Restoring a marble mantle


I am trying to have a DIY restoration project of this marble mantle. It has a lot of yellow paint and dirt…Any ideas, thoughts or recommendations on the approach, or material to use, etc…I am pretty handy but I am scared i might use the wrong chemicals and be in the dogs house..Please help.

By brooklynresident | 03/24/2010 11:15 AM | Comment

Water Main and Insurance


Does the homeowner’s insurance cover the replacement of water mains (residential and fire sprinkler’s main). Also does a claim hike a the insurance rates in the future?..the 3″ fire main bursted over the weekend and it is costing me 12k to replace. Please note that I dont have a heater in the house since it is still under construction.

Categories: Insurance
By brooklynresident | 02/08/2010 8:03 PM | Comment

4-Family Code Question


We are renovating a full gut 4 family house. We are installing fire sprinkling system everywhere in the building. Suddenly my architect is saying we need to isolate each floor by installing 2 sets of 5/8″ sheetrock then drop the ceiling using 2 by 4s then the finishing sheetrock. Architect also said we can’t use the bays between the old joists for anything like recessed lighting or wiring.This sounds crazy to me. Not only that it is costing us more money, it is also making the ceiling way lower.

Did anyone had to do a 3 or 4 family recently? did anyone hear of this building code?

your help is greatly appreciated.

Categories: Building Code
By brooklynresident | 01/29/2010 9:39 AM | Comment

Original Fire Place Mantles


We are in the middle of renovating our parlor floor and we are looking for a place to buy an original fire place mantle. Anyone with recommendations? thanks a lot

Categories: Fireplace/Mantle
By brooklynresident | 01/10/2010 3:11 PM | Comment

SROs & cert of no harassement


what does it take to totally get rid of the SRO status. Is a certficate of no harasement enough? can previous SRO tenants re-appear for new owners while still doing the conversion? also how does the letter of no objection come into place with all of this.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

By brooklynresident | 08/29/2009 3:02 PM | Comment

financing SRO conversion


Does anyone know how to go about financing an SRO conversion to 3 or 4 family. The current owner has a cert of no harassement. Any recommendation for banks or brokers that will do this type of loans covering ourchase price plus construction cost.

By brooklynresident | 08/19/2009 10:58 PM | Comment

Financing a SRO Conversion


We are trying a buy a building in a good location and convert it from an SRO to a 3 family. The current owner manged to get a certificate of no harassement but he ran out of money. Most banks I contacted dont do the 203k loans or any construction + purchse loans for an SRO. It seems like we bailed them but they dont want to land.
Anyone with info on how to go about financing these projects and crietris for getting those loans, DTI, LTV, etc… Thanks everyone.

Categories: Mortgage
By brooklynresident | 08/16/2009 3:33 PM | Comment