Plumbing is one of those things we take for granted yet without it, we might as well be back in the Stone Age. With dozens, hundreds and sometimes thousands of people living in individual co-op and condo complexes, the importance of we…
Do you know what your problem is? More importantly, do you know if it’s actually your problem? In the world of condos and co-ops, understanding who is responsible for what in an apartment or in a building’s common areas isn’t always cle…
There are worse places to be than New York City in the winter — Minneapolis, for example, or Anchorage. Thanks to the North Atlantic current, the Big Apple doesn’t tend to freeze as hard as some other northern cities, but it still gets…
“Up On the Roof” is the title of a famous 1960s song by The Drifters about two New York inner-city lovers who go up to the roof just to get away from the “hustling crowd.” There’s a lot of romantic connotation to New York City’s rooft…
After a long winter, gardeners everywhere have much work to do to clean up and prepare for the spring season. Removing winter-kill and old annuals and pruning dead branches promotes clean growing conditions and reduces the opportunity for f…
Major exterior repairs and construction projects are serious business, otherwise they wouldn't be called "major." Too often, though, people tend to hire experienced architects and professional contractors only when they absolutely need to,…
New York City is home to some of the world's best architectureboth ultra-modern and historical. And while newer buildings show off sleek glass-and-steel facades, the hallmark of many of the city's historic buildings is their stonework. Take…
New York City's skyline wouldn't be the same without its rooftop water tanks. The strange-looking structures have graced the cityscape for more than a century, and today, surrounded as many of them are by towering glass skyscrapers, they se…
When someone describes a beautiful building in the city, in all likelihood, they are describing the building's façade—that thin, skin-like layer of brick, mortar and/or decorative stone such as limestone that covers and dresses up the ra…