No. Between the gowanus canal, the cement truck depot, the bqe, the tunnel and all of the traffic over the ninth street bridge trying to get on the bqe and the tunnel, my opinion is that this location is probably not going to be touched by "the wonders of Court".

Posted by: SJ at December 1, 2008 4:52 PM in response to Huntington Street - Carroll Gardens

Maybe it's a bell from one of the plants or factories down by the gowanus? Go to the carroll street bridge at 6:30 and see what you can hear.

Posted by: SJ at November 26, 2008 9:31 PM in response to Bell in North Slope

Due to recent changes in the city code regarding street trees, you must get approval for cutting any root from the city.

My recommended first step would be to contact the city via 311 and request a root cutting appointment... See what they say. Maybe they will tell your neighbor that the roots can't be cut. Or maybe they will tell you that you can cut the roots infiltrating your neighbors yard, but keep the rest of the tree intact.

At all costs, I would strongly urge you not to cut the tree down, although you will clearly need to address your neighbors problem.

Lastly, if you have to spend any money at all on this, you should make your neighbor foot the bill. Get this in advance, in writing, or make him/her pay the contractors directly.

Posted by: SJ at November 26, 2008 7:44 PM in response to Tree roots crossing boundaries

HHITCHC:

Just by way of a caveat: Some years back I was trapped by a mugger in my vestibule between the inner and outer doors in my brownstone and robbed. You may want to consider this when planning your security system and make sure that you don't have a lock that is too difficult or time consuming to unlock on the interior door. Also, maybe you should get a police call button on the alarm panel depending on where you place it just in case you get caught in the vestibule with your kid or something.

To CMU et. al.

Don't let yourself get soft. This is still Brooklyn and regardless of the neighborhood you live in, it is a dangerous place. I have lived in ps my whole life and wouldn't live in a brownstone without an alarm. It just doesn't make sense, especially as the economy worsens and people start to lose their jobs and begin to look around and see a bunch of affluent folks living in townhouses while they scramble to find their next meal.

Posted by: SJ at November 19, 2008 11:08 AM in response to Security and the Front Door

Try opening the windows next time you go out and see if you can freeze them out. They probably wont survive more than a half hour in the cold.

Posted by: SJ at November 11, 2008 10:04 AM in response to teeny tiny little fly infestation in my apt! help!

It sounds like using parkslopemom's setup would work to eliminate your intermittency issue... Keep your current router and try using the plugged internet solution and putting an access point on the floor under your tenant and see if that fixes things. If not, then get another. Also, the equipment may be pricey, but it should be easy to set up. Past that, I am unfamiliar with vonage and how it works. Nonetheless, it seems clear that something is wrong if you need to reboot your modem(s)/router. You could try getting a new vonage modem and see if that helps or get vonage to try to diagnose your problem? Also, it is possible that your router has known problems with vonage so you should do an internets search for your router model and vonage and problem or conflict to make sure that is not the problem. Also, you should make sure that your router's firmware is up to date by logging into the web interface and checking its status.

Posted by: SJ at October 29, 2008 4:59 PM in response to Extended Range Wireless Router - Follow up

Check thread on chowhound outer boroughs board. I remember seeing it there, but don't remember

Posted by: SJ at October 29, 2008 3:55 PM in response to Anyone Know What's Going In as the Replacement to Tea Lounge

The lightning hit about 50 feet above my head.

Posted by: SJ at October 28, 2008 9:33 AM in response to Explosion at 8:50am?

Kate,

It sounds like you have two problems:

1. Intermittent signal: Get someone to stand in the bad spots with a laptop and monitor the signal strength while moving your wireless router to different spots on the ground floor to see where you get the best all around coverage. Hopefully, you will find a good spot on the ground floor where the signal is strong.

2. Internet down: It sounds like your cable modem is not getting enough signal coming into the house from the cable company and/or your vonage modem and cable modem are taking too much bandwidth and/or your vonage modem and your cable modem may not be properly configured to work together and/or your cable modem may be defective and need to be replaced. Call time warner and tell them that your cable modem keeps going down and that they need to come and check it as well as the signal strength coming into the house.

Posted by: SJ at October 27, 2008 5:28 PM in response to Extended Range Wireless Router - Follow up

It's long and there's grass. So I think the horse is a go. There's also a nice fence for some steeplechase, so it's definitely an estate.

Posted by: SJ at October 27, 2008 5:14 PM in response to House of the Day: 567 1st Street

While I was almost drawn in by bayridgegirl's certitude, the only thing that saved me was that she is wrong.

