New concrete floor in packed dirt basement


Our 100+ yr old limestone in Stuy Heights has a packed dirt basement floor. Last year we had a mold outbreak down there, due to the humidity. We’d like to price out pouring a cement floor. Nothing fancy- the basement is used for storage – but something clean and probably with some sort of moisture barrier. Any suggestions or ideas of what this would cost? Probably about 1,000 sq ft.

Categories: Cellar
By thebedstuyowl | 05/01/2011 11:59 AM | Comment

Electrical outlets in basement – price?


I’d like to add a few electrical outlets to our basement – currently we have overhead lighting, but no outlets. We’d like to run a dehumidifier down there. Any idea what this would cost ballpark to have done?

Categories: Electricians
By thebedstuyowl | 03/19/2011 9:58 AM | Comment

Boiler shutting off


We recently had a new gas boiler installed in our 2-family house as part of renovation, and it keeps shutting itself off. We keep flipping the sensor switch on the back – sometimes it will stay on for a few days and others it will shut off immediately. I already checked the two posts below:

http://www.brownstoner.com/forum/archives/2010/01/boiler_turning_1.php

http://www.brownstoner.com/forum/archives/2009/12/raise_my_chimne.php#comments.

We had both A+A and Big Apple come by, per Master Plvmber, with mixed results. A+A said the chimney was “ugly but fine,” while Big Apple requested $500 in cash to clean the chimney and look inside (the cash part made it sound a little shady). We have a metal chimney and the house does not use the original chimney.

Since we closed in the summer and did not turn the heat on until after the new boiler was installed, we can’t compare it to last winter.

Can anyone recommend another chimney company for a third opinion? Is there a way to check to see if the sensor is broken? (and if so, I assume the contractor who installed it is responsible for fixing it?) Is there a way to test for carbon monoxide in the basement? Could wind blowing in the top of the chimney be to blame?

He did install a very large boiler – apparently larger than we need. Could that be the problem?

We want to get this resolved before we finish reno and get a renter in. Thanks in advance for any tips!

Categories: Heating
By thebedstuyowl | 12/30/2010 4:34 PM | Comment