Central Air compressor unit.


I am hoping to get some advice on my central air compressor unit issue. I had a central air sytem installed in my brownstone back in 2004. Since then, I have had to have several acid washes on the coil in my unit. I was told this is because I have a great deal of dirt, dust, leaves, feathers (from pidgeons) etc. that cake on the coil and cause the need for the acid wash. Over the few years I have had this unit I have been extremely attentive to keeping the area around the unit clean as well as cleaning the unit itself at the end of the season and covering it when it is not in use tightly with a bungy cord. My question is this: Has anyone else had this issue? If so, what have you done about it? Just to wash this coil costs $525.00 from my central air company in addition to the fee that I pay for general service calls which is around $400.00 for the year. Any advice/information would be appreciated. Thank you.

Categories: A/C
By MK | 04/24/2008 11:49 AM | Comment

Linoleum Floor Cleaners.


Hi All:

I wondered if any of you out there have used a good vendor for cleaning linoleum floors? We are looking to clean the floors located in the common halls of our brownstone. This includes the stair case and landings going up 5 flights. Any information or referrals would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

MK

Categories: Floors
By MK | 04/17/2008 12:17 PM | Comment

Removing decales from a bath tub.


Dear All:

I have the task of removing some unsightly star fish themed decales from the bottom of a tub lined bath tub. Does anyone out there have any suggestions of how to most carefully remove these decales without damaging the tub in any way? Many thanks in advance.

MK

Categories: Kitchen & Bath
By MK | 02/27/2008 12:48 PM | Comment

Renovation – price comparisons


Dear All:

I am hoping to gain some valuable advice from those out there who have gone through kitchen and general renovations. I am about to embark on my third (and hopefully last) phase renovation in my brownstone home. In this phase I am going to renovate my kitchen and a guest room to accommodate our daughter who is quickly growing out of her small nursery room. The bids that I have received so far from both an electrician and contractor seem a bit high; granted the last renovation I did was in 2004 and I did not do a kitchen renovation at anytime. I want to ask those who have been through all of this before and fairly recently if they feel the numbers add up. Here are the figures I have gotten to date:

Electrical work: $18,000(this includes re-wiring kitchen, installing 4 high hats in ceiling, new plugs, dimmers, under the counter lighting), re-wiring bedroom (this includes on center ceiling light fixture and new plugs), and some re-wiring in a back livingroom area to accommodate and mount new flat screen TV).

Contractor bid: $37,000

This includes preparing the kitchen for new cabinets, renovating new bedroom (new dry wall, new windows, new closet construction, painting).

I realize that not all details have been included, but that is the job in a nutshell. Any advice that can be afforded would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to all in advance.

Categories: Renovation
By MK | 02/20/2008 2:39 PM | Comment

Mounting Flat Screen TV


Dear All:

I wondered if anyone out there has had experience and can offer some advice on mounting a flat screen TV to a brick wall? Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

MK

Categories: Television
By MK | 10/01/2007 3:12 PM | Comment

What’s that smell?


I live in a brownstone that was duplexed into the basement back in 2000. There is a door to the boiler room at the front end of our renovated hallway that leads to the back rooms off of the garden. When I can home yesterday I experienced a faint smell of urine coming from the front area in the boiler room (gross!). Does anyone out there know what could possibly cause this odor? We have had sewer issues in the past but this is a completely different smell.

I have of course called our maintenance professional to check it out and see if we need professional plumbing assistance, but I thought I would ask all of you out there in brownstone land if you ever encountered this before. Many thank!

*MK

Categories: Odor
By MK | 08/21/2007 9:59 AM | Comment