i had a negative experience with Veranzanno flooring as well. First they told me they would have no problem refinishing my floor, and after sanding, they told me i should just replace the floors b/c they were going to fall apart. i was pretty annoyed and torn about what to do, as the cost was substantially different. i just told them to complete the job because i didnt' have the money to replace the floors. then when they applied the finish, the floor was half glossy finish and the other half totally dull. they had to come back an additional three times to correct their error. they did lower the price, but i was NOT impressed with their work or their ethics. and needless to say, my floors have not fallen apart.
good luck finding a vendor. hope this information helps.

Posted by: bodhi_brooklyn at November 20, 2008 3:07 PM in response to wood floor refinishing, recommendations

i had a negative experience with Veranzanno flooring as well. First they told me they would have no problem refinishing my floor, and after sanding, they told me i should just replace the floors b/c they were going to fall apart. i was pretty annoyed and torn about what to do, as the cost was substantially different. i just told them to complete the job because i didnt' have the money to replace the floors. then when they applied the finish, the floor was half glossy finish and the other half totally dull. they had to come back an additional three times to correct their error. they did lower the price, but i was NOT impressed with their work or their ethics. and needless to say, my floors have not fallen apart.
good luck finding a vendor. hope this information helps.

Posted by: bodhi_brooklyn at November 20, 2008 3:07 PM in response to wood floor refinishing, recommendations

hi everyone thanks for all your responses. i broke down today and signed up for the exterminator to come on Wed, so sigh, i've given in. i also decided to purchase some of the combat gell and leave it on pieces of paper around the apt, as JAE suggested. And, as BH76 suggested I talked to the super in the building. Apparently I am not the only one complaining of this on my floor and there is, in fact one person who is the cause of the roach issue. I've asked the super to take my concerns to the board, or at least the management company so they can address it.

I don't know i can take a lot of things, even mice, but roaches, they really REALLY gross me out. fingers crossed, hopefully all of your suggestions will work. thanks for the feedback and moral support! Operation combat roaches begins.

Posted by: bodhi_brooklyn at October 20, 2008 5:42 PM in response to i'm so sick of these roaches

oh, and another question. is it possible for them to crawl in through the drain in the bathtub or the sink in the bathroom? I have no idea where they are getting in from.
i'm not afraid to admit i have roach rage.
thanks, i feel better after just saying that.

Posted by: bodhi_brooklyn at October 19, 2008 10:59 PM in response to i'm so sick of these roaches

elephant ears (caladiums) are great! I've also had a lot of luck with coleus in the shade, and now many of them come in new more colorful varieties.

Posted by: bodhi_brooklyn at September 18, 2008 12:16 PM in response to Colorful shade plants for a container?

I recently renovated my kitchen, put in stainless appliances, white cabinets, butcher block counter tops and white tile back splash. I was torn between putting a wooden floor in the kitchen to match the rest of my apt and a tile floor. My apt is pretty small, so I thought the wooden floor might make it feel more cohesive. However, I ultimately put in black and white tiles, in a checkered pattern across the floor and i love it! It doesn't make the kitchen/apt appear any smaller. It looks great with stainless and picks up the black accents on the stainless appliances. I also used a black grout which I also really love. I cook often and I don't really find standing on the tiles to be an issue. You could also easily get the same look in linoleum.

I find the tiles easy to clean and hard to damage. I would also suggest going to a tile store and checking things out. even though most brownstoners are not fans of Bergen Tile, I got a TON of samples from them to bring home and put on the floor to see what I liked. Even if you don't love the tiles, it's helpful to see what colors you like.

Lastly, I would check with the ppl who are installing the appliances and cabinets. Sometimes it can be an issue with installing the appliances/cabinets before you install the floor. If you are going to have a temporary floor first, you may want to make sure you can change the floor later. This issue came up for me.

Good luck deciding, it's so fun to create something for yourself!

Posted by: bodhi_brooklyn at September 14, 2008 11:08 PM in response to A penny for your... kitchen floor??

I had some planters in the front of an apartment in williamsburg. Some plants were stolen out of it, but not the planters themselves. Shockingly the person who stole the plant (a beautiful yellow columbine) planted it down the block in the ground. It was bizarre.
Anyway, I did not have the planters chained to anything and they were never taken. good luck and happy planting!

Posted by: bodhi_brooklyn at July 15, 2008 4:52 PM in response to planter advice needed

The social service agency, Safe Horizon, has free mediation services. You can invite someone else to come and sit and talk about the issues in their community and try to come to some sort of resolution. And it's totally free. Mostly people go there for noise complaints, but I don't see why they wouldn't take this situation. You can invite him to the mediation with other dog owners, if you would like. The only issue would be trying to get the man with the spray bottle to show up. But it's a very effective forum for conflict resolution.

Also the way you describe him, did you ever think maybe he has some cognitive impairments? Someone who sprays their sidewalk with bleach or some other strange fluids and shout whenever someone walks by sounds like they may be more than just clean. Maybe this man needs a little compassion? Good luck with your dog and happy walking.

