Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Join the Conversation!

Over the past week -- largely due to flyers posted on the bulletin boards, and discussion at yesterday's Quality of Life meeting -- there has a been a flurry of new members and postings at the University Towers Yahoo Group.

Yes, you will have to join Yahoo to post and view the boards, but it's very worth it.

As I'm able, I'll review and link the threads which contain noteworthy stuff. In particular, here is a lively discussion about the use and purpose of the group, as well as some good suggestions to improve life at UT, such as a roof deck, and emergency notification procedures.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

NEWS: Risers, Repairs and Quality of Life Meeting

Stellmar turned on the gas in my apartment this past Saturday morning around 11am. There was considerable banging before then -- starting at 8am -- apparently because further repairs had to be done in other apartments.

One of the plumbers told me that someone had renovated a G-Line kitchen above me without properly isolating the riser. They had, in fact, put a screw into riser itself! (Or so he said).

I'm a bit shocked that this didn't cause a problem sooner, but I didn't see the damage, for all I know the pipe was only dented or grazed -- but the damage was enough for the riser to lose pressure.

On the E line, they told me that there were several leaks found on the lower floors, and that lengths of riser piping had to be replaced, but I don't have confirmation of this.

Anyway. I am told that they are now plastering up the holes in our walls.

Amusingly, Lisa in the Management office called yesterday asking, "if [I] wanted that hole closed in [my] apartment." (Um. Nah, I just love having a huge hole in my bedroom wall.)

Incidentally, I understand that I am the only resident who ended up having a hole smashed all the way through the kitchen wall. If anyone else has had a similar misfortune, please let me know....

So, as you can imagine, I wanted very much to go to the Quality of Life meeting tonight, but I have not been able to rearrange my work schedule.

I asked Management and a few Board members to have minutes done, but I would greatly appreciate any notes that anyone is able to take.

Thanks!!!

Thursday, October 4, 2007

NEWS: Status of Repair to Risers in E and G Lines in 122

Hooray! There is joy in Mudville!!

Pursuant to my conversation with Mike Urena this afternoon, the leak sites in both risers have been isolated.

On the E line, the leak is between the Lobby and the 2nd Floor. Unfortunately, the resident in 2G was not available today, so Stellmar still does not know if the leak is in the riser pipe or the Tee joint connecting it to the branch pipe. (See previous entry for details and a cute little diagram.)

On the G line, the leak was found in the Tee joint at the 9th Floor. They performed a second "soap test" where they increased the pressure a few pounds above the standard 3.5lbs.

So the joint, itself, will be replaced, but the riser will be left alone. Which means no one's kitchen will be ripped up.

The plumbers will begin work in 9G tomorrow morning at 8am. From there, they will proceed to the 16th, 15th and 14th Floors and reconnect the branch pipes. They will proceed down to connect the remaining levels.

This will be noisy work, so be prepared.

With luck, the system will be fully reconnected by Friday night, which should allow the gas feed to each apartment to be restored during the weekend.

I'll keep you posted on any news regarding the E line. And if you know something I don't, please feel free to comment.

Happy Thursday!

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

NEWS: "Soap Test," Subdivision and Rotten Risers: Update on Gas Service to 122

Following up on the most recent update, the H line passed the integrity test yesterday, and to my knowledge gas service has been restored to those apartments.

As of Monday morning, there were a few remaining apartments in the G and E lines where branch pipes were not removed from the risers.

As a sidenote -- although our co-op rules stipulate that construction noise can't begin earlier than 8:30am, the plumbers have been beginning almost exactly at 8am.

Although Management has improved in sending notice to residents about this situation, they have not reliably notified us about what to expect regarding noise and access to apartments.

As it happens, removing the pipe is a fairly noisy process which takes nearly a half-hour -- which came as a huge surprise to me on Tuesday morning, as I had worked past 3am the night before.

And, per Marv's comment, Management was not only unavailable as of 10am that morning; they were completely unaware of the plumbers' actions.

I spoke to Mike Urena later that day, and he assured me that better notice would be given. I haven't seen any signs posted about the hours plumbers will work, but he tells me that he is providing information by calling residents personally.

So by Tuesday afternoon, all units' branch pipes had been removed and the risers in both the E and G apartments were tested. And both failed.

Before condemning the risers, which would force their replacement, Management and Stellmar wanted to perform a "soap test."

As previously described, the test involves filling the risers with 3.5 lbs of air pressure and holding for an hour. If the pressure drops, there is a leak either in the riser or branch pipes -- but there may also be a leak in the "Tee" joint which connects the branch to the riser.

So Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, the plumbers pressurized the risers and put a soapy film around the Tee joint in each apartment. The soap would reveal any leaks around the joint.

Unfortunately, it didn't.

So now we have to deal with the removal and replacement of a portion of the riser.

Although the plumbers had told me earlier this week that the entire riser might have to be replaced, Mike Urena and Stellmar have come up with a way to minimize disruption.

Since, most likely, only a portion of each riser has gone bad, it should be possible to isolate those portions by dividing and further subdividing the risers.

Today, Stellmar sealed off the G riser at the 8th floor and pressurized the upper and lower half of the riser. The lower half passed the test; the upper half did not.

Tomorrow, they are sealing off the G riser at the 12th floor and are again going to pressurize the upper and lower halves of the pipe separately. This will tell us if the leak is between the 8th and 12th floors, or the 12th and 16th floors.

