shalman's Profile

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Author's Posts

September 6, 2007

Chimney Cleaning

Getting ready for winter they say one has to have chimney cleaned. I never did that for my house. Do people recommend that? And if yes, can you recommend a company that does good job?

Thank you

Need to fix Stoop Stairs

Hello,

I need to fix the stoop on my brick townhouse. There are big cracks in the brick that hold the stairs together. Anyone can recommend someone who can fix this problem?

Thank you.

August 31, 2007

Piano Playing Noise Daily from Neighbors

Recently bought an attached brick house and now we are going crazy on a daily basis listening to our neighbors learning how to play piano. The noise level in intolerable and they play right at the time when we come home. We tried to reason with them many many times, asking to move the piano away from the common wall or to play at different times, to no avail. My husband gets soo upset that he called police once and it did not lead to anything. When can we do, our house is turning into a nightmare as we can't even relax after difficult day at work. We are even considering selling. Any advice on how possibly to resolve this situation? The neighbors are very stubborn and are not willing to compromise even a little bit. Any advice will be appreciated.

Thank you!

Do I need Flood Insurance

I have a house in Northern Park Slope, I am wondering if I need flood insurance. I am getting a lot of pitches from insurance companies but not sure how necessary that is. Any thoughts?

Thank you.

August 27, 2007

Pavers for Front Yard

In my front yard, I have too much land and I have no time to deal with the weeds which are growing out of control. Many neighbors put pavers on most of the land and left some spots for decorative easy to maintain plants. I want to do the same. I wonder if this is a good idea and if anyone has someone good to recommend to do the job.

Than you.

Author's Comments

Thank you everyone for your advice. However, I would not have called the police if it was not warranted. First, the people are refusing to do anythiing about it -- although she is a home stay mom and can do the practice during the time when we are not home. When we make several attempts to try and reason with them, their father got very angry and almost violent and prompted to call the police. The paino playing is indeed very loud and it is EVERY day for an hour after we come home. I can't get any rest after work in my own house.

Again, if they could just hear us out and try and smth about it, I don't think I would have been this frustrated. But these people are unapproachable and they don't make any attempt to help the situation. I guess the only thing we can do now is to soundproof the wall. Thank you, CrownGardener for the helpful tip.

Posted by: shalman at August 31, 2007 2:40 PM in response to Piano Playing Noise Daily from Neighbors

I am on Butler between 4th and 5th Avenues.

Posted by: shalman at August 31, 2007 2:42 PM in response to Do I need Flood Insurance

I used this guy, he was very reasonable and great to work with. But you have to make sure you closely supervise just like with anyone else, but he is very agreeable and great to work with. His name is Evan and his number is 646-523-8279. Say Emilia recommended.

Posted by: shalman at September 5, 2007 9:35 AM in response to Help! Painter, Flooring Person Needed ASAP!

Responses to Author's Forum Comments

What matters is elevation. Look about four blocks in the direction to the flood plane. If it looks level then you should try to get flood insurance, if the difference in elevation is 10 feet or more don't worry about flood insurance.

The maps are not very accurate, they can be several feet off in elevation as we learned from the New Orleans disaster. This can mean a great deal on generally level ground and not much if you live on a hill. The maps only chart "once in a 100 year" storms, which really mean, "in the last 100 years flood levels would only have exceeded this level once." Since a rise in global average temperatures of a few degrees would place the Gulf of Mexico in Ohio we don't really know what the next 100 years hold. It depends a lot on how quickly we stop burning coal and driving Suburbans; we've already risen about a degree Fahrenheit which may mean that "once in a hundred years" is "once in 20 years" now.

Posted by: guest at September 4, 2007 12:44 AM in response to Do I need Flood Insurance

I don't know. On one hand, it's only an hour. On the other, I don't doubt that it's really irritating, because anyone learning how to play the piano is repetitive and has little control and the sounds themselves are simple (for learning purposes).

And if it were at the exact time I come home every day, I would probably politely ask, in the context of other things, if the time of practice could be moved up just one hour or so. And nobody knows how the OP approached the situation. There isn't enough information here to judge.

It could very well be that the OP "poisoned the well" over a small issue (it's only an hour and definitely not worth getting worked up over).

It could also be true that the OP politely asked for a concession about the time and was met with an overly defensive response, in which case the piano-mom is the one who's out of bounds.

It is a city, which means that you have to understand that your noise impacts other people. You have to at least try to play along!

I think, of course, that children have the right to play the piano. But if doing it even a half an hour earlier in the day would make the situation more win-win, and if the mom isn't even listening... then who is the asshole there?