"I used Alex Figliolia several years ago to replace the main sewer. He came (in a chauffered stretch MB)"

I am totally in the wrong industry!

Posted by: brooklynstyle at November 19, 2009 1:16 PM in response to Broken Sewer Main

I believe ConEd and Keyspan (or whatever they are calling themselves these days I can't get used to the new name) require a credit check/deposit for a commercial account, but not for a personal/residential account.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at November 18, 2009 7:48 PM in response to Utilities & Credit Checks

Yes, $1,400 was for the entire job, including trimming the opening out to match the rest of the house.

I know my # is WAAAY low, but my mother in law is an architect, my father is an engineer, and the GC was a personal friend who did the work (he usually only works on commercial projects, but agreed to do our house as a favor). We got some labor and advice for free, and other labor for cost or even less than that. Our GC did not markup any of the materials either. But I don't think it should cost 10x as much if you didn't have handy friends and relatives. But, as chicken points out, you are planning to span about twice the area I did, which significantly increases the engineering challenge of supporting that weight.

One of the reasons I didn't include a recommendation for a contractor is my team only worked on our place as a personal favor... We are gutting the kitchen and bath, as well as adding another bathroom, so anywhere where we can call in favors to cut costs helps a ton.

Feel free to ignore my figure. I thought knowing what the materials cost was would be helpful, since that's basically all we paid for, but Ed Kopel seems to have his panties in a twist about my #.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at November 11, 2009 7:18 PM in response to Cost to Install Beam

What about circulating a notice telling all of the tenants that the repair costs will be split between all of them and you will be charging them extra $$ since you can't tell who is responsible.

I'm pretty you don't actually have the right to charge them, but maybe that will get them to rat each other out.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at November 11, 2009 11:56 AM in response to Tenants Broke Entryway

I did this in my kitchen; it cost about $1,400 but the wall was only about 15'.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at November 11, 2009 11:53 AM in response to Cost to Install Beam

"where they called my husband for a decision, who would have to call me; who would call the plumber/electrician, who would then call my husband back instead of me."

Seems like your husband's fault here, lol. Why didn't your husband just tell the contractor you were in charge, and refuse to discuss it?

Ask him that tonight over dinner :-)

LOL -- we talked numerous times about how asinine it was that contractors refused to call me. It was like they were going through contortions NOT to talk to me. My husband and I would both tell them to stop calling him and to call me, yet they couldn't get it through their thick heads. Like a mental block or something that a woman would have decision making capacity.

I used to deal with this nonsense all the time when I worked in IT as a programmer and doing tech support. I worked at a huge academic medical center and the doctors would always questioned my ability when I showed up to fix their computers; my male colleagues never got second guessed like I did. Since they were essentially paying me, I took more BS than I would have liked, but when I'm doing the hiring, I reserve the right not to work with any contractors who have a pathological inability to respect women!

Posted by: brooklynstyle at November 6, 2009 7:14 PM in response to Contractors & Chauvinism

I am going through the exact same thing with my renovation. I got estimates from numerous plumbers and electricians, and some of them only wanted to deal with my husband. Despite my telling them all that I was paying for and managing the entire renovation, and that I should be their point of contact and my husband had no decision making authority, some of them still couldn't get it through their heads that they should call me, not him.

Aside from it being annoying to be treated like an after-thought the contractors who acted like this didn't get hired because I could just forsee endless games of telephone in the future, where they called my husband for a decision, who would have to call me; who would call the plumber/electrician, who would then call my husband back instead of me. This has happened a few times to me before, and has caused needless delays and aggrevation.

I even had a company explicitly tell me that they would NOT come to my house to give me an estimate unless both me and my husband were home. Even though I told them that the house was in my name alone, and that I was the only homeowner, they still refused to deal with me without my husband being present. Unbelievable.

