casabella's Profile
- 1987
- 2007
- Brooklyn
- Carroll Gardens
- House
- artist
- Female
- 37
Author's Posts
June 5, 2008
LPC super delay in review
Has anyone else had to wait over 2 months for LPC to approve their project? The only thing that should concern them is changing the windows on the facade which we are replacing with Marvins Landmark windows. We have waited over 2 months and losing so much money without these permits. We are thinking of going down to the LPC office and talking to the examiner. Has anyone done this? We are pretty desperate.
May 17, 2008
Subfloors - Opinions...?
We are doing a gut renovation of a small 100+ year old brownstone. Currently we have removed all linoleum and carpeting off floors. Some of the floors are just subflooring and others have some oak flooring on top of subfloor. We are thinking about removing all wood/parquet and maintaining the subfloors but want to get opinions. Is it noisy or creaky when you walk? It is not wide plank, they are about 4 inches wide and need sanding and treatment, etc.
March 6, 2008
Green Light Expediters??
Anyone have any experience with Green Light Expediters? We are thinking of using them for a 2 family brownstone renov.
January 16, 2008
Fire rating and means of egress
Is it necessary to provide a means of egress plan therefore providing fire rated walls and doors on stairways and common areas for a renovation with no change of units?
October 12, 2007
CONTRACTOR FOR STRUCTURAL WORK PLUS
We are looking for contractors who will bid on our brownstone renov. We have sagging floors and obvious structural damage. Need to put in 2 kitchens, 3 baths and deck off parlor along with redoing floors and walls. We are also going to be installing central air and heat.
I have searched for hours for some good recs off this site and have found a few. Please let me know if you have a reliable, honest one that is mid-priced. thanks!
October 3, 2007
How Much to replace floors+ beams
I am considering buying a brick townhouse which has sagging floors on the top 2 floors of a 4 family. Yes they are near the bathroom + kitchen. We were told that a 9 foot portion of the load bearing wall has been removed on the parlor floor which could have added to this sagging.
Also, in the basement there were arches underneath the load bearing wall which were removed and replaced with steel beam and steel columns.
I have read through the other posts on this issue which were very informative but I am now wondering what the cost might be for the worst case scenario? Replacing the floors and beams on 2 possibly 3 floors? And could one live in the garden apt. while this was happening?
New to all this so thanks!
Author's Comments
Thanks for both of those recs. they are equally talented! I contacted them both and they are valuable resources. Thanks!
Posted by: casabella at October 16, 2007 12:08 AM in response to CONTRACTOR FOR STRUCTURAL WORK PLUS
OP here. There are 2 units in the building. The work is taking place in both units.
We are enclosing a stairway and placing a door there. This stairway is the means of access to the basement from the upper duplex unit.
Does that door and walls need to be fire rated?
Posted by: casabella at January 17, 2008 3:51 PM in response to Fire rating and means of egress
Thanks for the advise. I have been researching the NYC Building Code with no luck. Would you be so kind as to point out the section where this is explained in the NYC Code? Thanks again.
Posted by: casabella at January 29, 2008 9:39 PM in response to Fire rating and means of egress
Responses to Author's Forum Comments
I had same problem on 3rd and 4th floor, unless you are gutting the whole place and moving out jacking would be a mess. (But anything is possible if you like dust) I lived downstairs when I leveled the 4th floor, which was gutted (sloped about 4-5" over 14'). Made 14 ft shims placed on top of floor joist and then put a new floor on top, turned out to be off by about 1" at the end over 13- 14 ft which doesn’t seem like a problem considering I am living their now. The third floor was not as bad about 1-2 " over 13-14 ft so I left it alone and I have a tenant their with no complaints.
No jacking was done so I was able to do minimal plaster molding and possible structural work to third floor (thus getting in a tenant faster and cheaper)Now I am about to start the lower duplex which (just gutted) I haven measured yet but I lived there first and it didn’t seem to off. I also got the arches in basement, which are in very poor condition and am thinking of replacing with post and steel.
Posted by: guest at October 9, 2007 11:17 PM in response to How Much to replace floors+ beams
Someone may correct me if I am wrong, but I do believe that in a 2-family it does not need to be fire rated. It's when you are 3-family or higher that you need to deal with those issues. For most purposes, the DoB treats a 2-family like a single family for code issues.
Posted by: guest at January 17, 2008 8:25 PM in response to Fire rating and means of egress
That is correct, the door and stair wouldn't need to be fire rated in that case.
Posted by: Smokychimp at January 20, 2008 2:33 PM in response to Fire rating and means of egress
Thanks for the advise. I have been researching the NYC Building Code with no luck. Would you be so kind as to point out the section where this is explained in the NYC Code? Thanks again.
Posted by: casabella at January 29, 2008 9:39 PM in response to Fire rating and means of egress
Thank you so much for your input. Well, no we cannot afford to do a gut. Ideally we would like to fix up one of the apt.s fast so we can move in then work on the rest of the building.
Today we saw another building with sagging floors on each floor but these were not near bath or kitchen. The sagging was in the middle of the space and at the wall that runs the length of the townhouse. This building is only 17 feet wide and built in 1860's. It looks like water damage from the way the floors are warped. I would say there is a good 2-3 inches sagging from the way a hallway door is at an angle from the molding.
Posted by: casabella at October 4, 2007 10:01 PM in response to How Much to replace floors+ beams