annavanlenten's Profile
Author's Posts
July 6, 2009
Iron Gate Removal
Hello -- Once upon a time I had info for guys who would take the iron gate off the front of my house for free, in exchange for the gate itself. But now I can't find their info. Does anyone have info for a similar type of service?
January 4, 2009
Deadbolts and lock systems
Hello, pardon if this doesn't constitute salvage -- but we found a box of old-ish, sundry deadbolts and lock systems in our basement when we moved in and can't use them. Some seem useful--even beautiful, but I'm not sure how to evaluate them any more than that. Anyone interested in having a look?
November 25, 2008
install electric outlet
i am looking for advice about installing the electric outlets in my basement. the electrician has done all the wiring, but we can't work with him anymore, and having gone online, it seems that with utmost care, a layperson can do such a thing. anyone have any experience with this? these would be 20 amp outlets.
December 29, 2007
Leveling a basement floor
Hello. Is it complicated/expensive to level a basement floor -- to prepare it for laying down a wood floor on top? Ours has a bulge in the middle that needs remedying.
flooring personality switch
Folks, I've got a flooring question regarding a little brownstone in Lefferts Garden. I've taken down the wall dividing the kitchen from the dining room and now am unsure how to proceed with what to do for the kitchen floor so it looks OK with the more formal dining floor. The dining room floor is made of one inch by 12 inch slats grouped in bunches of 12 to form squares one square foot big. The kitchen has only its pine tongue and groove subfloor left. Do I try to match the two? Can I go rustic for the kitchen and have a wood floor that doesn't match exactly, but somehow still works? Or should I have to do tile? Or should I depart hugely and put down concrete?
November 12, 2007
60 AMP sufficient?
On a similar note to my previous post: a couple of electricians have told me that the 60 AMP load for my one family house is sufficient. I don't have central AC, nor do I use my window unit more than 5 nights a year. I may have a tenant in the basement who would use one. Other than that, there are two adults, one 19 year old and two little children in the one family. What do people think of this assessment -- impossible? OK?
November 8, 2007
60 to 100 amp upgrade
Hello, just got an estimate from an electrician for $6500 to upgrade a one family, 2 story mason house in Lefferts Garden to 100 amps. He'll need to dig up the sidewalk and that price doesn't include putting it back. Any thoughts on whether or not that's a good price? Thank you.
October 25, 2007
Big stores for renovation
I'm facing redoing a kitchen, bathroom and sunroom (i.e., new windows), plus some simple molding in bedroom to reduce the box feel. Wondering if I should take advantage of Lowe's credit promo now which allows zero monthly payments and interest for 12 months in
• Flooring
• Major Appliances
• Window Treatments
• Kitchen Cabinets & Countertops
I guess I mean: does anyone have experience using mostly Lowe's (or Home Depot, which also has good credit offers) to do up their home? I'm on a budget so am not looking at fancy stuff, but would like it decent quality -- esp thermally sound windows, for instance.
October 9, 2007
Lead water main
I had an engineer do a report on a house I'm trying to buy. He said the water main into the house is lead and needs to be replaced. He thought it would cost me $4000 to do this. Does anyone have any experience with this? I read on the DEP site about a water main mapping project which indicates which parts of the main are owned by the city and therefore partial replacement cost would be covered by the city. Calling 311 and DEP have proved little help though.
Author's Comments
Understood. Thank you.
Posted by: annavanlenten at November 26, 2008 10:22 PM in response to install electric outlet
Yes! Exactly. All the wiring is in place. What you say sounds correct -- there are two sets of wires in these sockets: each set a white and black wire, twisted together. My only question is whether it matters which socket I install the first receptacle in.
Posted by: annavanlenten at November 26, 2008 7:34 PM in response to install electric outlet
Hello -- can I pick up a bathroom sink? Am renovating a basement apt and need one for the bathroom.
My email is hopedare@earthlink.net
Thank you!
Posted by: annavanlenten at November 26, 2008 12:14 PM in response to Free Pedastal sinks and brass sconces
OK. All of the outlet points are wired, i.e., have wires coming out of them already -- so not sure what is meant by how to daisy-chain them?
Posted by: annavanlenten at November 26, 2008 9:42 AM in response to install electric outlet
Jas, do you have any photos? I'm looking to do the same interesting stain finish on my basement concrete floor.
Posted by: annavanlenten at May 30, 2008 5:48 PM in response to polished concrete floors
It is enclosed in the sense that there are four walls, and I had thought that I would be putting down a self levelling compound, yes. But now I'm uncertain -- not sure how impermeable those walls are at the point where they meet the floor. Some places have definite gaps where the sheetrock of the wall doesn't meet the floor. In that case, would I need to do as you say and build a containing box along the perimeter of the room to form the self leveling compound?