I'm just saying that this kind of nonsense happens a lot more than most men realize, and this attitude can have a substantive impact on your project. It's not just something that we should deal with and get over, it can cause serious delays that impact inspection schedules, quality of life, and have financial consequences when construction gets seriously behind schedule due to communication telephone tag.

/end of rant.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at November 6, 2009 11:52 AM in response to Contractors & Chauvinism

I also just replaced my thermostat from the old "circle" non-programmable kind to a programmable digital thermostat. Very easy, and definitely DIY. The new thermostat was only about $40; the back panel had oblong screw holes so that it would fit into a wide range of existing screws, so I didn't even have to drill new holes.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at November 6, 2009 11:39 AM in response to Furnace or Thermostat Issues

another vote for cork. We're wrapping up our bathroom reno, and about to start the kitchen. My FIL (architect) has cork in his kitchen and bath, and love it, so I'm doing the same.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at October 26, 2009 1:28 PM in response to Kitchen Floors

Sound expensive to me, unless you are having it tiled floor to ceiling in really hard to install tiles.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at October 26, 2009 1:26 PM in response to Bathroom Quote

My sister in law is a piano teacher, and teaches out of her house. They recently relocated to NJ (I know, I know) but when they were living in NYC, she taught in her apartment all the time, and none of her neighbors even knew she was running a minimusic school. She had a baby grand, and also put it on a carpet; the noise just didn't travel.

I would think that a professional pianist would have less potential for noise complaints than a music teacher giving lessons to kids. Of course I guess it depends on what kind of building/floors, etc, but I don't think it would be crazy to rent to her.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at October 26, 2009 1:23 PM in response to Rent to a Pianist - Crazy?

I'm not sure why you're plumber told you that... there are tons of vintage plumbing supply places that sell stuff for old tubs. We just had our 1914 claw foot totally replumbed.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at October 26, 2009 1:19 PM in response to Claw Foot Tub Overflow

seems a bit high for a studio, but not exorbitant. Sorry. The one thing to check is if the bill is actual (meter reading) or estimated. If the previous tenants left all their appliances and lights on, it would be easy to run a bill that high. They could just be estimating usage from historical data for your unit.

Our electric bills for our 1 bedroom averaged over $100 in the summer, when we ran our A/C. In the winter they were lower. But if you have electric heat and/or cooktop, your bill would probably be higher than ours. We used gas for cooking, so it was lower.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at October 16, 2009 1:54 PM in response to ConEd newbie bill question

Slick -- hilarious!

You pay an origination fee to the broker, usually 1 pt or so. I negotiated for the sellers to pay for all my closing costs, so didn't worry too much about what the broker charged. I got a great rate, and it was the seller's problem to pay all the usurious fees.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at October 16, 2009 12:44 PM in response to How Are Mortgage Brokers Paid?

Our place seemed to have an inch of paint and wallpaper on all the walls (wildly exaggerating here, but it felt like it). Maybe if you scrape it all off, you'll get those 3 inches back.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at October 15, 2009 7:18 PM in response to Law on Square Footage?

the best thing to do if you have a cable/telecom issue is file an official complaint with DOIT (the department of information technology). You fill out a simple form online at nyc.gov and within 48 hours, someone from TWC corporate calls you and gives you their direct line. It amazes me that more people don't know about this service.

If your issue is not resolved, DOIT fines TWC (or whatever telecom service provider you complained about). Usually you get a month's credit or at least a partial refund. In the past 10 years, I've probably only paid for 5 years of service.

If you complain enough times, you can probably get them to upgrade your service, or at least it's an easy way of not paying full price for halfassed service.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at October 14, 2009 12:56 PM in response to High Speed Internet

This is all good advice, but in the end, I found what is also very important is how much I feel comfortable paying. Since you said you're a first timer, it sounds like you are buying for a place to live, not strictly as an investment property??

