annavanlenten's Profile
Author's Posts
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 cook a lot, yes. Thank you.
Posted by: annavanlenten at December 29, 2007 10:18 PM 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
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
Responses to Author's Forum Comments
Amen, 2:42!
I also live off Stuyvesant and have to say that the whole street's got some nice character and nice folks. I live much closer to the Koskiuzko stop on the J than the Utica A, so where I live it's less pretty. But either way I've got good trains, good people, and I feel as safe as I have living anywhere else in Brooklyn.
I agree about the deserted blocks thing, but have found that it's really important to just stay aware and look around. Bad People are looking for Easy Victims, not Potential Strugglers.
Posted by: guest at December 13, 2007 3:55 PM in response to Renting an Apartment in Brooklyn
What do most of you do to afford living there? Can anyone actually afford those new condos? I find the pricing very high for Brooklyn.
Posted by: guest at December 16, 2007 6:06 PM in response to Renting an Apartment in Brooklyn
I have no idea! If i cant afford a 1 br at 1300/month I would love to know how people can afford to buy there!
Posted by: guest at December 16, 2007 7:15 PM in response to Renting an Apartment in Brooklyn
Not sure of your age or how much you are into cooking, but I strongly recommend a floor that has some give, like cork. We put a granite floor in our kitchen about 15 years ago and I feel it for days in my legs after intensive preparations for big dinner parties (and I am not out of shape!). Concrete sounds unforgiving to me.
Posted by: guest at December 29, 2007 10:15 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
I agree that concrete might be a bit hard. I don't think you should worry about matching the dining room and kitchen floors. Even though the dividing wall is gone, it's clear that they are two separate areas, so it's ok to use a totally different type of floor. I like your idea of doing a rustic type kitchen floor.
Posted by: guest at December 29, 2007 10:26 PM 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
Anna,
There is no need to apologize for asking that question! IMHO, it's an interesting problem. As for looks, I think you should get some samples of different flooring options (stone tiles, various hardwoods, bamboo, cork, marmoleum, etc.) and see what you think will work best with your dining room floor. As for functionality, I also concur with those who suggest that concrete, over the long haul, may be way too demanding on your feet.
You should also try posting your question to the Garden Web home forums. In particular, you might want to try the kitchen forum at
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/kitchbath
or the home decorating forum at http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/decor
You are likely to be pleasantly surprised by the number of homeowners of various experiences and design tastes on those forums(including Brooklyn brownstone owners) who will be more than happy to offer you solid, constructive advice without making you feel guilty or silly for asking.
Posted by: Brooklynista at December 29, 2007 10:40 PM in response to flooring personality switch
I used cork tiles about 8 years ago for a similar project and have been quite satisfied. It's comfortable and works nicely next to a parquet floor kind of complementing it.
Posted by: guest at December 29, 2007 10:43 PM in response to flooring personality switch
This is an excellent question--or at least I think so, since my partner and I are wrestling with a similar one. This weekend, after some visits to wood-flooring places, we came to a decision.
First of, I would totally agree with the above rehabbers/cooks: Do not put down concrete, tile, marble, or anything that hard (on feet) or jarring (on eyes).
Difference between your project and ours is, you took down a whole wall between dining room and kitchen (we didn't take down a wall; our rooms are divided by just a doorway). We ripped up crappy floor tile in foyer/hallway/kitchen, down to the subfloor. We have parquet in dining room, as you do. And we're trying to figure out what to put in foyer and hallway, which connects naturally to kitchen, and also in that kitchen.
In your case, lacking a wall dividing the two rooms, you now have no natural way to transition from one flooring type to another--you'd have to have a 10-foot, 12-foot, 18-foot saddle on the floor between the rooms, which is a little odd. (Not the end of the world, but a little odd). So you may want to replace ALL the flooring in kitchen AND dining room. That would probably look the best. If you can swing good flooring. Costly, I know.
Personally, as you suggested, I think it's weird to have fancy oak parquet next to rustic, refinished wide-plank pine that was always intended to only be subfloor covered with something else. We have decided to cover ours with quartersawn oak ($5 a square foot), with a stain that will kinda sorta match the old parquet. Perhaps with a walnut border. Good luck.
Posted by: Rehab at December 30, 2007 12:08 AM in response to flooring personality switch
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