• Freezers rated before 2004 are not required to meet the current EnergyStar specifications for certification. Any freezer made before 2004 was eliminated.
• Is the freezer listed on the manufacturer’s website (or has the manufacturer been taken over or merged with another company)? In the event of a merger, or the freezer isn’t listed for sale any longer, I removed the freezer from the EnergyStar list.
• Does the freezer offer between 10 Cu/ft and 113 Cu-ft of storage space?
• Has the freezer been reviewed on consumer reports?

Based on the above points, the best choice for me turned out to be the Kenmore 14.8 cu. ft. Chest Freezer Model #16542.

Specifications

There are a large number of sites that review rechargable batteries, however battery chargers don’t seem to get the same attention. ConsumerReports.Org is usually the first stop when researching a product, and while they did have current ratings for batteries, their testers didn’t specify which chargers were used (as of December 2009, the Sanyo Eneloop was the highest rated rechargable).

After a bit of reading, I found that the following items were required in both the charger and batteries:

• Batteries must supply 1.5V. Sanyo released two versions of it’s charger, one that came with the LR03 (1.2V) batteries and a pack that came with the HR03 1.5V batteries. The baby products that we are using require a 1.5V AA battery rating [HR03]. Using 1.2V batteries translates to underpowered devices (reduced “performance” and a shorter time between charges).
• Charger must be able to charge each cell individually. Some chargers only work with pairs of batteries, instead of being able to charge just 1 battery (or, more commonly three batteries).

After reading a number of reviews, we’ve started using the following:

• Sanyo Eneloop 8 Pack AA NiMH Pre-Charged Rechargeable Batteries
• Sanyo Eneloop AAA NiMH Pre-Charged Rechargeable Batteries (4 Pack)

Among the free E-Learning Classes available are:

• First Time Property Buyers
  Topics include:
  * Buying a home with little or no down payment
  * Understanding, establishing & repairing your credit
  * Determining the monthly mortgage payment you can afford
  * Finding the right home for you
  * Identify needed house repairs before you buy
  * Obtaining expert professional advice on price negotiations and contracts
• Landlords Guide to Lead Safety in New York City (can count toward NYARM cert)
  Under Local Law 1 of 2004, passed by the City Council on February 4, 2004, owners of pre-1960 multiple and private dwellings (not owner-occupied) are mandated to identify and correct lead-based paint hazards in dwelling units in which children under the age of seven reside. The law also places certain responsibilities on Owners of post-1960 to pre-1978 buildings in which the owner knows there is lead-based paint Owners must also use lead safe work practices when performing work that involves more than 2 square feetand employ EPA certified workers when performing work that involves more than 100 square feet.
• Bedbug Management
  This class will discuss
  * What are bed bugs?
  * Are bed bugs dangerous?
  * How do you know if your home is infested with bed bugs?
  * How can you get rid of bed bugs safely?
  * Bed bug myths.

The full NYC Housing Preservation and Development class list can be seen here.

This summer I might have the chance to at least do one cool thing I initially saw at each of the last three BuildingsNY conferences — concrete flooring. I had been meaning to properly finish a basement and make it into a truly livable area. However the existing concrete floor was poured with the thought that it was eventually going to be covered in carpet (former owner’s idea, not mine). As a result, the floor needs not only cosmetic improvements but also some additional functionality built in.

Dreaming of features before the first estimate comes in typically results in grandiose wish lists like the one that follows:

• Overlay a levelled concrete floor over the existing concrete floor
• Pitch the new floor towards an existing french drain (just in case)
• Introduce concrete baseboard molding
• Refinish concrete stairs leading down to the basement

and of course, the wallet buster:

• Rremove existing baseboard heating (basement only) and
• Determine feasability and installation of a radiant heading system

So far, I’ve sent the following details to:

1. Acid Stain Flooring (http://acidstainflooring.com)
2. Extremem Concrete Design (as seen at BuilingsNYC) (http://extremeconcretedesign.com)
3. The Concrete Impressionist (http://concreteimpressionist.com)

Core project summary:

Overlay a finished concrete floor over an existing concrete basement floor. The space consists of two main rooms and one hallway (no dividing walls):

• Room 1 dimensions: 18′10″ (w) by 15′6″ (l)
• Room 2 dimensions: 17′8″ (w) by 9′2″ (l)
• Hallway dimensions (connecting the two rooms): 8′1″ (w) by 7′6″ (l)

Additional Factors/Possible Extras:

• Baseboard heating near the floor
• French drain installed near the front of the basement
• Would like to determine feasibility of concrete baseboard molding
• Finished floor would be pitched slightly toward a french drain
• Concrete stairs leading down to the basement from inside the house are uneven (depth between individual stairs and the length of each individual stair). I would like to know if this is something that could be corrected.
• Extra: Implementing a radiant heating system with a finished concrete floor.

