Iron Planter Legs

Yes, I was very disappointed when I thought the workshop was free and clicked through to their website and saw it was actually $600...

Posted by: Heatherie at June 26, 2009 11:03 AM in response to Weekend Events

Oh - and I agree, the kids definitely know how to find an ice cream truck at a park. I'm not against the ice cream trucks in general, just the noise pollution.

Posted by: Heatherie at May 20, 2009 2:23 PM in response to Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

I agree that these trucks are a quality of life issue. It's not directly a police issue - it's the responsibility of the Environmental Control Board. If you have the number of the truck, you can call it into 311. There are noise laws specifically relating to these trucks - a limit on the amount of time they can sit in one place and play the jingle (15 or 30 seconds, I believe).

I've been in Manhattan and seen these trucks sitting silently selling ice cream on a corner. This is not the case in our neck of Brooklyn! They'll sit at the nearby park for 5 minutes - blaring the music over and over the whole time. And sometimes you can get a competing jingle from another truck around the corner, and if you're really lucky they may even come back through at 10 or 11 at night. They are breaking the law - and if I can get a $100 ticket for someone else throwing litter on the sidewalk outside my house, then these trucks should have to conduct their businesses in accordance with the ECB rules too.

Posted by: Heatherie at May 20, 2009 2:20 PM in response to Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

Thanks Montrose - Fascinating. It would be great to see these buildings becoming assets to the communities again (specifically thinking of the CH and BS ones...)

Posted by: Heatherie at May 19, 2009 10:54 AM in response to Walkabout With Montrose: A Mighty Fortress, part 2

Property shark has the Green Ave house as two stories - it looks like at least three, putting the square footage at more like 1,800 - therefore $240 sq ft.

Anyone know how "cheater" stories counted when the ceiling isn't full height for the entire floor?

Posted by: Heatherie at April 23, 2009 12:37 PM in response to Brooklyn Sales: Under a Million

I think $436K is still pretty high for that Bed-Stuy house. Unless the square footage is off (and it might be if it doesn't count one of the floors), $350 sq/ft is still more expensive than some of the nicer, larger places in Stuyvesant Heights have sold for.

Posted by: Heatherie at April 23, 2009 12:32 PM in response to Brooklyn Sales: Under a Million

Sorry - I meant "If the super says they can't do it, you may need to contact the landlord." Didn't mean to make the sentence so repetitive.

Posted by: Heatherie at April 23, 2009 9:03 AM in response to Radiator Question (Help!)

It sounds like the valve is broken or obstructed. Steam is basically all or nothing, and if the valve is only mostly closed, the steam will still get through. This should be a relatively easy plumbing swap.

If the super says they can't do it, you may want to contact the landlord/manager to let them know that you may need to contact the landlord. Do you have a thermometer in the room? What is the temperature actually running? Let them know that you can't control the heat and your only recourse may be opening your windows (and therefore wasting their money).

Posted by: Heatherie at April 23, 2009 8:50 AM in response to Radiator Question (Help!)

lol - these are a lot cheaper on the Olde Good Things website.

Unless that includes delivery/installation...

Posted by: Heatherie at April 13, 2009 10:57 AM in response to Oak Brownstone Doors for sale

That will probably require an inspection by the DOB as well. If you have new wiring coming into the meter, they will want to know where it goes - if the other work isn't permitted, you could be opening up issues that a licensed guy may not want to take on.

That being said, I used a great guy to replace our service a few months ago - neat, knowledgeable and reasonably priced. You can email me at litegreenlife at gmail.com if you are interested.

Posted by: Heatherie at April 10, 2009 9:00 AM in response to New electric meter for basement

Heating season doesn't officially end until May 31st (I know, pretty ridiculous). If it's less than 55 degrees outside, she is required to provide you with heat to 68 degrees.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/tenants/heat-and-hot-water.shtml

However, according to the same webpage, your landlady is also required to provide hot water (120 deg min) 365 days a year. So she really needs to pick a day, and get it fixed.

I'm confused though. If the boiler is broken, how is the heat working? Has the heat been impacted too? I would think it would be a lot cheaper to install a separate water heater than to replace a boiler because of hot water issues...

Posted by: Heatherie at April 9, 2009 2:14 PM in response to Seasonal timing, boiler replcmnt

Does your original leas not mention what happens when the lease term is up?

Ours states that the at the end of the original lease period the terms of the original lease remain in effect unless a change is made with 60 days written notice. I assumed that (as stated above) if this wasn't specified that it just reverts to month-to-month at with the same terms (and 1 month notice required). I'd be surprised if there wasn't at least a sentence in the lease mentioning it. Isn't it in the NYC boilerplate lease?