In that case, you should look at comps, but ultimately it comes down to how much value you think you will get out of the place. While I'm not advocating setting prices in a vacuum (obviously look at comps is important) in the end, if you are going to be living there, you have to decide how much you are willing to pay, irregardless of what is going on in the rest of the market.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at October 12, 2009 5:26 PM in response to Offer Advice for 1st Timer

hard to say -- how much tiling are you doing? just a shower/tub surround, or are you going to go around the bathroom? and what kind of tiling are you thinking about putting in? penny tiles take more work and can cost more for labor/installation.

is there existing wiring for an exhaust fan? will you need an electrician to add new wiring? how accessible is existing wiring? what kinds of walls are there right now? punching through and repairing plaster can be more expensive than drywall to get to/add wiring.

I would think you should be able to get the labor for the bathroom under $10k, but there are a lot of variables. I'm gutting my bath right now, and while you would think that doing the less intensive renovating that you are doing should be less expensive than gutting, it might not actually be that much less. Both our plumber and electrician said that their estimates were cheaper for this type of gut because the walls were already opened up and there was less drilling and wire "fishing" to do. We will probably end up paying more in labor for the construction since we have to insulate, hang drywall AND tile, paint, etc but the plumbing and the electrical stuff is where you spend a lot of your money.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at October 9, 2009 12:33 PM in response to Cost of Kitchen & Bath Gut?

My tub has at least 3 or 4 layers of paint on it already. I'm going to clean and rough it up, but am not planning to strip the existing paint (which seems to be oil based). Thanks to everyone's feedback, I'm thinking that latex paint will be fine, since it will be painted over existing paint and won't come into direct contact with the iron itself. I'll let you know how it goes.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at October 7, 2009 2:39 PM in response to Cast Iron Tub Paint

oops -- just saw this post (been busy renovating). We've just finished the rough in work, and have bought all the fixtures except the towel rack, toilet paper holder thing, etc so there are a few more things to buy, but the budget shouldn't change by much.

I'm looking at $15k total. I saved a few places here and there by doing some work myself, hiring an out of work friend who used to work in construction (lots of those people around, evidently), and we picked pretty basic finishes. I used run of the mill hex and subway tiles, no fancy glass tiles or anything like that.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at October 6, 2009 7:45 PM in response to Sink Replacement - How?

thanks! glad to know i don't have to go buy an entire thing of special (i.e. more expensive paint) and can probably get away with a sample quart of regular ol' wall paint.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at October 6, 2009 7:34 PM in response to Cast Iron Tub Paint

"HA HA! Its true!! I swear an Akita actually shits out MORE than it eats. "

That explains so much about our dog (he's from the shelter, but everyone thinks he looks like an akita mix). I never met a dog who pooped so much.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at September 26, 2009 11:20 PM in response to Dog Pooping in Front of House

I'm in the exact same boat as you, except maybe a few weeks ahead. Closed on my first house 10 days ago, and have been working on the bathroom (and taking down YEARS and LAYERS of wallpaper... ugh) since. The kitchen is up next after the bathroom, again like you, probably in a few months.

Even though I'm a first timer, I am serving as GC for the bathroom reno. I hired a few friends who are out of work construction workers (they do good, solid work, but these are not great times for people in the construction industry) and then found an electrician and plumber through referral. I walked the electricians and plumbers through what I wanted done, and got bids from everyone. I skipped the designer on the bathroom, because I just wanted this one done as quickly and cheaply as possible, so am doing a pretty basic design that I laid out myself. I'll eventually add a second bathroom, and will probably hire a professional designer or architect for that one, and turn the bath I'm currently working on into the guest bath so it doesn't have to be so fancy.

I hired a designer for the kitchen since the kitchen has an odd shape and I thought professional layout help would be good.

I think your approach really depends on what you want in the end. If you want something basic, you can do alot of the legwork yourself and save some $$. Good luck! Renovating is hard work. If I never see wallpaper again, I will die happy.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at September 26, 2009 11:13 PM in response to 1st Time Renovation Advice?

