Category: Maintenance

Of all the modern conveniences we take for granted, perhaps none is as profoundly basic—and indispensable—as indoor plumbing. Carrying fresh water into our homes and taking waste water away, the pipes in our condo or co-op buildings are th…

The rarely stated—but all too well understood—Murphy’s Law for Boilers—asserts that if your boiler quits working, it will do so on Christmas or New Year’s Eve, or at 4:45 p.m. on the coldest day of the year. With some planning, though, tha…

From the outside, the structure of a condo or co-op building may appear to be monolithic; just one big piece of brick and steel, punctuated with some glass here and there. That's an oversimplification, however. A multifamily building is pe…

Cleaner skies, healthier lives and a shinier Big Apple are some of what the much-talked-about changeover from No. 6 and No. 4 fuel oil is intended to accomplish. Under New York City's “Clean Heat” mandate (part of former Mayor Michae…

One of the defining architectural parts of a New York City building are its windows—whether it’s an ornate decorative window, one designed for energy savings or a large window that envelopes the side of a structure. In a co-op or con…

It was January 1977 when the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) first identified and isolated a previously unknown strain of bacteria found breeding in the cooling tower of a hotel air conditioning system. The bacteria, subsequently named L…

Pests are a part of life. Wherever there are people, vermin of one kind or another are sure to follow. This is particularly true in an ultra-dense urban environment like New York City, where our rodents and cockroaches are practically lege…

Everyone wants to live in a clean building—that's a given. Back in the day, a bucket, mop and a bottle of bleach or ammonia were pretty much all that a superintendent needed when it came to cleaning entry halls, stairwells and other reside…

In terms of wear and tear on buildings, winter is the harshest season of the year. Snow accumulation and ice damming on roofs can be a major headache, pipes freezing and bursting could spell disaster, and just about any accumulation of wat…

After the devastating winter the New York metro area just experienced, summer couldn’t come soon enough for many of Gotham’s co-op and condo residents. But don’t be surprised when people start forgetting about the cold and start complainin…