Posted by: Heatherie at March 23, 2009 1:31 PM in response to Are we month to month or not?

According to our "tax professional", the percentage of space dedicated to rentals is the proportion you use for dividing up costs. If you're planning on living in 75% of the house, so 75% of the cost would not be deductible. Only 25% of the mortgage interest would count as the investment property.

I don't see how the cost of shrinking your rental unit could be included in the cost basis of the rental specifically (since you're reducing the size of the rental unit, not maintaining or improving it), but possibly it could be included in the cost basis of the property.

The IRS may or may not "care" much, but if your rental income is cut in half but your rental expenses aren't, that may raise a red flag.

Posted by: Heatherie at March 20, 2009 4:35 PM in response to Tax issues for converting house

It sounds like if it is a "partition fence" or "partition wall" then the cost is shared. I assume this means defining the lot line. However, if the fence is on your property, then it would still be yours. I guess you and your neighbor could both have fences on your respective sides of the property line.

This may be naive, but can you see an obvious line in the brick or coating on the back of your houses? Where the fence attaches to the buildings, or where the closest fence posts are, is it clear that they are on one side of this line or the other?

Posted by: Heatherie at March 19, 2009 11:31 AM in response to Is this my fence???

According to the crime stats in the 78th precinct (zip code: 11217), there were 965 major incident (http://home2.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs078pct.pdf). That's almost 3 per day! The 81st precinct had 1387. That's a very limited view on the crime.

It's more important how comfortable you feel in the neighborhood. My experience has been that different blocks have very different feels (and probably different crime rates).

However, if you don't feel comfortable with the deal, there should be other opportunities in the coming year or two to find your perfect place.

Posted by: Heatherie at March 18, 2009 3:52 PM in response to House of the Day: 735 Decatur Street Revisited

I second Brooklynista's comment that it depends. We've done both and been happy with the results. I have a couple old doors now that I'm considering stripping, but with all the gouges, moved hinges, moved door knobs, etc. I'm thinking I may be happier with new hardwood doors. The old doors can be utilized elsewhere.

I feel the need to defend pine a bit. Pine from 100+ years ago is not the same pine today. Our moldings were originally stained/finished, and I thought they were mahogany. I took some of them to my uncle (who does furniture restoration) to be stripped, and he confirmed that it was pine - however he referred to it as "heart pine". It can be fine grained and very different than today's pine.

From a woodworking website - "Southern forests contained a limited amount of heart pine and by the turn of the century overcutting nearly exhausted the supply of this valuable wood. Today the pine forests of the South have been cut several times over and this newly harvested wood exhibits very few of the qualities that made heart pine the wood of choice up until the early 20th century." Of course, not all old pine is heart pine, but it's something to think about before repainting/removing moldings.

Posted by: Heatherie at March 13, 2009 9:45 AM in response to Stripping interior moldings

If you're looking for container/small planter work, I would recommend Gardens by Sue (gardensbysue.com) We have mostly concrete with a couple small planting areas, and a couple dozen containers/window boxes - she planted them all for us last spring.

Posted by: Heatherie at March 10, 2009 10:08 AM in response to developing our rowhouse garden

I took bobjohn's comment to also mean that small children are also most often exposed. Older children (and adults) are typically less likely to crawl around on their hands and knees, run their toys on the ground, put random things in their mouth, etc.

Encapsulation should be adequate treatment of the surfaces, as long as the remaining paint is secure and not chipping off. I was told that two coats of latex paint may can be considered adequate in NYC for lead/stable asbestos. I probably wouldn't eat off of it, but it's not going to transfer to your dishes or anything.

Vinca - on the smelting note, I worked on residential clean-up sites near smelting plants where the lead content in the soil was far, far higher than typical levels in paint. So it's always prudent to check where you're getting any soil from too.

Posted by: Heatherie at March 10, 2009 9:32 AM in response to Lead Paint Paranoia

Frugal, I believe that stretch of Fulton was supposed to be the "Gateway Condos" site. http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/01/two_affordable.php#comments

Have no idea what's happening now, but there have been steps towards demolition...

Posted by: Heatherie at March 3, 2009 11:00 AM in response to Changes in Bed Stuy

Smokey - we also offer the credit for early/on-time payment. It's smaller than the penalty for a late payment (which is at 5 days) - but almost always get our rent checks on or before the first of the month.

As someone stated above, when a tenant choses to pay the rent can tell you a lot about the tenant. Our tenant who wasn't motivated enough by the credit to pay on time ended up being a problem tenant in other ways.

