Category: Maintenance

 Keeping the trash chutes and collection rooms of multifamily buildings clean,  sanitary and stench-free is a big job, and an important one. Poorly-maintained  chutes are not just gross—they're breeding grounds for pests, bacteria, and oth…

 As any good co-op or condo building administrator knows—either through common sense or painful experience—failing to clean up snow or ice promptly can result in injuries, acrimony, and  expensive lawsuits. Any one of those is reason enoug…

 Blizzards. Ice Storms. Hurricanes. Floods. New Yorkers are used to being  buffeted by Mother Nature. But increasingly, it seems, the impact of such  storms has lingered long after the weather front blows through, with hundreds  or thousan…

 Noise is a key quality-of-life problem for almost anyone living in a  densely-packed urban environment. Many urban dwellers are immune to it as a  result of having lived all their lives in the city—maybe you even grew up next to an elevat…

 Next to fire, perhaps nothing is more damaging to residential buildings and  their occupants' property then leaks. Whether it’s a torrential deluge from the upstairs neighbor’s overflowing bathtub or a slow, seeping leak around the window…

 Given our chilly winters and blistering hot summers, those living in New York  co-ops and condos are keenly aware of the importance of properly working  heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.  That’s why it’s im…

For years, the hospitality industry has been fighting a chemical war against bed bugs. Now, with the growing menace of pesticide-resistant bed bugs and increasing documentation of human injury from harsh chemicals, the question to consi…

 As the winter months fade into spring, it’s easy to try and forget about heating and all the costs it incurs. For  managers, board members and others with an eye on a co-op or condo building’s budgetary bottom line, now may be the perfect…

Walking down the streets of New York City, the zig-zag iron work of fire escapes immediately evoke romantic images of a simpler time, having been immortalized in books, songs and plays from West Side Story to Rent. With some fire escape…

In New York City, urban high-rises with sidewalk frontage and outer-borough HOAs with walking paths, parking lots, and service roads are reliant on their paved surfaces and therefore need to regularly inspect and maintain their concrete…