Homes like Biltmore, most of the historic homes in Newport, Monticello etc... are referred to as estates rather than mansions.

So, these should be placed on top of the list, the "mini" in front of mansion removed and the rest is fine.

Posted by: SJ at October 27, 2008 4:02 PM in response to House of the Day: 567 1st Street

The Hulbert Mansion that was once the woodward park school and is now poly is definitely a mansion.

Posted by: SJ at October 27, 2008 3:38 PM in response to House of the Day: 567 1st Street

I would consider the ex-connelly house a mansion or the ethical culture society for sure, but not a brownstone that does not differentiate itself from its attached neighbors in the same way as some of what I am going to call mansions on Garfield and Montgomery.

The house looks relatively nice (I'm going to assume that the pictures don't do the wood justice) and I am not particularly impressed by the parlor floor... The truth is that most of the parlor floors in the brownstones in the neighborhood (at least on this block of 1st street) are/were comparable before somebody moved in and renovated the charm and history out of it.

One caveat: It's right across the street from the poly prep lower school, so there's a lot of kid activity and noise from the playground.

Nonetheless, even in this economic climate, the house is cheap. I wouldn't sell it for less than 4/5m.

Posted by: SJ at October 27, 2008 3:17 PM in response to House of the Day: 567 1st Street

I had verizon 5-6 years ago and it was awful. I had Sprint 3-4 years ago and it was tolerable, but as you moved into the interior of the house, the signal dropped off. Now I have ATT and get pretty good coverage everywhere in the house. Maybe it's just the iphone though...

Posted by: SJ at October 18, 2008 9:10 AM in response to Mobile Phone Reception in PS Brownstones

Gosha,

My preference at this point would be to find someone to do the repairs. Anyone have any recommendations?

Posted by: SJ at October 13, 2008 1:05 PM in response to Help with windows

That does not make sense to me, but I probably don't fully understand your situation. All you need for the modem is a cable connected to the cable company's system and power. If you already have a cable coming into the house on an upper floor, all you would need to do is get a splitter and hook up the modem there.

Posted by: SJ at October 13, 2008 9:57 AM in response to Extended range wireless router?

There is absolutely no reason that your modem would have to be located in any particular place in your home, except that the installer was either incompetent or too lazy to run the necessary cables or make sure that your home has enough bandwidth coming in from the street.

I would suggest calling them back and having them send someone else to properly wire your home.

That being said: I use a D Link DGL - 4500 on the third floor and am able to get a signal in the basement.

If you can't get them to install the modem in a more convenient place and the signal is bad, you can get a wireless range extender like a DAP-1522 (I haven't used this model) and put it on the first or second floor.

Lastly, if you're using a cordless phone with your service, you may get interference in your wireless network. I would suggest using a 5.8 ghz phone system and a 2.4 ghz wireless router to avoid these problems.

Posted by: SJ at October 13, 2008 9:34 AM in response to Extended range wireless router?

Finstraw,

The google map you are looking at is incorrect. Click on the satellite image and you will see the basin extending into the canal on what would be the extension of 11h street.

Posted by: SJ at October 6, 2008 4:33 PM in response to 11th Street Basin

The term 11th street basin refers to the small canal coming off of the gowanus at 11th street. In this context, a basin is a small canal that boats can lay up in and allow other boats to pass and/or turn themselves around. It is analogous to a railroad siding.

Posted by: SJ at October 6, 2008 9:23 AM in response to 11th Street Basin

This guy is really too much. Just stop. Everytime you post, you turn more and more potential customers off. You just need to accept the fact that all these posts were a series of incredibly big mistakes and that by continuing you are only digging yourself a deeper hole. Please, just stop.

Posted by: SJ at September 27, 2008 1:45 PM in response to ALLSTAR LOCKSMITH

I had this done some years back and the whole process is very messy. They came in and drained the oil from the tank, then they had to cut it up into 4 pieces to get it out of the basement. After that, they completely drained the water from the system, disassembled the oil burner and took it out of the basement. Then they had to turn off the gas where it came into the house, run a sufficiently large enough gas pipe to the boiler location and install the new gas boiler.

It took about five hours. I am not sure what the cost was, 1.5-2k comes to mind but I can't recall for sure. Also, I got the boiler for free from keyspan as an inducement to switch. I am not sure if this program still exists though.