Posted by: Heatherie at February 10, 2009 11:22 AM in response to Late Rent Notice

We get one ticket a year - apparently it's unrelated to how clean our sidewalk actually is. If it's worth your time (or you want to do it on principle), I would recommend fighting it. We've had our dismissed. You need to be able to demonstrate "resonable effort" (i.e. you check your sidewalks when you leave for work and when you get home, and pick up as necessary). Photos help a lot.

I think the judges realize that the inspectors will ticket for a few pieces of litter that blow onto the property during the day, and don't just go after regular offenders.

Posted by: Heatherie at February 10, 2009 10:47 AM in response to Sanitation Hearing

PestAway (pestawayinc.com) got rid of our roach problem, which was really bad in some areas, with no sprays in the living spaces. They did spray some of the drains in the basement, but used what I would describe as a "roach killing sugar gel" in the apartments. It's supposed to be harmless for pets and kids.

Posted by: Heatherie at November 7, 2008 10:30 AM in response to The Roaches. The agony

"Especially not those voting for Sarah Palin who doesn’t think climate change is “man-made” and who can’t wait to open up the (Alaskan) Arctic for drilling—who needs energy efficiency??"

And here I thought this was a blog about construction. I'm pretty sure even Republicans might like to save money on electricity. . . Close-minded much?

Anyway - I've found that the LEDs are very cool, even more so than the CFLs. Fine for a foyer, or maybe undercabinet lighting, but I wouldn't want any of the ones I've used in a dining room or bedroom. Maybe I just haven't used the right ones yet. Like you, I am hoping that increased demand drives innovation and more options in the future.

Posted by: Heatherie at September 4, 2008 1:54 PM in response to Inside Third & Bond: Week 52

So Gateway is no longer coming to Bedford Stuyvesant? Is that just emergency services, or any regularly scheduled maintenance too?

Posted by: Heatherie at August 27, 2008 10:41 AM in response to Good Plumbers in Bed Stuy

I second the recommendation to save the bug. I hadn't had bites but found a little bug that I thought fit the description of a bedbug. Saved it for the exterminator, and it turns out it was a carpet beetle. Not a problem unless we decide to install natural carpets in the future.

I haven't used them for bed bugs (knock on wood), but they've been great for roaches and mice. . . Pestawayinc.com.

Posted by: Heatherie at August 27, 2008 10:34 AM in response to Bed Bug Recommendation?

Thanks for sharing. I also understand that hiring the commissioning agent can end up paying for itself, if they discover inefficiencies in the system. I remember reading about one project where the agent noticed something in the system hooked up incorrectly that ended up saving the owner thousands of dollars a year.

Posted by: Heatherie at August 25, 2008 9:11 AM in response to Bird Blog: Week 15

Although your floor may be different, we had tile set in an 3" mudded floor, and it was like concrete. I tried to get tiles out using a prybar or flat edge - no luck. No luck either with a small sledge hammer and cold chisel.

Since none of the grout was cracked, so it appeared to be pretty stable, and seemed like I was going to need a jackhammer to get it up, we just tiled over the existing floor. It is a small room, and the tub was not tiled under it, so I wasn't too concerned about the extra weight.

Steve's right about the extra prep work though - but if you're renovating everything else, it might not be as big a deal.

Posted by: Heatherie at August 20, 2008 11:07 AM in response to 2nd floor bath - flooring question

I like the windows and the mansard roof, but wonder what the interior is like. Based on the size and window layout, I'd guess at 2.5 BR units - and under $2,000 per unit rent. It's far from the A at Utica, and I don't know if units closer to the JMZ would have the same rents as one further south.

At $200/sq ft or less, this might make sense as an investment property. Oh, I just saw that this is probably a 5-unit property. That would probably make financing, insurance, etc. more expensive - the property taxes are already higher than many in the neighborhood.

Posted by: Heatherie at August 20, 2008 9:32 AM in response to Foreclosure of the Week: 707 Quincy Street

I'm confused. Wasn't there a push to get more of these venders into underserved neighborhoods? Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope?!

Anyone seen a new one in Bedford Stuyvesant, Crown Heights or Bushwick? They definitely wouldn't be competing with local produce venders in many parts.

Posted by: Heatherie at August 8, 2008 8:08 AM in response to Closing Bell: Happy Fruit Men Everywhere

I think it depends a lot on where you look in NYC. When we were looking, some places in Manhattan were 16, 18 or 20 times the annual rent roll. But then we found a place in Bed-Stuy at 10.5 times annual rent roll.

20 to 25 times rent seems high for NYC, but then, NYC has $1800 studios, so relatively high rents may keep that multiplier down a little . . .