Btw -- I'm about to start a gut renovation of my bathroom, hopefully next week. We are also planning on adding a pedestal sink. I can't tell you how much it will be for just the sink installation since that's wrapped up in the price of the entire bathroom, but my bathroom guy tells me it's not that difficult. It might be slightly more expensive than a traditional sink, but not exorbitant.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at September 18, 2009 12:03 PM in response to Sink Replacement - How?

I paid $125/mo in Manhattan (across the street from the main post office on 34th St/8th ave). It was covered parking/valet, etc. $300/mo sounds like a lot in Brooklyn.

Admittedly, I had to bargain for the rate I got, and had to deal with the garage owner staring at my boobs every single time I needed my car, but it was worth it. The whole garage thing is so shady; there is not really any set price and it just seems to depend on how you look, how much you're wearing, etc. I had a compact car (toyota corolla) but it didn't seem to make a difference at my garage what kind of car you were driving; just how you looked.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at September 17, 2009 5:21 PM in response to Garage Parking

It's not that hard, but are you planning to DIY or hire someone? The only real tricky part is that with a pedestal sink, you have to attach it to the wall since it's top heavy and needs extra support to stay upright. The sink you are replacing looks like it has 4 legs (can't tell with the funny sideways picture) and probably didn't have the same kind of reinforced installation.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at September 17, 2009 1:33 PM in response to Sink Replacement - How?

My mortgage guy just put the property address and no amount in my letter(s); I got a new letter for each property I put an offer on. Luckily we only bought the second place we put an offer on (well, I'm closing this afternoon -- fingers crossed), so I didn't have to get too many letters, but my mortgage officer didn't seem to mind drawing up a new letter.

Both property prices I offered on were much lower than the amount I was approved for. I felt that the first property I put an offer in on was WAY overpriced. Although I was pre-approved for more than the asking price, I didn't need the sellers to know that. They ended up coming down by $40k, but still not down enough to where I thought the house was a good deal. I am willing to bet that if they had known how much I was pre-approved for, they wouldn't have come down as much. In the end, it doesn't really matter, since we couldn't come to an agreement about the price anyways.

Personally, I don't really want the sellers to know how much I can afford. The less information I can give them, the better. Since I think sellers are still overpricing properties because they can't understand that the market crashed and their house isn't worth what it was last year, they will also use whatever information they can get the highest price out of you.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at September 16, 2009 2:30 PM in response to Pre-Approval Amount?

One of my close friends has a set of these installed in his place. I've seen them in person, and I still think they look like ass. Sorry. I'm just not into the look, and what does that say about a product when you think it looks better when totally covered so you can't see it??

Yes, they are very very high quality. And will probably last beyond my friend and his children's lifetimes. But I don't think you need to insult people who have different taste than you by calling them ignorant. I can appreciate the high quality of the products and still think they look like ass.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at September 11, 2009 7:46 PM in response to Atlas Shelving System for Sale

I also really liked being able to feel the train. I could time leaving my apartment right after a train went by, and would get to the station as the next one was arriving!

Posted by: brooklynstyle at September 11, 2009 11:44 AM in response to Subway Vibration

We did this with All Star moving -- they came and packed us up and cleared out our apartment, and then delivered our stuff about a week later. I can't remember how much it cost us, but it wasn't exorbitant.

Call them and ask for Tom (the manager) or Rich (owner) they are both great guys and will be totally honest with you. All Star is also very reputable. Definitely not like some other shady movers I've tried to work with who never even showed up. My nightmare is movers taking my stuff to "store" and then never reappearing with it when they are supposed to!!

Posted by: brooklynstyle at September 9, 2009 12:59 PM in response to Movers and Short-Term Storage

what about this?
http://www.deftprojects.com/5-east-84th-st.html

Same architect designed it who is writing the bookstore renovation articles here on brownstoner. Looks like you could do something similar yourself.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at August 28, 2009 12:49 PM in response to Ideas for closing off an alcove

I think the most your super/LL/whoever can charge you is a nominal administrative fee to change the lease. I paid $35 to get a new lease drawn up when one roommate was leaving and a new one was taking over. Anything more than that is extortion!

