I did this calculation for myself a while ago. We currently have oil heat & hot water. The water is heated with a "coil" -- no tank, heats as needed -- very efficient.

Here's what you need know to do the comparison:

Variables:

Your cost for a gallon of oil.

Your cost for a delivered Therm of gas (including delivery and tax).

Efficiency of the Gas burner as %.

Efficiency of the Oil burner as %.

Constants:

There are 100,000 BTUs in a Therm of Gas.

There are 138,690 BTU's in a gallon of Oil.

Calculation:

Cost per unit * BTUs per unit * efficiency of burner = effective cost per BTU.

When I did the calculation I got something like $2.02/Therm with Oil and $1.68/Therm with Gas (don't think I used the efficiency factor tho)

So it would be cheaper for me to switch to Gas from Oil. Which maybe we will do some day, but a Gas burner is not cheap so we are deferring for now, plus I am happy with the efficiency of the coil vs a separate hot water heater.

Hope this helps.

I researched this myself, but I believe it to be correct. Do your own research before you decide.

Posted by: phripley at April 11, 2008 4:36 PM in response to Oil vs Gas

From my (limited) experience with stripping (paint, not poly; on shutters, not floors) you would need to sand after stripping anyway as the solvent chews up the grain. Our shutters were kind of /fuzzy/ after the chemical stripping process and we had to sand by hand. The stripper (deGamba on 7th Street) told us the wood was fur, a soft wood, results may be different if you have a pine floor, but both are soft.

Also, we have a pine floor that we looked into having refinished because the previous owner had done a shitty job with the sanding + poly. We got only one guy in for an estimate who told us that the floor looked like it had been finished recently and therefore the poly was too "green" for resanding. I believe he was saying that the sander, which creates heat from the friction, would end up /melting/ the poly rather than breaking into dust...

Posted by: phripley at April 28, 2008 7:43 PM in response to How to say goodbye to Polyurethane

In my 4 story, 3 family brownstone water bills are around $275/quarter. We have a small garden in the back which gets watered a couple of months of the year. There are a total of 8 residents taking showers, doing laundry etc.

Probably best to get an quote from an insurance broker for the insurance cost, but we have $1,000,000 in insurance for which we pay around $3,000 per year.

Posted by: phripley at April 30, 2008 9:26 AM in response to need help with some projected costs

Had mine dipped by John deGamba 327 7th St 718-499-5788

We sanded them ourselves to save a buck but it took a looong time.

Don't know if there is anything special required w/ regard to the lead.

Posted by: phripley at April 30, 2008 9:42 PM in response to STRIPPING LEAD PAINT

I bet one of your neighbors would be glad to part with theirs -- my wife hates ours. I had to save it from destruction by growing a wisteria up it (climbed 4 stories in one season) and hanging a hammock on one end.

Posted by: phripley at May 5, 2008 1:10 PM in response to we want a clothesline pole/ladder

You rent a floor sander from Home depot and get 24 grit paper for the drum sander. Buy a lot of it. You should also get 60 grit and 100 grit depending on your floor. Read on line how to sand a floor. Do not try to strip poly off the floor. Rip it with a sander.

Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 7:51 PM in response to How to say goodbye to Polyurethane

7:43 that guy is full of it. I just took off 4 coats of poly on my floor because I screwed up the last coat. The poly was only on the floor for about 2 weeks. The sander does not melt the poly it takes it right off like another layer of wood. That guy does not know what he is talking about.

Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 7:54 PM in response to How to say goodbye to Polyurethane

Alot of times wood floor guys do not want to mess with a floor that will not come out well or is not a new floor. Some guys only want to do new floors so they make up some lame excuse. I have seen this happen numerous times....

Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 7:57 PM in response to How to say goodbye to Polyurethane

I would just hire someone. You'll screw it up if you do it yourself and end up paying someone anyway.

1800WOODFLOORS.COM

They are located in Astoria. I've had them do multiple floors for me after some idiot contractor thought they could save some money and do it themselves and ruined it. Just did a pickled oak floor as a matter of fact. Pickling is a very difficult look to master. Don't do it yourself. It takes alot of patience and talent. The GC did it once and screwed it up. A new guy came in and did half of it right, but they have to redo the stairs.

Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 10:27 PM in response to How to say goodbye to Polyurethane

if you sand off the finish, be sure you sand it ALL off. If the poly remains in the pores of the oak, you will not be able to "pickle" or white-wash effectively.
You may have to scrub the pores with some remover and wire brushes even after sanding, if you want the white to get into the wood pores.

Posted by: guest at April 29, 2008 9:23 AM in response to How to say goodbye to Polyurethane

Hire someone to sand. The sanding is the hardest part, and it is possible to REALLY screw up your floors if they're sanded wrong (against the grain, etc.)

A specialist will come in with a huge machine, sand the poly off in 1 day, and will probably charge about $1.50 a square foot. Done.

Posted by: guest at April 29, 2008 1:21 PM in response to How to say goodbye to Polyurethane

when sanding:

A quick rule of thumb is that if the paper is getting gumed up, your paper is too fine.

i.e.: if you are using 60 grit and is is getting gummed up, switch to 36 grit.

If you are using a drum sander, the key is to keep it moving. start the sander AFTER you start moving, and stop the engine BEFORE you stop moving. I was nervous my first time, but it's not that hard. In another city, there was a rental place that specioalized in flooring only (not a general rental place) and they had a practice area to teach new users. THey would not let you leave with their machines until you were doing it right... (at not cost for the lessons)

Posted by: guest at April 29, 2008 4:14 PM in response to How to say goodbye to Polyurethane

4:14. That is great they had a practice area, people in NY would never do that. Probably keeps their machines working good too. The only thing is you do not start and stop the machine but rather lower and raise the drum. But that is probably what you meant. Anyway I just did my floors and they had gops of paint on them it took like 25 pieces of 24 grit paper to remove all the paint and yes people I had to go against the grain to get it all off. No problem then took 60 grit paper with the grain to take out the sanding marks. Of course the floor lent itself to this kind of abuse because it is the original yellow pine subfloor and it has all sorts of nail holes and variations in the wood. Looks great if you like this kind of look.

Posted by: guest at April 29, 2008 4:24 PM in response to How to say goodbye to Polyurethane

Oh I forgot, you have to get the edger. this is harder work than the drum sander, I ended up using the edger alot to remove some of the paint too cause it spins like a tasmanian devil and can really get down and dirty. You really have to be a man to use this machine, so if in any way you are not or only half a man stay away..

Posted by: guest at April 29, 2008 4:26 PM in response to How to say goodbye to Polyurethane

My, my, I know woman who probably equal two of your "men".

Honestly.

Just say something like: "You have to be pretty strong and over 180 lbs. to handle this kind of edger."

Posted by: guest at April 29, 2008 8:08 PM in response to How to say goodbye to Polyurethane