Forum Archive: Posts by: Oxygen

I’m looking for a drywall supply store that professional use…I need a good tool selection and advice.
I’m in Clinton Hill Bklyn but lower/mid town Manhattan would also work.

Any suggestions?

I’m looking to clean up my apartment after some construction was done. Building is from the 1920s and likely there’s lead dust contamination here (owner played shenanigans with a ‘bogus’ lead test pre-construction). There is no doubt lead dust and the owner isn’t going to deal with it (no kids or pregnant women here). I cannot afford to hire a professional cleaning service, but I would like to rent a HEPA vacuum that is approved for lead dust. I’m going to try to follow EPA guidelines, wipe down all surfaces with cleaner, vacuum from ceilings towards floors, then mop floors with three bucket system.

Where do I rent a HEPA vac in Brooklyn (I’m in Clinton Hill)?

Recent construction damaged the finish of an already well used many decades old cast iron bathtub. I’m a long term renter and the owner has expressed she might pay to have the tub refinished.
I’ve seen this done elsewhere in the building and they merely used what looks like a can of ordinary gloss enamel appliance spray paint…not such a great solution and doesn’t look so great.

I’ve read of epoxy refinishing, and also the plumber on the construction project whispered to me, “Don’t tell her I said this, but you should ask her to have the tub refinished with epoxy paint, I’ve seen this done and it’s fantastic…durable and looks as good as new!”

I know for certain that the owner isn’t going to pay a premium for this service. Maybe a couple hundred at the very most. Does anyone know of a handyman or refinisher that will epoxy paint a bathtub, in situ, at the lower end of the spectrum?

Conversely, I’ve heard of do it yourself epoxy kits…you tpae off and cover the surrounding area, chemical etch or sand the tub to clean and give tooth for the paint to adhere, then a coat or two of a special epoxy spray paint it. I’m very handy and have the skills and can very likely do this very successfully…has anyone done this that can give some feedback or info?

I refinished a heat riser pipe in my bathroom a year ago. I stripped off the decades of paint using a combination of elbow grease + tools: putty knife, electric grinder with wire wheel, and sandpaper. I stripped that pipe GOOD and got it down to bare metal.
I cleaned the pipe well with mineral spirits before painting. I used heat resistant brush on paint, silver colored.

A little over a year later, the paint is starting to flake and separate from the pipe…I can see rust coming through the paint film. Gah!

It was a BIG MESS to strip that heat riser and I ended up painting the bathroom afterwards. I am not looking forward to redoing this, but I must. I also have a couple other heat risers to paint in other rooms as well as three radiators (the radiators will be disconnected and painted in another location.

Can anyone offer some prep/paint tips for the heat risers so as to avoid the rusting?
Note that the heat riser WAS NOT primed prior to painting with heat paint. It was my impression that no primer was needed and that the point of the heat paint was that it is formulated as a very thin paint film so as to transmit more heat , and a primer would add to the film thickness, negating that function. Also, is it Ok to paint the risers when the heat is on, as it;s heating season now?

This is a follow up to a previous about a month ago entitled:
Help Matching Parquet

http://www.brownstoner.com/forum/archives/2009/09/help_locating_p.php#comments

Well, I did some research and was able to find a close match.

[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b278/Lopvegasoline/ParquetFloor2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b278/Lopvegasoline/NewParquetFloor1.jpg[/IMG]

It is a close match but not perfect. The main difference is that on the new flooring the white oak wood parquet strips are 2-1/4” wide, vs. the 1-1/2” wide strips on the old flooring. So, instead of 6 wood strips side by side to make up one parquet ‘module’, (one module is 18” x 9” wide) 4 strips of the new wood is used to make the 18” x9” module. We could have had the 1.5” strips milled to our specifications (it is not a standard size stoked these days) but it would have taken a week or two and we had not time. The 2-14” was in stock. Remember, I am a long term renter and my LL was doing this to please me, but I had to the research finding a source for the wood and within a certain budget. The parquet wood flooring itself was not much more than the standard select white oak strips.

The new wood is white oak select (of course it is not the same as the 80 year old grain of the white oak in the rest of the apartment that was laid in the 1920s). The boarder is 1” walnut inlay. I am pleased because the floor design and flow in the apartment is maintained and it looks much better than the regular strip wood that would have been used. The herringbone parquet could have been installed diagonally within the walnut boarder and that looks pretty cool too (I know because the installer screwed up and accidentally laid a third of the room this way), but I wanted to maintain the design with the rest of the apartment.

The floors were installed and finished by Lyon Floor Corp., call Edder @ 732-272-4438.

Thanks for all the ideas and input.

I want to give special kudos to:

BESTWOOD FLOORING INC.
93 Montague Street, #283_Brooklyn, NY 11201 _Telephone: 1.347.327.1106 _Fax: 718.504.5457

http://www.bestwooddesigns.com/index.html

Although he knew from the outset I would not be contracting him, the owner generously spent his time to explain what was involved in spec’ing, buying, and installing the floor,and what suppliers would have it and who to talk to. He gave me options in case the product was not available. BY FAR the most knowledgeable and helpful individual out of the many I contacted. If you need parquet or wood flooring installed, hit him up!

I’m prepping a room for repainting (building built in 1920′s). One curious thing: I have interior doors that when I take a putty knife to them, the paint comes off pretty easily in sheets. I have ‘sheets’ of paint that are flexible and that are the size of a poncho. I can get a piece like this stripped off pretty much just by pulling on it with one hand and using a putty knife behind it to separate it easily from the door…when I do this, a very fine powdery dust is released from the underlying paint surface (the paint underneath is a different color). My suspicions are that the ‘sheet’ is thick latex paint (maybe a few coats) that was painted over a previous oil-base paint and that it didn’t adhere well. Btw, the underlying paint isn’t glossy

Anyway, before repainting these doors, are there any recommended preparation procedures and/or product(s) recommended to use to assure proper adhesion with the new paint? Maybe a certain primer? I was thinking of wiping the doors down with either water or mineral spirits (in the event there is a fine dust layer still there). I’ll be repainting the doors with latex interior paint, probably Benjamin Moore).

Thanks.