Posted by: brooklynstyle at August 19, 2009 5:21 PM in response to Landlord Problem

I would pull the fire alarm every time she lit up... Just innocently say that you smelled smoke andwere concerned that something was burning. I'm sure the FD showing up will provide incentive for her to stop.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at August 15, 2009 2:00 PM in response to Smoking in the Workplace

I would absolutely recommend against leaving the dog in a fenced yard. Your dog is likely to get bored and bark alot, which will drive your neighbors crazy. Dogs are pack animals and like to be around others. Your dog will be sad and lonely if left outside in the yard, regardless of breed.

Labs are pretty high energy until they get old. They are usually good family pets, but need a lot of exercise. Do you have experience with dogs?

Also I know you didn't ask, but I would strongly encourage you to consider getting a rescue dog at a shelter. You can get an older dog who is already trained, and won't have to suffer through the very very cute, but destructive puppy phase. Both our cat and dog are rescues, and they are wonderful pets. Our cat is skittish and scared of strangers (he just hides under the bed) but our dog LOVES kids.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at August 3, 2009 3:42 PM in response to Labrador in brownstone

OMG that herald square DMV is a nightmare. I went there to do the whole after-marriage-change-of-name thing and it took 4 hours because they kept giving me the wrong forms and then telling me it was my fault, being surly, unhelpful, etc.

That said, I've always found the Chinatown DMV to be pretty speedy.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at July 30, 2009 5:41 PM in response to Drivers License Question

we're paying about $600/year for liability ONLY for a 1994 toyota corolla. I'm surprised how much everyone else is paying, but we got the car for free, so there was no sense in getting comprehensive coverage.

In addition to low insurance costs, the great thing about a beater is that the two times our car was broken into, someone broke in and put stuff IN our car. Nothing was missing. Gotta love Brooklyn. Our car was broken into in Chelsea a few years back and they stole everything, including the @*#!)&$ cupholders, which cost more than $100 to replace.

Now you have to ask how much parking costs!

Posted by: brooklynstyle at July 30, 2009 5:37 PM in response to Cost of BK Car Insurance?

chocolate sea salt cake at baked!
their malted cake is a close second.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at July 29, 2009 7:16 PM in response to Best pastry store in Brooklyn

bring cookies when you go to talk... it goes a long way! :)

We used to joke around that the apartment upstairs from us was either occupied by a herd of elephants or professional movers who were always practicing by dragging their furniture around everyday. Turns out the woman who lived upstairs just wore heels all the time and NEVER took them off, so we would hear her clumping around. Weird because the first thing I like to do when i get home is kick my shoes off, but maybe that's just me.

Anyways, we went up to introduce ourselves, brought cookies, and casually mentioned that whatever they were doing was pretty loud. The noise has stopped and we are all friends now.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at July 28, 2009 1:21 PM in response to TV Noise Through Wall

uhhh... i've climbed for about 10+ years and have worked in climbing gyms. women aren't any better than men, it just depends on the route. men are better at "power" moves and women generally have better balance. in NYC, most of the route setters are men, so you get a situation where many of the routes are set for taller/power moves, so they can be harder for women. I'm 5'5" and there are some routes that my husband (6'5") can easily scale, but are anatomically impossible for me. Outdoors, the difference is less, because you can use any natural feature you can reach, whereas in the climbing gym, you're artificially constrained to the plastic that someone sets.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at July 23, 2009 12:33 PM in response to Gowanus Rock-Climbing Gym Readying Its Opening

I was told by my financial advisor that there is no penalty for early disbursement from an IRA, but there is a penalty for withdrawing from a 401(k), so I rolled over $10k of funds into an IRA to withdraw -- the IRS permits up to $10k of early disbursement from an IRA for a qualified first time home purchase. If you are able to, I would rollover funds from the 401k into an IRA.

