your landlord is nuts not to hire an exterminator. i would tell your LL you will hire an exterminator and take the cost of your next rent, see how that flies. of course, my ultimate advice is to get a cat, the mice will skedaddle fast, whether or not the cat is a 'mouser.' they smell the cat and survival instinct sends them back down to the neighbors'!

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at October 30, 2009 12:45 PM in response to Mice in Bed-Stuy

I used Rich and i thought his report was incredibly thorough, I'm not sure what more he could have done. And even if he is endorsed by brokers, i gotta say the portrait he painted of the house wasn't exactly glowing. he pointed out every little flaw and possible flaw, gave an indication of when various items may need to be replaced (roof, stairs), just gave a very rigorous rundown on everything.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at October 14, 2009 11:12 AM in response to Richard Perri Inspector Rec?

yes, my first thought was to check the radiators to make sure they're working properly, usually it would be hotter upstairs if everything is functioning properly. you could install the thermostat in the tenant's apartment and put a clear locking box on it. this would measure their heat more accurately and let the tenants know you're keeping the heat at the right levels. obviously you would want a programmable thermostat so you're not always barging in. but ultimately you'll probably want dual zones like MP said.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at October 14, 2009 11:08 AM in response to Temperature in Tenant's Apt.

i'd rather have my taxes go to this over something more 'public' like AY. i love those little streets between atlantic and herkimer, they're like architectural tide pools :) too bad atlantic ave is so crumby there.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at September 18, 2009 12:33 PM in response to LPC Makes It Official at Alice & Agate Courts

i built such a room in my cellar, cost about $1300. my solution may not work in every case but i don't think it's impossible to create something that will muffle most of a band's noise without breaking the bank. my room is on the cellar's cement slab floor with a decoupled ceiling and inner walls, double layers of drywall with Green Glue between them. I used hat channel and 'sound clips' to decouple the ceiling. soundproofing.org has them, tho their site really sucks.

i say get as far down in the ground as you can, remember that mass (ie heavy brick wall) can muffle sound but also transmit it (esp bass) so do what you can to layer the walls with air pockets. the wider variety of barriers you have, the more the sound will get dampened. Don't expect to have a completely silent room, mine sure isn't but my girlfriend reports she can still watch tv one floor above us when we practice.

i don't know why zberlin is so down on the idea, even if the band 'fails' there are many reasons someone might want a soundproof room (recording studio, illegal night club, torture chamber ...)

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at September 14, 2009 12:06 PM in response to Soundproofing Cost

ha that is awesome, bet the LL never figured you would question things so much! they probably thought you would be a pushover since you paid that initial overcharge on the rent. have you informed the LL you have retained an attorney and discovered the illegality? i'm not saying you should blackmail them, but it would probably be cheaper for the LL to return your deposit plus overcharges than get caught for incorrect C of O.

and honestly, your lease ran out mid-august; your responsbilyt ends there. the 60 days notice thing is clearly for terminating the lease early. your LL is either a simp or thinks you are, don't let them get away with it.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at September 11, 2009 11:21 AM in response to Lease Notice & Termination

what is the process when an owner dies? obviously the city, nor any other group, would want to take on the burden of repairs. but with the owner dead, and assuming there's no mortgage and no next of kin, who gets the house? should we institute those 'squatter's rights' laws like they have in europe? :)

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at September 11, 2009 11:06 AM in response to No Water for Two Months in Bed-Stuy Building

but the campus will still be open to civilians who just want to pass through, so checking IDs at the gates won't work; as long as they don't 'loiter' once inside they're okay right?

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at September 11, 2009 11:04 AM in response to Pratt: Not In Our Front Yard

my only worry would be that the guy may not really know what he's doing, given his second-opinionating and low low prices. have you ever tried to live with a ceiling fan that's not balanced properly? it will drive you insane.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at August 25, 2009 12:16 PM in response to ceiling fan installation

I dub thee Crapalot

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at August 4, 2009 4:29 PM in response to Development Watch: 330 Clifton Fugly, As Expected

a friend of mine got a $250 rent reduction, it is happening, although that's the only instance I personally heard. but damn! that's a lotta dough. the OP's LL is playing with fire in this market by not trying harder to keep tenants.

i would look further in crown hts and suurounding areas. your family is frail but i'm not sure what that means in terms of where you live. find place near mass transit.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at July 31, 2009 11:55 AM in response to No Rent Reduction: Stay or Go?