Please reply to this email with any questions or possible appointment dates, or I can be contacted at… [insert contact info]

Contact Updates (8/6/2009):

• The Concrete Impressionist: Visiting their showroom with additional room dimensions.
• Extreme Concrete Design: Sent the details above twice and called twice, no response on the email, no callbacks from the voicemail.
• Acid Stain Flooring: Sent the email twice called once, no response.

Experience thus far: I’m considering using tile instead of using finished concrete as a backup to the finished concrete floor. I’m not certain why, but in the New York City metro area there don’t seem to be too many companies offering this type of flooring.

Why use a no ozone or Ion air purifier? A fairly extensive U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report titled “Ozone Generators that are Sold as Air Cleaners” delves into the details of what Ozone is, how Ozone is harmful and  potential health effects of ozone.

In addition to the EPA, the California Environmental Protection Agency: Air Resources Board has recognized the potential harm ozone/ion based air purifiers and set up a certification process for indoor air cleaning devices. Two different classifications are used: Mechanical (which use physical filtration and do not generate ozone) and “Other” (devices that produce ozone concentrations of less than 0.050 parts per million)

I went with a reconditioned BlueAir 501R (refurbished) for high traffic areas and an AirFree Onix 3000 for the finished basement. For now, the table of “Finalists” is below:

The products in the list above have been narrowed down from the following lists:
EnergyStar Room Air Cleaners for Consumers
Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM)
CADR
California Certified Air Cleaning Devices

* Note that the difference between the 501/503 and the 601/603 are that the 03 models have a digital display.

The molded wood versions seemed like a better fit, partially because the idea of dumping additional plastic into a landfill is unappealing, but also because of the look and feel of the material.

The downside to these Bemis toilet seats is that the finish lasted only lasted three years.

Each seat looked to have very small chips of the finish/paint missing.

• both seats were cleaned regularly with “green” cleaning supplies (such as Simple Green or Mrs. Meyer’s);
• both seats were installed in master bathrooms;

As of this post, toilet seats are made by the following companies:

• American Standard (www.americanstandard-us.com)
• Bemis (www.bemisseats.com)
• Church Seats (www.churchseats.com)
• Kohler (www.us.kohler.com)
• Toto Ltd. (www.totousa.com)

Instead of picking up the nicest looking molded wooden seat that Home Depot had to offer, I did a bit more research. I found that certain seats had slow-close hinges that prevented the seat from slamming down when closed.

Requirements:

1. Material: Wood or molded wood
2. Hinges: Metal
3. Shape: Round
4. Color: White
5. Feature 1: Slow close hinges
6. Feature 2: Anti-bacterial/mold finish

Manufacturer Results:

• American Standard:
  One seat, the Traditional Champion 4 Toilet Seat 5265.295 met all of the requirements, however very few distributors carry the seat.
• Bemis:
  The Bemis 544BRCP and 544CH each met all requirements, Except none of these models offered Slow-Close Hinges.
• Church Seats:
  Church Seats model 540CP only lacked the slow-close hinges. While they do advertise easy-close hingest on their site an easy way of ordering them does not seem to exist.
• Kohler:
  Kohler’s molded wood models K-4695 Ridgewood, K-4648 Stonewood lacked metal slow close hinges.
  The K-4639 Cachet Quiet-Close toilet seat did offer slow-close hinges, however the entire seat was made of plastic.
  The Triko molded toilet seat- K-4726-T integrated hardwood fibers (eh, close enough) with metal hinges, but did not offer the Quiet-Close functionality.
• Toto Ltd.:
  Toto’s offerings consist mainly of seats with integrated bidets, however the SoftClose Toilet Seat met all requirements except for it’s made of plastic and lacks metal hinges.

