Forum: Cellar
May 6, 2008
Garden Duplex
Many posts get close to the issue that we're facing but I wanted to start another because I'm sure there are many people facing the same issue.
We bought a condo apartment last year. A ground floor and basement/cellar duplex at the back of the typical 5 floor+ building built pre war on the foundations of a brownstone. The basement/cellar retains the original Brownstone walls.
The apartment had been remodeled to have a bedroom, living room and bathroom on the ground floor and the Kitchen/recroom + powder room down stairs. Both floors have doors to the building stairway (having been separate units in the past). Downstairs is zoned as commercial and upstairs is zoned as residential. Downstairs has a rear door opening onto a back yard, L shaped across the back and along the side 20 feet each and about 15 feet wide. This area backs onto restaurants and a gym business and has a 10 foot high canvas wall (which we plan are replace with soundproof walling to reduce AC fan noise - 4 fans)
We've retained an architect to advise us on remodeling the apartment and yard. We want two rec rooms and full bath down stairs and Kitchen and through open sitting room upstairs with a powder room.
This is the issue and my question.
We're advised that there should not be a kitchen down stairs and our remodeling would entail DOB inspection requiring us to remove it and put it upstairs (all plumbing it still upstairs although blocked off). The Architect advises us that the apartment had an illegal kitchen when we bought it and as such we may have a claim against the seller or their agent because without a legal kitchen it’s not an apartment. Also. Despite the fact that the only plans in existence (included in the offer documents) of the apartment show a full bath down stairs which has obviously been removed and replaced with a powder room we're also advised that we cannot replace the powder room with a new full bath.
Should we stop all plans and look for restitution against the seller or just face it that we've been done as any legal case we may have would in practice be too expensive and lengthy to chase.
I'd add that i think the downstairs is a cellar rather than a basement (More than 50% below the level of the front side walk) but as i said above is zoned commercial and shows as a doctor’s office in offer documents.
I've done my best to search the DOB website but can’t find any plans for the apartment. The architect and expeditor (who've now spent almost $12k of our money) say that the DOB has lost all plans for the apartment.
Any help/advice very much appreciated.
April 9, 2008
Basement Smell
We have an oil/gasoline (not gas) smell in our basement but we don't have an oil burner or even an oil tank. It only smells in part of the basement, not near the furnace. We've sniffed everywhere and can't find the source of the odor. Any ideas???
March 10, 2008
Water in Basement Fix
A lot of water and basement chat lately. I was away and came back to 4 inches of water in my basement. Appears to be come from inside the side wall.
Can foundation water problems be remedied from the inside?
We have a neighbor's house abutting ours so not sure what alternative would be.
February 16, 2008
basement flood/waterproofing?
We are considering buying a modest brownstone in prime Bklyn, and need the cellar to increase total sf (house is small) but the cellar shows signs of past flooding (sump pump, mold on sheetrock walls, etc.) The inspector found the walls to be dry now, but there was a lot of water in the sump pump. One theory he had was that the sump pump is basically working, and past mold is from previous floods. Also, problem might arise from fact that current owner dug out half the cellar (where sump pump is). That is, back half of cellar is about 2-3' deeper than front half, and maybe the house hit ground water.
My question: what are the odds that this basement can be waterproofed to eventually be a usable basement? We would love to dig up foundation to raise ceiling height, and make room into usable family room type place (I've seen others do this) but is there any way to know before signing contract if this is possible - that is, how can we figure out ahead of time if this basement will be usable and not prone to problematic and/or chronic flooding? Our inspector said it really is a matter of water "management" but how easy/difficult it is to manage the water so that flooding does not occur?
November 29, 2007
cellar walls disintegrating?
The mortar in the stone walls of my cellar appears to be crumbling/shedding dust. Is this something that presents an immediate hazard? What is the fix? Any experiences?
November 8, 2007
Keeping items in basement dry/palettes for sale?
I want to elevate some basement items in case our basement floods. Anyone know where I can get some palettes or other things to raise our furniture/boxes six inches or so?
October 4, 2007
What are the legal ramifications to adding a shower to cellar/rec room bathroom
First of all why the units with below ground get flamed so much. We purposely purchased a 1200 sf apt with the rec room below ground, which we use as master bedroom with office and sitting area. We did this because otherwise we could not get the square footage for what we could afford. Plus we had the same set up in our brownstone rental which really worked for us.
Our place does not have a full bath in the rec/bedroom, although 90% of new developments we saw did. This is a major pain since we have to use the upstairs bathroom and we now want to ad a shower to this bathroom.
What are the legal ramifications for us and the building?
I know it's not legal, but again, this was one of the only places with this set up that did not have a full bath in the downstairs space. And I really wish the developer just did it like the other ones.
September 28, 2007
cellar hatches doors open in?
we have one of those Bilco-style double door hatches over the door to our basement in a limestone. However, we are building a set of stairs into our garden from the first floor that will make it impossible to open the hatch doors out. anyone have any suggestions on what to do? do they make doors that open in? going without a hatch doesnt seem like a good idea because theres no drain at the bottom of the stairs and the basement could flood when it rains. i've thought of a horizontal hatch, but that wouldn't entirely cover the doors and would still leave a gap between the door and hatch. anyone have any ideas on what to do?
many thanks.
September 10, 2007
concrete basement floors
Hi Fellow Brownstoners, well Ive just bought the garden unit of a 4 unit conversion in Harlem so I guess I'll be posting here a lot in the next few months while we work things out.
Quick question about the basement - at the moment it has just been laid in concrete (I think in Australia we call it a broom finish) so it's usable etc but no surface prepping etc.
I'd like to refloor it in Timber before we move in and will be getting quotes this week but...with closing costs etc that may not happen.
I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with painting a concrete basement floor?
The plan is if we can get a smooth finish this will do until next year.
We intend to use the basement eventually as a masterbedroom once we have the funds to 'dig out' the rear for an external enterance so would prefer not to spend too much, until then it's just going to be used as an office/rec room.
It feels really dry/tight there at the moment but who knows in winter. The good part is I work from home and run 6 pc's in a computer rack and even in winter normally run the airconditioning in our apartment....so hoping this will take the edge off in winter, if not space heaters and area rugs.
tia,
Dean
August 28, 2007
oil tank removal
need to have an oil tank drained, cut up and removed. Anyone have a recommendation for this?