i may not be able to complain about the electricity soon. some chinese electricians are stalking the hallways and when i inquired we were able to come to an agreement in broken english that "new line" was in the offing. i just hope it doesnt come with a rent hike. unfortunately ill have no one to blame but myself. well, thats not true. its certainly the cajoling of the landlord across the street thats making it happen and he is responding to my eyerolling comments about the paucity of power, but i explicitly said we were fine with it if it meant the rent stayed as is. so ill be pissed at him for meddling and at myself for not keeping my big mouth shut. it probably wont happen but i wont be shocked if it does.
i may have to apologize again if im wrong but this landlord is too much, or actually too little. in an effort to make this power upgrade as cheap as possible he has basically said to hell with aesthetics and run the power lines outside the walls in the hallways. as uglifying as that may be i was generally ok with it as i dont have to look at it much until i realized that that would extend inside the apartments as well. he isnt uniting the new powerlines with the old outlets as far as i can tell; they are installing new outlets outside the walls! so all the metal piping will be exposed. as i said, be careful what you wish for if your good fairy is a cheap jew.
raw round metal conduit ? is it at least along the baseboard?
yes, raw round metal conduit. i have yet to see where and how they are affixed. maybe at least they will inset the sockets? i dont know.
outside my door. those lines above the door are comin' in. so that will mean a hole above the door for starters.
why is it impossible to post this without the auto-paragraph around the text? even if i erase it it comes back. i finally got bill on board. dont make me look like a hypocrite! more of a hypocrite.
think of it as ART
i do. most art is shit too.
Curators from Documenta would love this.
did he pull a permit and post in his window ?
yes
now that im thinking about it. he is not replacing the lines just adding more to augment. one of the electricians when i asked said theyre installing about 8 new outlets.
ugh. up early and nauseous thinking about the apt being butchered today to say nothing of the tumult and unwelcome guests. i expect no subtlety in their craft and gaping holes as a result that will require more badgering to redress and that will ultimately be patched no less poorly in no due course. fucking clusterfuck awaits.
take pictures and post them. get out the vacuum cleaner and follow them around the house.
so it begins. they may be electricians but they are clueless about minimizing the impact of the conduits. maybe its because they normally go inside the walls or maybe they just dont give a shit. correct me if im wrong but i think id rather have the conduits running just above the baseboard and the outlets nearer the floor than have them run along the ceiling and then down? then they wanted to put outlets dead center under the window sills which are moulded wood rather than a 18" to the right on unassuming stretches of wall between the window and the corner of the room. first step is a circuit box connected to the wiring above the front door. as ugly as those are at least its going in the anteroom just beside the entrance where it is least visible.
start buying some new electric appliances to celebrate your new connectivity.
im just looking forward to making toast and heating up water at the same time. or not unplugging my fridge every time i use the phototherapy unit only to forget to plug it back in for three hours.
this should put all that in the past. have they completed other apartments w patched holes so you can get a sense of their level of finish?
there is no finish. i have no idea if he thought past the electricians but they are not doing it. there are holes in the floor in the hallway that chewed up the 100 year old tile without much regard. just the little bit of piping theyve run looks awful. i want to take a shovel to both landlords, one for being a busybody and the other for being cheap.
Maybe paint to match the walls would help a tiny bit?
thats basically all i can do.
Or you could embrace the look at go fire engine red to really call attention to them. Maybe get a Pompidou thing going?
prime the metal then paint the metal white rattle can spray paint. latex white won't stick to raw metal with out a dozen coats. patch the holes. paint the patch multiple times.
thats a great idea Jim! red yellow blue.
just to demonstrate how questionable is their judgment. i have cheap shelving in the kitchen of the sort in the picture that abuts a wall. rather than suggest i move it so they can run the conduit down a corner they were going to pipe around the front edge of it.
