bpeikes's Profile
- Benjamin Peikes
- Brooklyn
- Red Hook
- House
Author's Posts
May 8, 2008
Bellawood and Lumber Liquidators
I'm looking at the 5" x 3/4 finished pine floors. Seems like a relatively good price for pre-finished floors. Planning on doing the installation myself. Has anyone use Bellawood products before? How about dealing with Lumber Liquidators?
I'll take any flooring recommendations as well. I'd love to use a smaller company and definitely will not order from Home Depot or Lowes, because of other problems I've had ordering anything through them.
January 7, 2008
Carpenter to fix shoddy windows?
I had a local carpenter build custom wood windows for my house. He did a shoddy job, which was never finished. I never completed payment because the work was so bad, and he clearly knows it because after several attempts to try to get him to finish, he never returns any calls, nor does he ask for the remainder of the payment. I'm looking for a carpenter to come by and give me a quote to fix the work that was done and install the final hardware. Any recommendations?
Removing rust from porcelain
I've got a couple of old fixtures which I plan on using when during my renovation, very few chips, but a couple of rust stains that seem to be pretty stubborn. What would you folks use?
September 27, 2007
Claw foot tub shower curtain rings
Any idea where to get them in NY? I asked Eastern Metal and Bruce Supply. They said Home Depot, but they seem to only have them in conjunction with the add in shower, and I'd have to order online. I'd rather go to a place where I can actually see the item.
Radiators?
Redoing all of the heating in my house. I have some old radiators, but I'm not sure if I'm going to use them. Seems like by the time I get them cleaned up, I'd be better off buying new.
In shopping around, the only brand that I have come across so far is Governale. Burnham has some beautiful new radiators, but at $1000 for the 7 section, they're out of my price range.
I went and looked at some at Demolition Depot, but I wouldn't touch them with a 10ft. pole.
I'm looking for recommendations on either new radiators, or a place to pick up some old ones which have already been cleaned up, or from a company that can get them cleaned up.
Any ideas?
September 24, 2007
Tile Supplier
I almost scored a ton of small white flat finish hex tile at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago, but the seller accidentally sold it to someone else while I went to the bank to get cash. Arg.
In anycase, I was wondering if people had recommendations on places to get tile. The woman showed me the tile they ended up using, a beautiful penny pattern, also flat white, but I forgot to ask where she got them. I'm also looking for the flat subway tiles. Any ideas?
Author's Comments
Floor leveling? It's a gut renovation with 3/4 ply subfloor. What amount of leveling is required?
Posted by: bpeikes at May 9, 2008 7:26 PM in response to Bellawood and Lumber Liquidators
Just checked iFloor, their prices compared to Lumber Liquidators is horrible. For wide pine flooring, there's nothing even close to Lumber Liquidators prices, especially for the wide plank. LL has 5" finished pine, 3/4" for $3 and change a square foot. Am I missing something?
Posted by: bpeikes at May 9, 2008 7:31 PM in response to Bellawood and Lumber Liquidators
I would guess that it's a problem with the printer or the computer, not the electrical. The fact that it popped the breaker, is more likely due to problems with the printer or computer shorting somehow.
I'd guess it's unlikely that you plugged in the printer exactly at the same time that there was a power surge in the line. It sounds like the USB shorted something in the computer or printer.
Contact the manufacturer of the printer and computer.
Posted by: bpeikes at May 10, 2008 6:10 PM in response to Why did our USB port explode? - Anxiety about wiring
I'm not complaining about the recommendation. I appreciate it. I just wanted to know if I was missing something.
I'll have to ask LL about the plank lengths. It does make a difference and I will probably stop by iFloors at least to check them out. The more recommendations the better.
As for leveling, do you think I'll have any problems installing over a plywood subfloor? As far as I can tell it's very level. I don't know what kind of tolerances wood flooring can take.
As an aside, I was considering just nail down, but maybe glue and nail. I was looking at some "green glue" which is supposed to help with sound proofing, but it's pretty expensive and don't know if it's worth it and if it will work with plank flooring.
Posted by: bpeikes at May 10, 2008 10:32 PM in response to Bellawood and Lumber Liquidators
Um. Mr. or Mrs. anonymous coward posting at 12:53. This is her "ex-husband" as you would like to call me. Before you go spouting your mouth...
1) If you don't like shopping there, don't
2) No one "left" anyone. We're still best friends, just not together anymore.
I suppose ranting and raving without knowing any of the details is fine when you can hide behind your computer.
As for "it's just a biz transaction", it's not easy to move a bar or liquor store. Licensing is mess in NYC right now.
Red Hook has been a place where you could work on handshakes, sure it's better to have things in writing, but one of the things that has attracted people to this neighborhood is that it's a bit of a big family.
I love the fact that the article failed to mention how when the ceiling came down, folks from the neighborhood came in and lent a hand and gave the landlord a hard time.
As for eviction proceedings, she is not planning on stiffing the landlord rent. She's been an ideal tenant and gone up and beyond to try to take care of the building, more so than the landlord ever has.
Also missing from the original post was this "When you come in and I'm dazed, bitchy beyond normal, on the phone like a lunatic, please don't take it personally. Everything I've worked so hard for is hanging in the gallows.", don't forget we're talking about people's lives and dreams here. She puts it all out there, which is more than most folks are willing to do.
Posted by: bpeikes at May 29, 2008 2:05 PM in response to LeNell's Days Are Numbered
Responses to Author's Forum Comments
FOLLOW UP: We returned the scanner and bought one from a different company. My husband again had sparks appear when he tried to hook it up to his imac, but I used it 4-5 times with my laptop without incident. Then last week I was using my laptop (Lenovo, running on battery, with my HP printer attached through USB). I plugged another USB cord from the (new) scanner into my USB port on the laptop, and heard a loud popping sound. This time the laptop was dead, as was the transformer brick on my printer. The laptop's motherboard needed to be replaced and I was lucky (again) that the thing was still on warrantee and that I was able to find a place that fixed it back to normal very quickly (Lincoln Business Machines near Lincoln Center). The circuit did not trip this time.
Yesterday we had an electrician evaluate our apt. He couldn't see anything in our wiring that would explain our USB power surges problem and basically said these events with different scanners and different computers must each have been a freak accident (!)
But one thing he noticed and questioned was that the devices involved (all except my laptop) have 3 pronged plugs on the end of their transformer cords. He thought this was strange, and a new trend he hadn't noticed before, so he wondered if this could have something to do with it.
On Google I found some articles about the 3-prong transformer cords leading to excessive electrical noise that is particularly a problem for audio recording. They say the problem is that the devices are attached to each other by cords (like USB) but if 2 or more of the devices have 3-prong transformer electrical cords they are also connecting to each other through the grounding wire. The suggestion in these articles was to attach only 1 3-pronged device to the computer at a time, and if you have to use another one, use an adapter to cover its grounding pin.
Has anyone else heard of or experienced a related problem? Given this new information, any ideas what is causing such powerful surges through our USB ports? Do you think the 3-prong transformer cords could have something to do with it? Thanks in advance for any ideas you have.
Posted by: kiddo at September 13, 2008 9:58 AM in response to Why did our USB port explode? - Anxiety about wiring
Depends on where you are. Also what people call a facecord really varies. I use Urban Arborists in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The wood is ok, their prices are good, and they are near me.
I did consider splitting a full cord with someone. Mahopac lumber has great prices, but I'd need a couple of people to split it with.
Posted by: bpeikes at September 24, 2007 3:06 PM in response to Firewood: where to get it?