Resulting Purchase:

The American Standard Traditional Champion 4 Toilet Seat 5265.295 from National Builders Supply.

Also available from eFaucets

• Cracks and/or bubbling of roof membrane
• Signs of ponding or stagnant water on roof
• Parapet walls for damage or cracks
• Capstone joints for separation or cracks in the seams
• Flashing for tears, loose parts or disfigured sections
• Roof ladders are secured and not loose
• Drains!
• Boilers should be water tested
• check for winter wearing on building facade
• window lintels, expansion joints and bricks
• sidewalks for cracks/heaving due to winter

Summer Maintenance

• Check all outdoor lighting
• Flush hot water heaters
• Downspouts, gutters  and splash guards

Fall Maintenance:

• same checks as spring
• have boilers readied to be brought back online

Winter Maintenance:

• Check heating system for proper operation
• Check downspouts, gutters and splash guards
• Order ice melt

The solution — called Mr. Handyman of N.E. Queens for the following project:

Project: Stripping, Re-sealing and Painting Second Floor Terrace Railings

General details:

• Scrape existing loose paint off the railings;
• Remove any remaining paint (mild soap/water);
• Apply supplied primer;
• Apply supplied paint;
• Remove any resulting debris.

Materials:

• M.A.B. Sea Shore Satin Paint [white, exterior, semi-gloss] – rated #1 by Consumer Reports in a Nine (yes, 9) year test.
• M.A.B. Sea Shore Primer

Resources and References:

• Consumer Reports Recommended exterior paints: www.consumerreports.org
• M.A.B. Paints (now owned by the Sherwin-Williams Company)
  11-33 50th Avenue
  Long Island City, NY 11101
  (718) 392-7680
  Worked with Jamel (Operations Mgr)

“Before” Project Completion Photos:

“After” Project Completion Photos:

[To Come]

Task #1: Removing rust spots and repainting iron gate and fence.

Task #2: Sanding, re-sealing and painting the second floor deck railings.

After reviewing the “Painters – External” category on Angies list, I wasn’t able to find a company with more than one review. Then I remembered that I had used Mr. Handyman for some work in the past. A quick check on their website verified that they do paint and handle fences.

The inevitable supersizing of the project happened, only this time just as I was reading through the list (and typing this up) I started thinking of some of the other projects I’ve been meaning to get to, such as:

• Ignore the somewhat destabilized back fence until it actually falls over
• Install and run wires for a T.V. antenna to all apartments

Think this post is going to end here, until I call and receive the first estimate. =P

The rough aproximation of additional space required is about 2x to 3x the current freezer capacity of 4.1 cu/ft.

Stop #1: EnergyStar.org

According to EnergyStar.gov’s Refrigerators & Freezers page, EnergyStar qualified freezer models use 20% less energy than required by current federal standards. After downloading and sorting the Product List excel sheet only a few chest freezer units in the 10-12.9 cu/ft made the cut and not all of them had a recent “Active Date”.

Step #2: Brand Website (to see if they still support the listed unit)

So far, I’ve only been able to find the following models available and current:

Whilpool/W.C. Wood EH101*
http://www.wcwood.com/cgi-bin/displayproduct.pl?option=feature&model=EH101FXR

W.C. Wood (Woods) C1011*
http://www.wcwood.com/cgi-bin/ListModel.pl?loc=usa&prod=chest&model=C1011W3

Frigidaire GLFC1326F
http://www.frigidaire.com/products/freezers/chest_freezers/large/prod_GLFC1326F.asp

Kenmore 16342 and 16352 (both appear to be the same unit)
http://www.kenmore.com/shc/s/p_10154_12604_04616342000P?keyword=16342
http://www.kenmore.com/shc/s/p_10154_12604_04616352000P?keyword=16352

While the EnergyStar list is a good starting place, for some reason not all appliance manufacturers are listed.

Haier, for example has a 10.6 Cu/Ft unit that supposedly uses only 212 Kilwatt hours per year (less than every single one in the above table).

Haier HMCM106EA
http://www.haieramerica.com/en/product/HMCM106EA/specs

Step #3: Locate Retailers

I’m guessing that due to the weight and nature online (e-)retailers are reluctant to carry such a large item. I’ve started checking local stores.

Step #4: Enjoy the Additional Storage

I’ll update this post when I get here =)