What does it mean to scribe furring strips to the irregular floor surface? What are furring strips? What is it to scribe?
Posted by: annavanlenten at January 3, 2008 10:55 PM in response to Leveling a basement floor
No border of straight planks we could match, no. So just to sum up, a few feedbacks here say it's best to be consistent looks-wise, whether that's matching wood as best I can, or perhaps cork. So tiling or linoleum would be strange. What about a wood floor that's painted? Farmhouse style I mean. I know that's not consistent, but would the wood aspect rhyme a bit even if the color and texture didn't exactly match?
Posted by: annavanlenten at December 30, 2007 2:30 AM in response to flooring personality switch
Yeah, you've identified something there that I felt unsure about-- whether one big space, albeit with two different purposes (cooking and eating) can have two very different floors bordering one another. It's been difficult to visualize whether that would be attractive....
Posted by: annavanlenten at December 29, 2007 10:39 PM in response to flooring personality switch
We cook a lot, yes. Thank you.
Posted by: annavanlenten at December 29, 2007 10:18 PM in response to flooring personality switch
Oh I know, it sounds lame. I'm just trying to gather more information, because I'm new to all of this and in a way my tastes are still forming....also, don't know the consequences of some of the options -- maybe someone will say you absolutely wouldn't want an old classic bronwstone parquet floor living right next to a polished concret... that kind of thing. Ultimately I will follow my tastes, but meantime thought I'd put something out there.
Posted by: annavanlenten at December 29, 2007 6:13 PM in response to flooring personality switch
We're renting our apt in Lefferts Garden for about your price range including all utilities. Subways near us are the Q, B, D, 2, and 5 trains. Very sweet neighborhood with beautiful homes. Starting in mid-January/February.
Posted by: annavanlenten at December 11, 2007 9:13 PM in response to Renting an Apartment in Brooklyn
Thanks Mike, for that posting. I'd be very interested to hear how it goes and possibly to connect with A. Davino -- if it's $5K as you say, that's $1500 less, which on my budget is huge. I have a guy named Mike, recommended here on brownstoner, coming out tomorrow for a second assess. And, 5:57, yes, maybe it's down to physical space to upgrade.
Posted by: annavanlenten at November 8, 2007 7:29 PM in response to 60 to 100 amp upgrade
Just speaking with Con Ed's Energy Servics Dept. -- they insist that a licensed electrician send in a work request to them. THey'll send out an inspector who will determine what needs to be done. They can't tell me anything else about who does what w/out an inspector coming out to the house. Seems odd that they can't look at their records to see what my house has now and what would be entailed in increasing the amperage.
Posted by: annavanlenten at November 8, 2007 2:46 PM in response to 60 to 100 amp upgrade
Mary Chan of Bartleby Studio (http://studiobartleby.com/) is the best, and a genius.
Posted by: annavanlenten at November 8, 2007 1:44 PM in response to Renovation Assistance
I'm trying to track what's being said about steel windows: they're matchable, but not durable or thermally efficient?
Posted by: annavanlenten at October 9, 2007 10:11 PM in response to Windows
Thank you folks, all of you have such good, sound advice. Much appreciated.
Posted by: annavanlenten at October 9, 2007 9:24 PM in response to Lead water main
Responses to Author's Forum Comments
To me, coming close to matching an existing wood is a visual no-no. I say create noticable difference or match exactly. A little contrast is a good thing.
Bought some cork (which I still have in the basement if anyone wants it very cheap!) but went with linoleum in my ultra-modern kitchen. A little springy, very easy to maintain, and looks kinda cool next to the original (but now stained) wood floor. The kitchen floor's raised about 4" to make more seperation from dining area, which helps too.
Posted by: Johnny at December 30, 2007 12:08 PM in response to flooring personality switch
Our seller put in new stone floors in the kitchen and being brand new and well-installed we left them. The stone floors totally kill our feet and legs when we're preparing a lot of food, but if I wear springy soles with good support I do fine. So there is a way to work with hard stone floors if you must.
Parquet floors with more intricate patterns should be able to transition into plain, wide-plank floor areas okay. I don't like vastly different floors right next to each other either, but there's no way everyone has to follow a rule of never pairing different kinds of floors. That's a bit lazy, IMO. Get creative. Like what about a narrow, decorative inlaid tile border between types of wood? Just an idea to brainstorm.