The Empty Cages Collective does amazing feral cat TNR work, assuming that's what we're talking about. If you're looking for someone to take remove the cats, that's not what they do. But if you're down for it, they may be able to help. And frankly if you have money to donate that can be a very persuasive factor :) emptycagescollective (at) gmail . com

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at July 6, 2009 10:32 AM in response to Feral Cats—Help!

actually it's NY mag who tags these artists as hailing from bushwick, and even then they mention Greenpoint and Gowanus as well. and what's with taking a few quotes from an article that has very little to do with some imagined bushwick-vs-manhattan shouting match and making it the focus? fish in a barrel. you can do better than that!

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at June 10, 2009 1:21 PM in response to No Love for Manhattan from Bushwick Artists

i'm glad he switched, now we all see what Ratner really thinks of brooklyn. i assume this was always part of the plan.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at June 9, 2009 11:40 AM in response to Ouroussoff, Tell Us How You Really Feel

have pity, angry swearing young people have the hardest time enjoying themselves. you see it takes until well after 5am for them to unwind!

one party won't kill anybody, come back when they start doing it every night.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at June 8, 2009 12:34 PM in response to Noise Until 5:30am

cute house, what the deal with this style? are there other houses like this around? I would love to see what it looked like originally.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at June 3, 2009 1:35 PM in response to House of the Day: 240 Dean Street

i'm all for anything that makes tooling around in a car more of a pain in the ass in this town, i don't really think it matters if more pedestrians show up. however i will point out that down in the financial district they keep a bunch of street closed to car traffic during the day and it is fairly conducive to attracting foot traffic.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at May 28, 2009 1:29 PM in response to Summer Streets Coming to Vanderbilt, Bedford Aves

would everybody be happier if Checkers opened up here?

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at May 20, 2009 10:50 AM in response to LPC Sends Arby's Back to the Prep Station

it seems kinda disingenuous to trumpet one boro, only to jump ship when the price is right elsewhere, but ultimately I'm glad if people can move where they want to. it's no secret that people champion their neighborhood as a way of mitigating their insecurity over it, so at least this exodus (if there really is one) will shake out some people who apparently never really wanted to live here (brooklyn) in the first place. bon voyage! i don't know why people go to manhattan at all (except to work!)

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at May 11, 2009 9:48 AM in response to Brooklynites Jumping Ship to Manhattan?

oh, and who said they don't have milkshakes? they gottem on the menu on their web site. although it may be debatable how much milk is actually involved.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at May 7, 2009 3:16 PM in response to Streetlevel: Checkers Signage Goes Up

isn't checkers and sonic owned by the same company? nary a difference!

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at May 7, 2009 2:48 PM in response to Streetlevel: Checkers Signage Goes Up

forgive me for not bothering to look it up, but i thought they raised the ceiling on conforming loans a while ago?

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at May 4, 2009 9:51 AM in response to Despite Low Interest Rates, Few Refinancings in New York

nice pet family, love that cat's coat!

now that they're banning pits and other big dogs from the projects, i suspect the local shelters will see a big influx. sucks.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at April 29, 2009 12:28 PM in response to "More Problems w/ Pits" Rebuttal

why did the cops even bother to turn out if they can't do anything? didn't they know they were reporting to the scene of dog-on-cat crime? that strikes me as odd.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at April 28, 2009 11:28 AM in response to More Problems with Pit Bulls — And Their Owners

mopar, i was thinking the same thing! it's cute that the OP cares enough to ask, but can you imagine the looks on the faces of our neighbors if somebody said to them "did you ask your neighbors if it was okay to grill out here?" :D

it's way easier to ask forgiveness than seek permission right? life is too short to sit around and worry about theoretical worrywarts who are grimly sitting indoors on a nice day, looking for something to whine about (and yes, sometimes it annoys me too).