I was advised NOT to take out money from my 401k/403b to finance a home purchase -- the penalties and taxes pretty much make it not worthwhile. Your situation may vary, but I was told that it's generally not a good idea. I believe some lenders may allow you to borrow against your 401k, but with the $10k from my IRA, I didn't need to go that route.

Good luck!

Posted by: brooklynstyle at July 22, 2009 12:47 PM in response to Tapping 401(k) for Purchase?

daveinBEDSTUY lives in philly???

Posted by: brooklynstyle at July 8, 2009 12:34 PM in response to chinese armoire computer desk

Thanks to everyone for their comments and advice! So far I've talked to two mortgage brokers and my bank. The loan officer at my bank (ShitiBank) wouldn't give me a pre-qual letter w/o pulling my credit. They verbally told me what I would qualify for based on my self-reported info, but wouldn't give me a letter. That's when I realized that lenders are being a LOT more strict than they were just a few years ago. Anyone know if Citi is just more strict than other banks in this regard?

I really had no intention of going through Citi -- they are just a terrible bank -- they were just a starting point so I wasn't too worried that they wouldn't give me a letter to use when shopping around. I haven't sent any of the brokers my financials since I wanted to do a bit more shopping around before deciding whether to go through another bank or a broker but perhaps I should just pick someone to give me a letter and then continue to do some shopping on the side? Unfortunately my credit union that I love only finances home purchases in PA and NJ.

We should have enough for the 20% so hopefully that will speed things up a little. Thanks again... We're seeing a few more places tomorrow so I'll get all my paperwork together tonight!

Posted by: brooklynstyle at July 1, 2009 1:45 PM in response to When to start mortgage pre-qual?

Just get a handicapped parking permit. I finally got one after two years of arguing with the DOT and... magic! no more parking tickets, ever. They are a PITA to get, but worth more than their weight in gold.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at March 27, 2009 3:24 PM in response to Ticketed for Double Parking

That quote is WAY too high. We are moving CROSS country from Brooklyn to the west coast and estimates for our 800 sq foot one bedroom came out to $3500. Even though your place is twice as big as ours, there is no way a local move should cost that much.

We've used All Star for our past few moves. They are really professional and won't scam you. I think someone mentioned that they were really highly rated by movingscam.com as well as a few other websites. But whatever company you go with, the estimate you got is crazy.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at August 28, 2008 5:44 PM in response to Ballpark cost for move & tipping movers?

Thanks for the super helpful comment about taking the bus. Clearly since walking a few extra blocks from my car is a significant hurdle, walking blocks and blocks to the bus and then standing there while waiting, and walking blocks from wherever the bus drops me off to my final destination sounds like a GREAT plan!!

This is on Butler between Smith and Court. There are two brownstones undergoing construction. One crew is super courteous, while the other is quite dismissive of complaints by neighbors. Some of the residents on the block have called in repeated noise complaints, and other construction violations. This parking thing is only one of a list of annoyances.

I tried calling 311 and whoever I talked to didn't know if it was legal or not. So I thought I'd ask here.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at July 5, 2008 1:43 PM in response to Construction crew taking up street parking?

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I was wondering if there was any way I could have the contractor fined or something. As a person with a significant disability, it is impossible for me to haul their construction crap out of the way.

I asked the construction manager politely if they could stop taking up so many spaces and they laughed at me and told me it was totally legal.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at July 3, 2008 7:40 PM in response to Construction crew taking up street parking?

A job like this would cost anywhere from $10,000 - $15,000. Includes the temporary support, concrete footing, 2 columns, and of course the beam. Any questions feel free to call me at 718-351-4099.

You can see an example of a beam we installed at the following link:
http://www.allrenovationllc.com/presidentst_after.html

Pietro Calabretta
AllRenovation Construction
http://www.allrenovationllc.com

Posted by: allrenovation at November 11, 2009 3:44 PM in response to Cost to Install Beam

you don't even think about something like this without an architect or engineer, and without filing the job, and without getting a renovation endorsement from your insurer. it isn't an inexpensive job, don't be convinced it is.