Posted by: bodhi_brooklyn at July 6, 2008 11:47 PM in response to Neighbor thinks he owns the sidewalk

thanks for the responses. So it turns out my BF decided not to send in the increased amount of rent for the two months prior. He has not settled yet on how he is going to deal with signing the new lease. But I agree with 2:03 pm to write in the changes.. I appreciate all the feedback because it's good to know your rights in these kinds of situations.

oh and 8:52 pm, lol. I was joking. But thanks for the good laugh, he appreciated your comment.

Posted by: bodhi_brooklyn at July 6, 2008 11:18 PM in response to Raising the Rent - backdating..?

Combat roach gel is the best thing out there. Once they eat the gel they go home and and kill all the roaches there as well before dying themselves. I bought a large house recently full of roaches. Put a small amount in the kitchen and the bathroom and haven't seen one roach since. its been over a year now.

http://www.combatbugs.com/index.cfm?page_id=191&pid=5

Posted by: troll at October 20, 2008 9:31 AM in response to i'm so sick of these roaches

can i ask, perhaps a really dumb question.. if you have a big infestation like behind the walls, and use the stuff they bring back to kill the others behind the walls, will that big mass of dead roaches start to decay and stink? or is it nothing like when a mouse dies behind a wall (ew that IS the WORST smell ever)..?

-rob

Posted by: PitbullNYC at October 20, 2008 9:45 AM in response to i'm so sick of these roaches

By not allowing the Board to act on ths problem -- having the exterminator in your apartment -- you are also causing problems for your neighbors. You have a responsibility to notify the Board and let them do what is needed to correct the problem. If I were your neighbor I would be really angry!

Posted by: BH76 at October 20, 2008 10:14 AM in response to i'm so sick of these roaches

I sympathize, we have a big roach problem too. It is so bad that we literally wash the dishes BEFORE we sit down to eat -- except, of course, the dishes our dinner is on, and those we have to stand guard over while we wash the other ones. Once I was eating dinner a roach crawled up my leg. You see them in the day time and that is a really bad sign.

We also have an exterminator who come once a month. It doesn't seem to do a damn thing. Also, if one apartment in the building skips their exterminator visit, all the roaches will just rush over there, and the exterminator's efforts are for naught. We also recently put down some boric acid, and between that, the colder weather, and just having hired a housecleaner, I'm hoping it will go away.

But yes, I would concur you have to talk to your board. Once an infestation like this sets in, the whole building needs to take massive corrective action to eradicate it. Not just maintenance once-a-month sprays. That's just prevention.

Does anyone know what the exterminator is spraying? How could it be any worse than boric acid, which is also poisonous? Never heard of this gel, sounds great, will check it out.

Posted by: mopar at October 20, 2008 11:57 AM in response to i'm so sick of these roaches

Another thing: We have pigeons living in our light shaft, which is open to the sky, and there is tons of pigeon excrement down there. It is breeding flies, roaches and, when the shaft is full of water, mosquitos. So that can be a cause also.

Posted by: mopar at October 20, 2008 12:00 PM in response to i'm so sick of these roaches

mopar, remind me never to come for dinner :-)

Posted by: denton at October 20, 2008 3:17 PM in response to i'm so sick of these roaches

Honestly, I'd let the exterminator in once and then get roach motels.

In the long run, you'll be roach free. Just rotate the motels if/when you start seeing roaches again.

I normally don't like chemicals as a rule and have all kinds of argument and analysis about our over-reliance on chemical solutions but in 10 years in NYC I have not found any other magical way to get rid of roaches. For six years, I tried all the home remedies I could find. For the last four years, I've lived with Combat motels and no roaches.

Posted by: serpentor at October 20, 2008 3:27 PM in response to i'm so sick of these roaches

hi everyone thanks for all your responses. i broke down today and signed up for the exterminator to come on Wed, so sigh, i've given in. i also decided to purchase some of the combat gell and leave it on pieces of paper around the apt, as JAE suggested. And, as BH76 suggested I talked to the super in the building. Apparently I am not the only one complaining of this on my floor and there is, in fact one person who is the cause of the roach issue. I've asked the super to take my concerns to the board, or at least the management company so they can address it.

I don't know i can take a lot of things, even mice, but roaches, they really REALLY gross me out. fingers crossed, hopefully all of your suggestions will work. thanks for the feedback and moral support! Operation combat roaches begins.

Posted by: bodhi_brooklyn at October 20, 2008 5:42 PM in response to i'm so sick of these roaches

Denton -- don't worry, we only have guests in the winter. :)

Posted by: mopar at October 20, 2008 6:00 PM in response to i'm so sick of these roaches

The combat trays work great too. It is not messy. Get a few boxes of the trays and place them all around the apartment. They work great. We just had a tenant move out from a 4 family building that we own, and they were real pigs! They left such a mess, and the kitchen was infested with roaches. It's been about 3 weeks since we put the trays down, and most of the roaches are gone. Needless to say, we're still cleaning up. Honestly, I don't know how people live in such filth!

Posted by: Bklyn born at October 20, 2008 8:53 PM in response to i'm so sick of these roaches