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at April 27, 2009 1:26 PM in response to Front yard grilling etiquette

it's hard to reign in sharply percussive sounds but soundproofing can really help. i built a room-within-a-room in my cellar, it keeps the drum noise down fairly well. if you build walls inside of walls, with trapped air space in between you can significantly cut the amount of sound that gets through.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at April 27, 2009 1:22 PM in response to Serious soundproofing

mopar, are you saying the narrow cow moat is actually called a "ha-ha"? i'm putting one in just for the name.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at April 27, 2009 12:29 PM in response to Layers of History in Bedford Stuyvesant

great article! i've been in that house a few times, they've done amazing work on it over the years, that's so great they've found such treasures inside it.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at April 27, 2009 11:21 AM in response to Layers of History in Bedford Stuyvesant

Checkers must be making a major push into town, there's one opening on my corner in south bushwick.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at April 7, 2009 11:03 AM in response to Checkers Checking Into 111 Court Street?

isn't there a daycare center right next to broken angel? anyway, this reminds me, is the storefront across the street still vacant? it's been empty foreva.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at April 3, 2009 2:38 PM in response to Streetlevel: Day Care Coming to 156 Gates Avenue

this is very much in bushwick, tho it's on the far southern side. bushwickbk.com posted on it:

http://bushwickbk.com/2009/02/18/bushwick-house-of-the-week-151-cooper/

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at March 30, 2009 12:17 PM in response to Check Oout This One

i don't think i post less often directly because of the regular posters, but it's an interesting thought. if you feel intimidated by the Usuals to the point you won't post something you would otherwise, I gotta assume it really wasn't worth posting in the first place.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at March 27, 2009 11:53 AM in response to Let's Talk About Commenting

wine lover, can i hazard the guess that you don't live in bed stuy? sadly, that may be your answer right there.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at March 23, 2009 4:01 PM in response to Overheard in Twitterland

actually brooklyn already made its way around the batting order is now the new brooklyn again

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at March 16, 2009 11:29 AM in response to Where Is The New Brooklyn?

there's a pigeon coop supply store near me, the first time i walked into to find a circle of old italian guys hanging out. one saw me and started saying (facetiously i assume), "hey, hey check it out, FBI guy. FBI!" chuckles all around. no one is trying to shut them down (though maybe they should, I think they've been trapping pigeons and selling them to fancy restaurants!)

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at March 13, 2009 2:03 PM in response to When a Candy Store Isn't a Candy Store

mopar, i know housing code is different for 1-2 family than it is for 3 and above, but other than that i don't think there would be any differences. man this house is like twice the size of mine, sheesh!

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at March 11, 2009 2:59 PM in response to House of the Day: 1182 Bushwick Avenue

are there still poor people in ft greene? i mean besides the walt whitman houses.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at March 9, 2009 12:15 PM in response to The Times Wraps Its Arms Around Fort Greene

Arthur LOVES to go to court. he's had to do it many a time in the past and has won most of his cases. watch out!

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at March 3, 2009 11:17 AM in response to Latest Chapter in Broken Angel Saga

if you can trap them (squirrel traps are $20 at home depot), you should release them right outside your house. assuming the guy can patch the holes adequately they won't get back in. it can be deadly to just relocate an animal to unfamiliar location. i know it's just a squirrel but it'll do fine (and be less hassle) to just let it go in your yard or such.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at March 3, 2009 10:28 AM in response to squirrels in the ceiling

you already pay PITI: Principal, Interest, Taxes, Insurance. These property tax notices are mostly of interest for the wildly varied logic applied to your market value :)

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at February 27, 2009 11:51 AM in response to newbie owner question

yeah but what do you do when it rains? who can you blame for that? there is no way a lil flowerbed is going to make a difference here. does your basement leak now? look at it this way, if your cellar walls have issues, you will probably end up destroying the flowerbed when they dig around the foundation. problem solved!

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at February 27, 2009 11:48 AM in response to property ends at the sidewall

so is there a form of benefits that provides people with money to buy wigs and cellphones? i don't know of any such program.

i do most of my clothes shopping at fulton mall, get the rest at C21 or Daffys. i don't know what the big deal is, recession or not, this is a big city, there's always gonna be people available to cruise up and down the mall.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at February 27, 2009 11:30 AM in response to Fulton Mall Appears To Be Bucking Retail Downturn

oh, i am so opening a SY synagogue next to my house.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at February 24, 2009 11:59 AM in response to Last Week's Biggest Sales

so in other locations, are the city assessments dead-on? i'm annoyed because my assessments went up, inching ever-closer to what i actually paid for the place. what else do we have if we don't feel like we're getting over on the taxman?