Posted by: Heatherie at July 25, 2008 3:58 PM in response to cost of renting vs. buying per NYTimes

Be careful posting ads that can be considered discriminatory . . .

Posted by: Heatherie at July 25, 2008 3:14 PM in response to Renting our 2BR 2BA Park Slope Condo

Wasn't paying attention. I received the unfinished doors, and was happy with the quality. I can''t vouch for their finishing, but I bet it would be good quality. Packaged and shipped well.

The doors needed a little bit of sanding before staining, but I was very happy with the quality of the doors. Very smooth and solid, and seem well made. I went the cheaper route and bought the poplar (which also tends to be a domestic wood), but stained it a richer color. Since all our wood was heart-pine stained a mahogany color, it seemed like an historically accurate way to go. We just had to seal/condition the wood first to make sure the stain didn't go on too blotchy.

The 7' by 32" door ran about $210 unhung.

Posted by: Heatherie at July 25, 2008 2:22 PM in response to DOORS

We got the notice last fall. If you certify the repair, have it notarized, and submit everything on time, they really do remove the 20-yr old violation, or at least they did for us. They didn't come out and inspect.

Unfortunately they only give you a week to correct the one type of violation (i.e. Boiler room notice) - we received the notice after the deadline had passed, had it notarized immediately, sent it in with a letter, and they still didn't accept it.

It does have to have the yellow copy included in the package for it to qualify for the no-fee program. New violations aren't included.

Posted by: Heatherie at July 17, 2008 4:02 PM in response to HPD Self Certified Violations

Oops, missed the tape suggestion prior to mine.

Posted by: Heatherie at July 15, 2008 8:58 AM in response to Window lock?

I used the stops on the window in an older house that had wood-framed windows. They gave me peace of mind, and could be disengaged to open the window wider. they couldn't be reached from the outside if the window was big enough. On smaller windows though, maybe they wouldn't work as well.

The dowel sounds like it's good, as long as it's a slightly snug fit. You could also add a bit of tape that you can easily remove from the inside, but would prevent jiggling it out.

Just an aside - I was under the impression that the accordion/scissor window gates were no longer FD approved. We had them removed and installed white, powder-coated FD-approved safety gates, and I'm much happier with the look. Behind white sheers they are hardly noticeable.

Posted by: Heatherie at July 15, 2008 8:53 AM in response to Window lock?

I believe the landlord is required to notify him of the rent increase 30 days before it would go into effect. Retroactive rent increases would be illegal - unless there was something in the lease about an automatic increase (say %10) at the end of the lease term. Never heard of that in a residential lease though.

Posted by: Heatherie at July 2, 2008 8:52 AM in response to Raising the Rent - backdating..?

How can there not be a drain in the closet? Where would the water go after the wash and rinse cycles? Maybe a drain could be installed and tie into the drain for the washing machine.

The sensor is a good idea. We have a sensor that shuts off the water at the valve and electricity to the machine when it senses water under the machine. We've never had it go off falsely. It may be the FloodStop mentioned above, because the price was about the same.

Posted by: Heatherie at June 25, 2008 2:04 PM in response to Condo - Washer & Dryer Question

I second trying the manual snake. A $25 one from the hardware store works on tubs, sinks, etc.

In a different direction - what type of drain "plug" do you have? We had one bathtub that we could not unblock with snakes, drano, etc, and it turned out that it was the plug. It was one of those ones with the up/down lever about 12 inches above the drain. When I pulled it out, the tub drained fine. Turned out that the mechanism had lowered over time - adjusting it back up (which just involved twisting it a few times) fixed the problem.

We used Python for snaking out a blocked sewer main across the basement to the street. It involved working in a (nasty) flooded area and I was very happy with their service. The price was around the ones quoted above.

Posted by: Heatherie at June 5, 2008 9:13 AM in response to Bklyn Plumber to Snake a Drain?

Although the after looks better than the before, it still seems lacking. The blocks reduce the amount of area water can infiltrate through, and the center is still open for weeds to grow back in. It doesn't look like there's actually a planting in there - so by the end of the summer, it will look like the before photo but with blocks around the edges.

Also, it doesn't look like the blocks even create any sort of lip around the tree to prevent salts and other stuff applied to the sidewalk from running into the pit.

We just spent a day pulling out the concrete and blocks around the tree in front of our place and putting in plantings, so no, "no likey".

Posted by: Heatherie at June 4, 2008 8:23 AM in response to Closing Bell: Upgrade for Flushing Tree Plantings

I'll preface this by saying, I'm all for green roofs (and am looking to install one on my place). From what I understand, though, you'll only see significant A/C savings if you have a roof-mounted A/C system, since the air being drawn into the unit is cooler than with a non-green roof. Otherwise a reflective roof is about the same, interior temperature-wise.