rest of the day spent fretting that i havent got enough new outlets. the second they were gone their failings were obvious but while they were working i just didnt want to hover and get in the way. not my money, etc. the kitchen will be well covered but despite putting a junction box in the bathroom they didnt run an outlet from it. i made it plain that it was needed so maybe its forthcoming. also, the ran a line around the baseboard of 1/2 the bedroom but they only put in one outlet when im sure we settled on two.. then they put two outlets in living room but managed not to put either of them where i told them to. but mostly ive been trying to decide if they should run a line across those window sill boxes beneath the window so i can get power in the small closety room where i have the lightbox. seems like a waste to not get more coverage but then its more conduits blighting a room that i managed to keep mostly hidden. and if i defile that sight line should i do it on the other side of the apt aswell so i can get an outlet on the underserved side of the dining room? really on high anxiety all day long with this indecisiveness. also, found out probably wasnt my kvetching at all that got us the power but an insurance company demanding it for coverage. good thing i didnt take it out on the landlord across the street.
they could go through the interior wall (tv) room to (lightbox ) room. back to back outlets. good luck. its all for the best.
decisions done. landlord only paid for 8 outlets. they would have worked with me but that made it easier to say fuck it. and now i can go back to being aggrieved when there isnt a convenient outlet. they are actually giving me 9 1/2 by running power to the existing outlet in the bathroom that doesnt work.
are they done? i like the idea of painting it all a different color, not white. free art!
so its mostly done except for the mess around the circuit box although i wont have power til everyone is ready to be hooked up next week. did not ask them to move the awkwardly placed outlets which of course i regret. no sane person would have put one where they did, but they offered to convert the useless bathroom outlet to a switch for the overhead light and i didnt want to push it. would have taken all of 15 minutes prior to them running the lines through the conduits but i had already abdicated responsibility so now i have to live with it. on the plus side they did put a new outlet in the bathroom. on the downside the most usefully placed outlet in the kitchen and the most obtrusively ugly is a 220 line for an electric stove should i want one which i dont. so my next quest/question is is there a simple adapter for the 220 box to convert it to 110v> and, if so, link please. the other mixed bag is the single plug outlets near two windows ostensibly for air conditioners. hardly a tragedy but somehow seems like a defeat.
it looks like this. maybe its not 220v.
its all weird to me. code tells you how many feet apart the outlets should be, not what the landlord is willing to pay for. a city building inspector will come through to sign off on the permitted work. if its not code they will make him change it. (unless they still do side deals, wink wink.) but i don't know anything. thats just my general impression on how these things work. good luck.
i was prepping my upstairs neighbors but they were less concerned with the conduits running up by the ceiling than i was. i went up to check their progress at lunch and i could see why. there ceiling is already falling apart in numerous places. i guess prior to redoing the roof about five years ago they had numerous leaks. theres chunks hanging down and large water stains. really kind of a wreck but theyve made their peace with it. also their couch is falling apart and is hella dirty. she is just patching it up with bits of fabric at this point. i suggested a slipcover but she suggested i mind my own business.
they patch any holes yet?
i have little faith in any holes being patched. theres only a couple that are egregious in my apt and theyre in the entryway which is mostly hidden.
unfortunately power has not been turned on yet. my neighbors thought it would happen yesterday but electricians were a no show. part of the problem is that the second floor neighbors have gone awol and arent responding to assumedly the calls from the landlord or electrician despite posting their phone numbers on the door for said purpose. so that is holding up completion of the project though the power could be turned on regardless.
on a personal note had a surprise visit from the landlord to inspect the work. caught me a little off guard but fortunately he is single minded and was focused on the work and not me. as per usual with nothing to complain about he invented something, in this case, the pull cord in the bathroom. suddenly not having a working light switch in there after 40 years was a grave oversight and somehow the electricians fault. i could have mentioned that the bedroom was the same way and the fixture no longer worked at all, but i was anxious to get him out of the apt and upstairs where he could yell at the neighbors for not putting an outlet near a bank of windows for a possible air conditioner. the reason apparently is that my neighbor is becoming increasingly nutty about "health concerns" and didnt want an outlet by the bed because of the electromagnetic radiation. i doubt that explanation would have passed muster so they just offered to pay to have one installed if that was a necessary precondition for the insurance company.