Posted by: SJ at August 13, 2008 11:26 AM in response to Replacing Oil Tank

Thanks for the suggestions... I had this happen before when the waste pipe to a butler's sink leaked and it was easily repaired by a floor crew my gc brought in while we did some touch up maintenance. I would go with them again, but while they did a great job on the repair, they did a poor job refinishing my modern kitchen floor and a very poor job of replacing a few boards in the dining room as per my original post... I let them install two larger thickness boards on the threshold between the dining room and kitchen, but would not let them do the same for a damaged board more toward the center of the dining room floor where it would look so completely out of place as to be risible due to the thickness issue and the fact that the color and grain were not properly matched.

For now, my plan is to air the room out and keep the heavy objects in place for a few weeks slowly moving them onto the warped portion in the hope that this will squeeze them back into shape. Has anyone tried this? I'm also thinking about getting a steam iron or some other steam shooting device and seeing if I can heat them up and coax them back into place like a wooden ship builder. Has anyone tried this?

Posted by: SJ at August 5, 2008 4:01 PM in response to Warped parquet flooring

okay you were right about this... might try this. found it on the web.
Make a beer trap. Pour a couple of ounces of beer in a jar. Make a funnel out of paper and tape it to the jar so that the small end is an inch or two above the beer. Be sure the sides are tight against the mouth of the jar. The gnats will check in but they won't check out!!

they might be fungus gnats. i think they came out of my closet. i had spilled something a few weeks ago then let the towel dry up on a rack inside my closet and i think i stupidly closed the door to the closet. it must be that. thanks!
-rob

Posted by: PitbullNYC at November 11, 2008 10:22 AM in response to teeny tiny little fly infestation in my apt! help!

I had a similar problem a few weeks ago, and am similarly clean.

I did a thorough check and found some onions that I must have purchased months ago rotting in a drawer, covered with plastic bags.

They're there to eat something. Clean until you find out what it is and they'll go away.

Posted by: vanburenproud at November 11, 2008 10:42 AM in response to teeny tiny little fly infestation in my apt! help!

We were infested with fruit flies and a wine/beer trap worked. We put some wine in a bowl and covered it tightly with saran wrap and made a few small holes --very small, just the tip of a thin bladed knife--and left it on the counter for a few days.

Posted by: PHfamily at November 11, 2008 10:53 AM in response to teeny tiny little fly infestation in my apt! help!

thanks for the advice.. im going to try the beer trap. i hope these gnats/fruitflies aren't the snobby types and don't care if it's cheap malt liquor or bud. hahah.

-r

Posted by: PitbullNYC at November 11, 2008 11:16 AM in response to teeny tiny little fly infestation in my apt! help!

My father in law showed me how to make a trap similar to what PH family is describing above. We used vinegar instead of wine. We put the vinegar in a tumbler type glass and made a cone out of cardboard that we mounted (little side up) over the glass with tape. The idea is that they fly in attracted by the vinegar and then they can't get out and they drown. Has worked several times for me with fruit flies.

Posted by: wasder at November 11, 2008 11:22 AM in response to teeny tiny little fly infestation in my apt! help!

whoops---I have that bass ackwards. You put the wide end up over the glass and let it rest on top of the glass with the small end a few inches above the surface of the vinegar.

Posted by: wasder at November 11, 2008 11:23 AM in response to teeny tiny little fly infestation in my apt! help!

My folks get them in Virginia quite a bit and my mom does the beer/wine trap. I can tell you from experience it will work.

Posted by: TownhouseLady at November 11, 2008 11:26 AM in response to teeny tiny little fly infestation in my apt! help!

If you have open liquor bottles around, even empty ones, you will get fruit flies. If you wash the liquor bottles with soap and water, they will go away.

Posted by: mopar at November 11, 2008 11:55 AM in response to teeny tiny little fly infestation in my apt! help!

I have had these pesky things to. I asked an exterminator and he told me how to get rid of them. They breed in the sink and tub drains so you have to pour a Liquid Gel drain opener into all your drains. Then once a week pour some bleach in your drains. If you still see them, use the liquid gel again. (Please do not pour in the drain opener and bleach at or close to the same day or time - you will generate deadly chlorine gas - this happened at an office I worked in once and we had to evacuate.)

I see them mostly after I have bananas in the house. The exterminator called them "drain flies" but I think they are related to fruit flies.

Posted by: premadas at November 11, 2008 2:57 PM in response to teeny tiny little fly infestation in my apt! help!

FYI - the internet bridges did not work. My router was faulty. I purchased a powerful Linsys 310 (?) and my tech guy hooked it up directly to my cable and vonage modems.....
Happy days!
K

Posted by: HurricaneKate at November 18, 2008 4:24 PM in response to Extended Range Wireless Router - Follow up