Posted by: raphael9 at November 11, 2009 4:33 PM in response to Cost to Install Beam

vbp definitely says it well.

the simple fact remains that you aren't able to prove who caused the damage, and bottom line you have the responsibility of maintaining the building. you can and should legislate on the issue of where people keep their strollers, etc., and you definitely can get a violation for having things in the halls.

Posted by: raphael9 at November 11, 2009 4:52 PM in response to Tenants Broke Entryway

Fourteen hundred is inaccurate and erroneous.
For professional engineering services ontact Shelly Pulaski, PE at 718 253 7366.
For the work itself, contact John Sullivan at 718 499 5100.

Ed Kopel Architects, PC

Posted by: edkopel at November 11, 2009 5:37 PM in response to Cost to Install Beam

Yes, $1,400 was for the entire job, including trimming the opening out to match the rest of the house.

I know my # is WAAAY low, but my mother in law is an architect, my father is an engineer, and the GC was a personal friend who did the work (he usually only works on commercial projects, but agreed to do our house as a favor). We got some labor and advice for free, and other labor for cost or even less than that. Our GC did not markup any of the materials either. But I don't think it should cost 10x as much if you didn't have handy friends and relatives. But, as chicken points out, you are planning to span about twice the area I did, which significantly increases the engineering challenge of supporting that weight.

One of the reasons I didn't include a recommendation for a contractor is my team only worked on our place as a personal favor... We are gutting the kitchen and bath, as well as adding another bathroom, so anywhere where we can call in favors to cut costs helps a ton.

Feel free to ignore my figure. I thought knowing what the materials cost was would be helpful, since that's basically all we paid for, but Ed Kopel seems to have his panties in a twist about my #.

Posted by: brooklynstyle at November 11, 2009 7:18 PM in response to Cost to Install Beam

OP here - I absolutely plan to have an architect include this as part of my reno, permits and all.

Can the contractor or architect size the beam or is it best left to an engineer?

I appreciate the (sobering) estimates for a job like this.

Posted by: Northie at November 11, 2009 9:47 PM in response to Cost to Install Beam

Contact Rafique, he's an amazing contractor and his son is an engineer. Really good work and good price. 718-791-1179

Posted by: tanive at November 12, 2009 1:48 PM in response to Cost to Install Beam

I just replaced the thermostat and it cycled well and turned off. I found out the furnace is 55 years old, 1954. Hopefully this keeps the furnace going for another winter.

Posted by: gates_ave at November 13, 2009 11:26 PM in response to Furnace or Thermostat Issues

It really is a good advantage if you have money invested in a 401k account, enough to buy you a house for preferably cash. For instance, assume you have $150k cash in your 401k, experts suggest rolling it over to a Self directed IRA from which you can use the funds (100% of the funds) to buy a house. However, the percentage of money you should take out from your self directed IRA depends on the amount of savings you have.

Once you have a self-directed IRA set up, consider purchasing actual physical real estate by withdrawing funds from your IRA to make a down payment on the home, and get a mortgage, or if you have enough funds, purchase the entire home by paying 100% cash.
Source: http://www.research401krollover.com/
You are not allowed to take a mortgage from your IRA, like how you would take out a loan from your 401(k) and pay it back in a certain period of time. When purchasing property from your IRA, remember this key point that all gains you make from this property such as rental income, capital gains, etc must be contributed back in to your IRA.

Posted by: cocojambo at November 14, 2009 12:07 PM in response to Tapping 401(k) for Purchase?

I can vouch for All Renovation's work. The beam he's referring to was installed in my home. It was 2000 lbs, 20 feet long. He also ripped out the wall going the length of the house which was about 30 feet long. We lived in the house while the work was completed and it never felt unsafe. His quote is very reasonable. I highly recommend them.

Posted by: joecal at November 15, 2009 9:45 AM in response to Cost to Install Beam