|
i may not be able to complain about the electricity soon. some chinese electricians are stalking the hallways and when i inquired we were able to come to an agreement in broken english that "new line" was in the offing. i just hope it doesnt come with a rent hike. unfortunately ill have no one to blame but myself. well, thats not true. its certainly the cajoling of the landlord across the street thats making it happen and he is responding to my eyerolling comments about the paucity of power, but i explicitly said we were fine with it if it meant the rent stayed as is. so ill be pissed at him for meddling and at myself for not keeping my big mouth shut. it probably wont happen but i wont be shocked if it does.
- dave 2-24-2016 2:18 pm
i may have to apologize again if im wrong but this landlord is too much, or actually too little. in an effort to make this power upgrade as cheap as possible he has basically said to hell with aesthetics and run the power lines outside the walls in the hallways. as uglifying as that may be i was generally ok with it as i dont have to look at it much until i realized that that would extend inside the apartments as well. he isnt uniting the new powerlines with the old outlets as far as i can tell; they are installing new outlets outside the walls! so all the metal piping will be exposed. as i said, be careful what you wish for if your good fairy is a cheap jew.
- dave 3-01-2016 11:24 am [add a comment]
raw round metal conduit ? is it at least along the baseboard?
- bill 3-01-2016 11:50 am [add a comment]
yes, raw round metal conduit. i have yet to see where and how they are affixed. maybe at least they will inset the sockets? i dont know.
- dave 3-01-2016 12:38 pm [add a comment]
outside my door. those lines above the door are comin' in. so that will mean a hole above the door for starters.
- dave 3-01-2016 12:58 pm [add a comment]
why is it impossible to post this without the auto-paragraph around the text? even if i erase it it comes back. i finally got bill on board. dont make me look like a hypocrite! more of a hypocrite.
- dave 3-01-2016 1:22 pm [add a comment]
think of it as ART
- Skinny 3-01-2016 2:53 pm [add a comment]
i do. most art is shit too.
- dave 3-01-2016 3:33 pm [add a comment]
Curators from Documenta would love this.
- L.M. 3-09-2016 10:45 am [add a comment]
did he pull a permit and post in his window ?
- bill 3-01-2016 11:53 am [add a comment]
yes
- dave 3-01-2016 12:39 pm [add a comment]
now that im thinking about it. he is not replacing the lines just adding more to augment. one of the electricians when i asked said theyre installing about 8 new outlets.
- dave 3-01-2016 1:26 pm [add a comment]
ugh. up early and nauseous thinking about the apt being butchered today to say nothing of the tumult and unwelcome guests. i expect no subtlety in their craft and gaping holes as a result that will require more badgering to redress and that will ultimately be patched no less poorly in no due course. fucking clusterfuck awaits.
- dave 3-02-2016 7:05 am [add a comment]
take pictures and post them. get out the vacuum cleaner and follow them around the house.
- bill 3-02-2016 8:03 am [add a comment]
so it begins. they may be electricians but they are clueless about minimizing the impact of the conduits. maybe its because they normally go inside the walls or maybe they just dont give a shit. correct me if im wrong but i think id rather have the conduits running just above the baseboard and the outlets nearer the floor than have them run along the ceiling and then down?
then they wanted to put outlets dead center under the window sills which are moulded wood rather than a 18" to the right on unassuming stretches of wall between the window and the corner of the room.
first step is a circuit box connected to the wiring above the front door. as ugly as those are at least its going in the anteroom just beside the entrance where it is least visible.
- dave 3-02-2016 10:41 am [add a comment]
start buying some new electric appliances to celebrate your new connectivity.
