickly and unexpectedly so know how to start your boiler and learn the warning signs of potential problems with a quick visual inspection that you can do at any time.
Raise a heating thermostat and go to the boiler. Take a look at the floor around it. Is there any moisture on the ground? If so, try to determine if it is from water or oil. Most oil line repairs should be done by your supplier’s service technicians and the system should be fired and bled, as necessary, after the repair is made. Water leaks are often best handled by a qualified plumbing or “plumbing and heating” company and your oil or gas supplier may require you to call one of your choosing, so long as they are properly licensed.
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