Lastly, I agree with Brooklynista. If you want great ideas and pleasant exchanges go to Garden Web. It's what Forum should be but isn't. Every Forum thread always seems to turn up somebody like the first poster. To the first poster, dude, have you ever heard of a thing called interior designers? They help people design their homes. By giving them advice. Just like people are doing here. It's a given and goes without saying the OP will in the end ultimately decide what she herself wants. The only result when somebody never asks anybody for feedback or ideas when doing home decor, is more often than not an ugly house. See bad 70's and 80's renovations when middle class people didn't use designers and before the internet or HGTV existed. Those people might have thought their house was pretty but nobody else did!
Posted by: guest at December 30, 2007 3:16 PM in response to flooring personality switch
Agree with those who don't like hard surfaces on kitchen floors. Why all the ceramic tile out there - because it is more "modern" and "upscale" than our childhood kitchen linoleum? Even if you don't cook a lot, tiles don't look so good next to old wood. And stuff breaks more easily on tile when you drop it, and hearing a toddler's head hit it is hard to take (they will fall), not to mention hard on my knees when retrieving things from the floor.
Wood is best. Agree best not to try to match colors - but best to have complementary color. And yes, an inlaid border could be your transition. Love wood floors in kitchens - don't understand why people think they aren't durable. If you are a mess, you just put on lots of coats of poly, and perhaps repoly the room sooner if it wears. If you want to paint it, like that idea OK, but not as well as wood color - but be sure to seal it well with poly. Can't speak to cork, haven't used it, but like the idea. Like linoleum in general, but think not in your application, with the next room open. Like it best when the entire floor is wood to the eyes, even if the wood changes. Even just wood planks on top of the subfloor would look better.
So, just avoid having a saddle - hated my tile kitchen that was a bit raised from the adjoining old parquet floor - the transition always irritated my feet when they landed on it. So make the floors even in height, however else you transition them.
Agree with poster who says new floor in adjoining room too solves problem, but you may not want to spring for that, and you may like the old wood floor too much to rip it out (I like keeping old wood floors - they don't make 'em like they used to). Why not use parquet like the next room? Do they make something similar, or better yet, can you salvage the same sort of boards from a home of the same era, where someone is ripping them out? Then you COULD stain the same as the next room. That would be my number 1 choice.
Posted by: guest at December 30, 2007 8:50 PM in response to flooring personality switch
I have ceramic tile and I cook a lot (ususally only in socks) and I have NEVER had a problem. But there is a subfloor under my tile -- that may make a difference (not just concrete). So if you like it, go with it. I think that you can have two materials -- but you should "border" one -- even if it means staining the perimeter of the parquest in the dining area -- it will set it off and make the transition understandable (like a rug on a wood floor).
Posted by: guest at December 31, 2007 10:22 AM in response to flooring personality switch
To scribe the furring strips means you have to rip each of the furring strips so that the top of them are level on the top, but vary in their thickness against the existing concrete floor. It is tedious work. You may want to consider breaking up the bulging area and re-pouring the concrete so it is level to the rest of the floor -- but that all depends on how big of an area is bulging. However, as others noted, you should be mindful of the flooding issues, so you don't end up with a bigger issue in the future.
Posted by: guest at January 5, 2008 1:22 AM in response to Leveling a basement floor
concrete is the easy way out. more exspisve yea, but man, what a floor. the easist floor ever to keep clean. never a stan, and what a shine
Posted by: guest at March 4, 2008 4:35 AM in response to flooring personality switch
http://www.RobertRowen.com/Design
Posted by: ArtLong at June 6, 2008 7:05 AM in response to polished concrete floors
3 years ago in rockland county i had a 100 amp system up grades to 200 amps,cost 1,600 dollars this guy is ripping you off.
Posted by: guest at July 30, 2008 12:58 PM in response to 60 to 100 amp upgrade
Hi There, I am also interested in a pedestal sink, email is guarachon63 (at) gmail.com
thanks
Barry
Posted by: Guarachon at November 26, 2008 12:56 PM in response to Free Pedastal sinks and brass sconces
Do you mean you just need to connect the in-place wiring to sockets? Easy.
If there are pigtails in place (a single white a single black wire standing out from a pair within the box) white->silver screw, black->gold screw. Curl the wires so the tightening screws tightens the loop (ie there are two ways to set the loop on the screw.)
If no pigtails, and you have pairs of white and black wires, connect each pair to the correct color, since all sockets have 2 silver and 2 gold screws. That's it.
Posted by: cmu at November 26, 2008 1:25 PM in response to install electric outlet
I will try -- most likely by day's end.
Posted by: annavanlenten at January 5, 2009 9:37 AM in response to Deadbolts and lock systems