- bill 3-02-2016 10:45 am [add a comment]
im just looking forward to making toast and heating up water at the same time. or not unplugging my fridge every time i use the phototherapy unit only to forget to plug it back in for three hours.
- dave 3-02-2016 10:56 am [add a comment]
this should put all that in the past. have they completed other apartments w patched holes so you can get a sense of their level of finish?
- bill 3-02-2016 11:46 am [add a comment]
there is no finish. i have no idea if he thought past the electricians but they are not doing it. there are holes in the floor in the hallway that chewed up the 100 year old tile without much regard. just the little bit of piping theyve run looks awful. i want to take a shovel to both landlords, one for being a busybody and the other for being cheap.
- dave 3-02-2016 12:39 pm [add a comment]
Maybe paint to match the walls would help a tiny bit?
- jim 3-02-2016 1:21 pm [add a comment]
thats basically all i can do.
- dave 3-02-2016 1:28 pm [add a comment]
Or you could embrace the look at go fire engine red to really call attention to them. Maybe get a Pompidou thing going?
- jim 3-02-2016 2:44 pm [add a comment]
prime the metal then paint the metal white rattle can spray paint. latex white won't stick to raw metal with out a dozen coats. patch the holes. paint the patch multiple times.
- bill 3-02-2016 2:44 pm [add a comment]
thats a great idea Jim! red yellow blue.
- bill 3-02-2016 2:44 pm [add a comment]
just to demonstrate how questionable is their judgment. i have cheap shelving in the kitchen of the sort in the picture that abuts a wall. rather than suggest i move it so they can run the conduit down a corner they were going to pipe around the front edge of it.
- dave 3-02-2016 10:51 am [add a comment]
rest of the day spent fretting that i havent got enough new outlets. the second they were gone their failings were obvious but while they were working i just didnt want to hover and get in the way. not my money, etc.
the kitchen will be well covered but despite putting a junction box in the bathroom they didnt run an outlet from it. i made it plain that it was needed so maybe its forthcoming. also, the ran a line around the baseboard of 1/2 the bedroom but they only put in one outlet when im sure we settled on two.. then they put two outlets in living room but managed not to put either of them where i told them to.
but mostly ive been trying to decide if they should run a line across those window sill boxes beneath the window so i can get power in the small closety room where i have the lightbox. seems like a waste to not get more coverage but then its more conduits blighting a room that i managed to keep mostly hidden. and if i defile that sight line should i do it on the other side of the apt aswell so i can get an outlet on the underserved side of the dining room? really on high anxiety all day long with this indecisiveness.
also, found out probably wasnt my kvetching at all that got us the power but an insurance company demanding it for coverage. good thing i didnt take it out on the landlord across the street.
- dave 3-02-2016 11:23 pm [add a comment]
they could go through the interior wall (tv) room to (lightbox ) room. back to back outlets. good luck. its all for the best.
- bill 3-03-2016 9:13 am [add a comment]
decisions done. landlord only paid for 8 outlets. they would have worked with me but that made it easier to say fuck it. and now i can go back to being aggrieved when there isnt a convenient outlet. they are actually giving me 9 1/2 by running power to the existing outlet in the bathroom that doesnt work.
- dave 3-03-2016 9:44 am [add a comment]
are they done? i like the idea of painting it all a different color, not white. free art!
- linda 3-03-2016 5:28 pm [add a comment]
come on by and bring your art. ill supply the paint.
- dave 3-03-2016 5:41 pm [add a comment]
so its mostly done except for the mess around the circuit box although i wont have power til everyone is ready to be hooked up next week. did not ask them to move the awkwardly placed outlets which of course i regret. no sane person would have put one where they did, but they offered to convert the useless bathroom outlet to a switch for the overhead light and i didnt want to push it. would have taken all of 15 minutes prior to them running the lines through the conduits but i had already abdicated responsibility so now i have to live with it.
on the plus side they did put a new outlet in the bathroom. on the downside the most usefully placed outlet in the kitchen and the most obtrusively ugly is a 220 line for an electric stove should i want one which i dont. so my next quest/question is is there a simple adapter for the 220 box to convert it to 110v> and, if so, link please.
the other mixed bag is the single plug outlets near two windows ostensibly for air conditioners. hardly a tragedy but somehow seems like a defeat.
