daveinbedstuy's Profile
- Dave
- March 2007
- March 2007
- Brooklyn
- Bedford Stuyvesant
- House
- Hedge Fund
- Male
- 51
Author's Posts
March 31, 2008
Gas Lanterns
A while back someone posted looking for gas lanterns for the front yard. I was just watching This Old House and they are doing a place in New Orleans and are having gas lanterns made by a place called Bevelo. The website is www.legacylanterns.com which is a distributor for Bevelo and literally hundreds of other gas lamps.
February 7, 2008
Crawl space insulation recommendation
There have been a few posts here recently on insulation questions. I just had my crawl space insulated by Federal Conservation (631-264-7271) and I highly recommend them. They called right back after I left a message and called me practically every day updating me as to when they could come because the weather has been so bad.
I've got a pretty standard 20' X 50' brownstone with three skylights. They cut two holes in the roof and go in from there and blow in about 12" of insulation. The roof holes are then covered and vented. Vents are necessary for moisture and heat removal from the remaining space above the insulation. It was $2000 ($2 per sq. ft.) plus $200 for the two vents. They were great and cleaned up nicely afterwards including any stray bits that blew onto my neighbors property.
They told me that the side walls of attached brownstones really can't be insulated but that the front and rear walls are deep enough and that they typically drill a few holes in the plaster and fill them with expanding foam if I wanted to do that in the future.
Highly Recommended, very professional.
February 4, 2008
Ideas for concrete yard slab
I'm looking for some good ideas for spri=ucing up the concrete slab that extends from the house to about 10' out into the yard. I've kandscaped the yard and that looks great. There is a deck over part of the slab. Ideas....paint (doubtful), stain, pavers???
I think I'll post a reno blog of the work done on the yard. Thanks
December 9, 2007
Electricians- Code for outdoor conduit?
What is the code for outdoor iring for lamps and a receptacle for a three story two-family brownstone? Can I use EMT (Electrical metallic tubing) or must I use Rigid Metal Cnduit or Rigid Nonmetallic Conduit. Can single insulated wires (TW, THW or THWN) or NM cable be used inside the conduit?
November 12, 2007
Somebody to cart away bricks & concrete
I need a recommendation for someone to come and cart away broken up concrete and bricks from front and rear yards. Thank you.
October 9, 2007
Paint stripping
Can anyone recommend someone that can strip the paint off my stone fireplace mantles? Thanks
Author's Comments
thanks guest, that's helpful. I know how to do it but as is becoming the case with people moving into the neighborhood I have more money than time!!!
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at October 10, 2007 3:41 PM in response to Paint stripping
Radiant (under the floor) heat is the best possible type of heat you can install. I have it in two homes outside NY. It uses PEX tubing and a flow of hot water from the boiler. It evenly heats the room and the floors (especially the tile ones) reatian the heat.
You can find a lot of info on this on the web
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at October 17, 2007 7:22 PM in response to radient (sp?) heat
The sound deadening comes from the overall thickness of the walls (i.e. that they are not 2X4 stud walls with sheetrock) and should remain the same with sheetrock as the outer layer. The sheetrock should be "greenboard" and then get a skim coat of plaster for best effect.
If the plaster is reapairable that is one thing but if it has completely come apart from the lathe that is entirely differeny. Completely replastering on the lathe is a very, very expensive job compared to sheetrock.. I'd be interested in the 2 different estimates
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at October 26, 2007 3:37 PM in response to When to Repair Plaster or when to Sheetrock
I just moved in to Bed Stuy from Mnhattan a few months ago....bought a brownstone. Ive also been thinking of how could invest some money in a retail business there. I'm concerned because I don't see a lot of crowded nights in the three higher end dining establishment...Bassam, Brooks Valley and Solomon's Porch; although Solomon's does get some very crowded nights.
I was thinking along the lines of "what does the neighborhood need" and have come up more along the lines of a hgher end food/meat/produce outlet. Manhattan literally supports two small grocers on a block but the hi rise density is higher there. The Food Town actually has a fantastic offering of everything so I'm not sure yet what will work
An more thoughts out there on this???? I'm looking for a partner on something and I can be the financial backing.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 12, 2007 8:29 AM in response to Would Bed Stuy Benefit from Luxury Bed / Bath Store?
Its not impossible but 100 amp changes everything. Basically you can run as many separate 15 or 20 amp cicuits as you wish and as long as the amperage of each is not exceeded and the total draw for the buiklding does not exceed 60 amps you'll be fine. The total load is highly unlikely to exceed 60 amps but if you only have a few circuits in the building they are going to start to kick when amperage is exceeeded.
Its quite likely that becasue 60 amp is old that the circuit box is too and the number of circuits is too low.
And, 60 amp is not very attractive for when you want to sell the property
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 12, 2007 9:55 AM in response to 60 AMP sufficient?
www.gascoals.net under a section titled English Tile
and search ebay under Antiques....Tile there's a seller there named fireandtile
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 12, 2007 10:09 AM in response to Tile Search
what kind of company (what business are they in) is Wright Management???
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 12, 2007 2:02 PM in response to Somebody to cart away bricks & concrete
Joey LaPenna of Twyford....he's extremely hard working...I came upon him when I bought in Bed Stuy and gave him the sale of my Manhattan condo
they're locate in Carrol Gardens
www.twyfordrealestate.com
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 29, 2007 6:47 PM in response to broker rec
I have gas coal units here in brooklyn and in Philadelphia. The people who relined one of our chimnies in Philadelphia told us about these units and we have them in other fireplaces where THE FLUE IS CLOSED...The website to buy them says never to use them unvented but they are in fact, perfectly safe to use unvented and I have never had any odor. In fact, they throw more heat when unvented as you might imagine. Now I wouldn't run one all night long in the bedroom with the doors and windows closed but I ran mine here in Brooklyn last night for 5 hours.....they are great
the website to buy them is www.gascoals.net
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at December 2, 2007 1:27 PM in response to GAS FIREPLACE
Responses to Author's Forum Comments
State farm isnt the best, but it isnt the worst either.
Posted by: slick at May 16, 2008 10:14 PM in response to Getting Dropped By Allstate
Having a lawyer will prevent that. I've done about 25 real estate closings and i never do one without a lawyer. I can recommend one in Brooklyn who I quite like and is specializes in real estate. I am using him now to sell my manhattan condo.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at October 9, 2007 11:37 AM in response to Getting Screwed at Closing