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at February 3, 2009 11:04 AM in response to S#!t Outta Luck: Values Down, Taxes Up

mopar, don't blow it for us bushwick people! i'd rather keep the good aspects a secret and keep out the wusses! anyway, this part of bushwick has little to do with the arty lofty part on the other end of the neighborhood.

as for the house, i'm mildly excited to hear about relatively affordable properties out there. it's the people with less money who usually have the necessary gumption to fix a place up. rich folks want everything on a silver platter, let em have it. we might actually see some real estate parity finally.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at January 16, 2009 11:21 AM in response to Is It Bottom-Feeding Time Yet?

thanks mopar! we should build a list of the best hardware stores for hard-to-find items. it's so true, only these small, old-timey places seem to know what to keep in stock for our ancient, crumbly houses. but i had gone to a couple small hardware stores and they didn't have these drain basket thing so i started getting paranoid!

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at January 13, 2009 11:46 AM in response to sink strainer basket 2-1/2" size

MP, i saw a bunch of different names for it, including bar sink, but also "junior" and such. i went down to the store (okay it wasn't that big a hike) and (sorry, I didn't get the guy's name!) he showed me a variety of small drain baskets. i picked a basic model and installed it no problem! i got a few other supplies and hooked everything up; it all works perfectly. this pretty much makes this store awesome in my book. i am so glad to have my kitchen sink back! thanks, Garber guy!

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at January 12, 2009 9:39 PM in response to sink strainer basket 2-1/2" size

ding! it looks like Garber has it, i just wish it was on my way home :)

i was actually just there the other day, if only i'd known!

thanks shelterlifealex! the rest o you have 45 minutes to find me a similar store on the lexington line; otherwise i gotta schlep all the way to the west side ...

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at January 12, 2009 4:15 PM in response to sink strainer basket 2-1/2" size

ding! it looks like Garber has it, i just wish it was on my way home :)

i was actually just there the other day, if only i'd known!

thanks shelterlifealex! the rest o you have 45 minutes to find me a similar store on the lexington line; otherwise i gotta schlep all the way to the west side ...

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at January 12, 2009 4:15 PM in response to sink strainer basket 2-1/2" size

thanks, Fire Alarm, that does make a lot more sense!

the OPs friend does have one very valid point: it often seems livery cab drivers determine their price arbitrarily depending on mood. that uncertainty complicates the tip-giving.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at January 12, 2009 12:57 PM in response to Car service tipping

bb gun, flashlight, thermos of coffee, and a bottle of scotch.

Posted by: northsloperenter at October 30, 2009 2:11 PM in response to Mice in Bed-Stuy

And my two cents... I'd MUCH rather live with an army of mice than a stoopid cat. :-)

Posted by: tybur6 at October 30, 2009 2:13 PM in response to Mice in Bed-Stuy

The exterminator I use for rentals guarantees his work so I think he's worth it. What he does is safe for babies & pets. Empire - 718 237 0989

Posted by: Arkady at October 30, 2009 2:14 PM in response to Mice in Bed-Stuy

the biggest problem with the glue traps is uou feel bad stomping on the mouse to put him out of his misery (they are actually cute looking) and worse, you can't reuse the trap like a spring trap.

I've heard lots of good things about the ZAPPER.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at October 30, 2009 2:15 PM in response to Mice in Bed-Stuy

I wholeheatedly second the ratzapper idea. In my experience, exterminators don't do too much and they are a waste money. You can go and buy the same posion yourself for much cheaper. I've used the ratzapper and it really works (without the mess of the snap traps).

Posted by: MaconStreetMan at October 30, 2009 2:18 PM in response to Mice in Bed-Stuy

I am deathly afraid of mice/rats/whatever.. I would def say if an exterminator would put your mind at ease then you should tell your ll that you would like one. you never know. beyond what you are doing already there isn't much else until the contruction stops.

Posted by: scarter at October 30, 2009 2:18 PM in response to Mice in Bed-Stuy

tybur6,

I just read your post to my cat, Max. He says you deserve mice :-)

Posted by: Bob Marvin at October 30, 2009 2:19 PM in response to Mice in Bed-Stuy

Likewise have had success with the ratzapper and snap traps. Plugging holes with steel wool CAN work, but you have to be totally thorough (brownstones are just porous) and keep in mind the hidden places mice can come up (e.g., thorugh the gaps around pipes and gas lines to your stove, etc.). I have never had an exterminator do any good against mice nor heard of anyone having success with an exterminator.

Posted by: basementalist at October 30, 2009 2:27 PM in response to Mice in Bed-Stuy

I had a similar problem

bags of dirty cat litter near recently plugged up holes works very well.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at October 30, 2009 2:47 PM in response to Mice in Bed-Stuy

Mmmm, bags of dirty cat litter.

Posted by: mopar at October 30, 2009 3:46 PM in response to Mice in Bed-Stuy