- dave 3-03-2016 5:56 pm [add a comment]
it looks like this. maybe its not 220v.
- dave 3-03-2016 6:02 pm [add a comment]
i don't think there is such an adaptor. narrow electric stoves are cheep yo.
- bill 3-04-2016 9:29 am [add a comment]
something to consider. was worried about losing counterspace but 20" would fit in next to fridge as you enter kitchen. have to decide if its worth $500+ at this point or would a second induction top suffice.
- dave 3-04-2016 11:28 am [add a comment]
$400 - $500 / check Gringer for special deal floor model otherwise, might be more expensive than big box, but close. and check on delivery charges. 20" electric is not too heavy w one other guy. it would fit in a hatchback also or get curbside delivery and then carry up stairs. they charge by floor. white 20" avanti brand is cheapest entry level stove but everything you would need. you can also use a cutting board on top of a cold stove.
- bill 3-04-2016 11:43 am [add a comment]
But won't you have to have us over for dinner if you get a stove?
- jim 3-04-2016 5:04 pm [add a comment]
AJ Madison Had the best prices when we needed stove + fridges, ask for their best price and they may come down even lower. Will charge for getting up to 3rd? Floor. Think they are in Brooklyn, floor model good option.
- mb 3-06-2016 9:43 am [add a comment]
its all weird to me. code tells you how many feet apart the outlets should be, not what the landlord is willing to pay for. a city building inspector will come through to sign off on the permitted work. if its not code they will make him change it. (unless they still do side deals, wink wink.) but i don't know anything. thats just my general impression on how these things work. good luck.
- bill 3-04-2016 9:26 am [add a comment]
i was prepping my upstairs neighbors but they were less concerned with the conduits running up by the ceiling than i was. i went up to check their progress at lunch and i could see why. there ceiling is already falling apart in numerous places. i guess prior to redoing the roof about five years ago they had numerous leaks. theres chunks hanging down and large water stains. really kind of a wreck but theyve made their peace with it.
also their couch is falling apart and is hella dirty. she is just patching it up with bits of fabric at this point. i suggested a slipcover but she suggested i mind my own business.
- dave 3-04-2016 4:24 pm [add a comment]
they patch any holes yet?
- bill 3-10-2016 9:00 am [add a comment]
i have little faith in any holes being patched. theres only a couple that are egregious in my apt and theyre in the entryway which is mostly hidden.
unfortunately power has not been turned on yet. my neighbors thought it would happen yesterday but electricians were a no show. part of the problem is that the second floor neighbors have gone awol and arent responding to assumedly the calls from the landlord or electrician despite posting their phone numbers on the door for said purpose. so that is holding up completion of the project though the power could be turned on regardless.
on a personal note had a surprise visit from the landlord to inspect the work. caught me a little off guard but fortunately he is single minded and was focused on the work and not me. as per usual with nothing to complain about he invented something, in this case, the pull cord in the bathroom. suddenly not having a working light switch in there after 40 years was a grave oversight and somehow the electricians fault. i could have mentioned that the bedroom was the same way and the fixture no longer worked at all, but i was anxious to get him out of the apt and upstairs where he could yell at the neighbors for not putting an outlet near a bank of windows for a possible air conditioner. the reason apparently is that my neighbor is becoming increasingly nutty about "health concerns" and didnt want an outlet by the bed because of the electromagnetic radiation. i doubt that explanation would have passed muster so they just offered to pay to have one installed if that was a necessary precondition for the insurance company.
- dave 3-10-2016 9:49 am [add a comment]