Green roofs offer very little insulation, and are a lot more expensive to retrofit than applying a reflective surface (in this case). The cost difference is much lower for new construction. There are many other benefits to installing a green roof though, including great water retention and personal enjoyment.

Have you noticed a difference in temperature, ohiise?

Posted by: Heatherie at June 2, 2008 8:31 AM in response to Hot Top Floor Options

If they're mostly metal, they're recyclable. Although they would probably get picked up before sanitation even gets there.

Posted by: Heatherie at May 29, 2008 10:40 AM in response to radiator covers

I know someone who does nice work in small yards and containers. I don't have the right to post her information here, but you can contact me at litegreenlife at gmail dot com, if you're interested. Charges an hourly rate plus materials.

Posted by: Heatherie at May 1, 2008 8:50 AM in response to Gardener Recommendations

Sorry - didn't mean to double-post.

Posted by: Heatherie at April 11, 2008 11:10 AM in response to Parquet floor sanding

I've been happy with my flooring guy, and we've redone both strip and parquet in the same apartments. Also, quite a few repairs. Sometimes we were able to use salvaged wood, but also had pretty good luck with new wood (which had to be stained to match the unstained older wood). Your parquet is about twice as thick as ours, so I wouldn't think you'd have a problem. Can't help you with dating it though. They seemed to install the parquet in the apartments for a number of decades around the turn of the century.

We also had one area of parquet that was damaged, and darker than the rest of the room, and they pulled up individual strips and scattered the darker ones throughout the room. We ended up staining it, and overall I was very satisfied with the effect.

I don't want to post his information here, but I can be reached at litegreenlife at gmail dot com if you are interested in a reference.

Posted by: Heatherie at April 11, 2008 11:09 AM in response to Parquet floor sanding

I've been happy with my flooring guy, and we've redone both strip and parquet in the same apartments. Also, quite a few repairs. Sometimes we were able to use salvaged wood, but also had pretty good luck with new wood (which had to be stained to match the unstained older wood). Your parquet is about twice as thick as ours, so I wouldn't think you'd have a problem. Can't help you with dating it though. They seemed to install the parquet in the apartments for a number of decades around the turn of the century.

We also had one area of parquet that was damaged, and darker than the rest of the room, and they pulled up individual strips and scattered the darker ones throughout the room. We ended up staining it, and overall I was very satisfied with the effect.

I don't want to post his information here, but I can be reached at litegreenlife at gmail dot com if you are interested in a reference.

Posted by: Heatherie at April 11, 2008 11:06 AM in response to Parquet floor sanding

I forgot to mention that the custom plinths they made from my drawings to match were also reasonably priced, although it was a fairly simple design.

Posted by: Heatherie at April 7, 2008 3:11 PM in response to Molding suggestions

I bought 5" casing and 7" baseboards from http://www.jjwohlferts.com

Even though shipping could get a bit high, the price was still way below what I found in Brooklyn - and it was delivered to my door by Fed Ex.
Also, poplar is a quick-growing, non-imported wood typically, and I'm really happy with the way it looks with a dark stain on it.

Posted by: Heatherie at April 7, 2008 8:59 AM in response to Molding suggestions

I don't think Stuy Heights has expanded to Putnam yet. Even the broker doesn't call the Putnam house Stuy Heights, they just say it's near it. I don't think anything north of Macon is the Heights.

Don't get me wrong - I wish it did extend to Putnam or Madison. There are some ugly buildings getting built in nice blocks. .

Posted by: Heatherie at March 7, 2008 3:46 PM in response to Open House Picks

OP - The advice you were given is correct, as far as I know. Tiles have grout between them, but wherever there's a 90-degree corner, you should use a matching caulking. It's flexible and won't crumble out of the joint.

Not to worry you, but we had a bathroom ceiling partially collapse due to water, because the relatively recently-tiled bathroom above had the bathtub corners grouted (which started popping out), and they didn't caulk around the bathtub fixtures behind the decorative flanges.

I don't have a brand to recommend, but if your grout is colored or sanded, you may be able to get a matching caulk that looks like the grout. Otherwise a good mildew-resistent tube shouldn't cost more than $4 or $5, and you should only need one for a bathtub.

Posted by: Heatherie at March 7, 2008 10:31 AM in response to Bath Caulking

I don't know what their prices are like, but this place has a lot of green colors. . .

http://www.handmadetile.com/colors.php

Posted by: Heatherie at February 26, 2008 2:39 PM in response to Vintage Bathroom Reno - Where to find deco tile