And they will continue dividing the pipe until they are able to isolate the rotten pipe to a single level or two.

Needless to say, replacing the pipe at that level will be a horrible process for the units involved, but at least most other residents will be spared.

I don't know the exact status of the E line, but I believe that things are progressing similarly there.

The below notice was placed on E line doors:

************
Wednesday - 10/3/07

Gas service to the E line has not been restored. We did successfully access all apartments requiring inspections.

Regrettably we must now begin the next phase of exploration.

This next phase involves subdividing the line and testing to determine initially if the leak exists between the lobby and the 8th floor or between the 8th floor and the 16th floor.

As soon as we discover which half of the building has the leak, we will proceed to subdivide once more and then conclude to determine the precise location of the leaking section of pipe.

It is our aim to complete this phase of exploration by tomorrow evening so that pipe replacement can occur afterwards.

Monday, October 1, 2007

NEWS/OPINION: Status of Gas Service to 122; Testing to E, G and H Lines; Destruction in Apartments

The Facts

As noted in yesterday's entry, gas has been restored to all of the apartment lines in 122 except for the E, G and H units.

I spoke at length with several of the plumbers of Stellmar Plumbing & Mechanical Corp., which is the outfit University Towers has retained to service our building. I do not know if we have an ongoing contract with them, but I understand that they have frequently serviced our co-op.

To recap some of Saturday's entry, TimeWarner ruptured the main gas line to 122 early Thursday morning. As a result, gas service to the building was stopped.

According to Stellmar, once a building becomes de-pressurized, the entire system must be tested and pass inspection before service can be restored.

Each apartment line has a dedicated pipe called a "riser," which must be tested individually.

I'm going to use the word "riser" to refer to this special pipe, which runs the length of the building. At each apartment level, a riser has a branch pipe which connects it to the apartment's stove.

Basically, they test the riser and branch pipes by pressurizing the system (like inflating a tire, I figure). If the pressure holds (i.e. stays inflated) for the test duration, then all is well. If the pressure goes down, then there's a leak.

Now, before the test could be done, all of the valves leading to the stoves had to be replaced with newer valves which are better able to withstand pressure than the old ones, which might leak. That was the reason they had to go into our apartments on Friday.

Ten of the lines passed; three failed.

Sadly for me, my apartment is on one of the risers that failed. So I got another visit this afternoon -- this time to remove the pipe leading from the riser to the stove and fully seal the riser.

This had to be done to rule out the possibility of a leak in the pipe to the stove. Hopefully, it will turn out that the riser itself is intact, and there was only a leak in someone's pipe.

If there is a leak in the riser itself, the entire riser -- yes all fifteen stories of it -- will have to be removed. And I can only imagine the hell that will wreak on us.

And speaking of the hell this has created in our lives, I would now like to talk about...


The Feelings

Since I retrieved my key from Management, and will not return it until they come up with a system of accountability when accessing our apartments, I arranged to be home this afternoon when the gentlemen from Stellmar came to visit.

They explained that, in order to remove and cap the pipe leading from the riser, they would have to cut a hole in the wall behind the stove -- not the most desirable situation, but necessary.

After banging away for 15 minutes, one said that I should check the room on the other side of the wall -- my bedroom!!

I asked why, and he said he had to go through the wall. I ran into the bedroom, where I had "safely" stashed my cats so they wouldn't be underfoot, or exposed to dust and plaster fragments.

And what do I find less than three inches from a very expensive, irreplaceable dresser? A HUGE hole in my wall! A 10" x 18" space had been smashed through, scuffing up the base of my floor lamp and leaving a ton of debris on the carpet.

I nearly broke down in tears.

Interesting, that until that point, they had been very cavalier about doing this damage. I asked them, repeatedly, why they didn't tell me before they started hammering that they might go through the wall??

The plumber who had done the damage seemed to feel very bad about this, but he couldn't really give me an answer beyond that it was something that had to be done.

He showed me how the pipe was angled directly into the plasterboard of my bedroom wall, so the only way to dig it out was to go through.

OK. Fine. But still why didn't they tell me this could happen? I would have moved or protected my furniture -- and certainly my cats!!

Finally, one plumber, told me that they "usually don't say anything" because they try not to go through.

If this is their company policy, it is completely unacceptable. Notice should always be given regarding any damage that might occur during a repair procedure.

Fortunately, because I was present, they we're very diligent about cleaning up the mess and covering the hole, more or less (duct-taped with my own Hefty kitchen bags!), but that doesn't change the fact that I have a hole in my bedroom wall!

Drafts blow the bag in and out, and I have to wonder, if it is windy, will it hold?!?

Others, I have learned, have been less fortunate. The kitchen of one woman on the E line was similarly damaged when she wasn't home. I am told that a mess was left, but this is just hearsay, so any confirmation or denial would be welcome.

The kitchen of another resident in G was left in disarray, with the plaster chips dumped in his own private garbage.

The plumbers themselves told me that, for certain kitchen configurations, the entire sink and cabinet unit must be pulled away from the wall.

So please, please, heed this warning if they have not worked on your apartment already: Do not let them work in your absence.

Technically, the plumbers seem to be very skilled and competent but, for the sake of nicety, I'll say they are somewhat inept house guests.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

NEWS: Status of Gas Service/Hot Water in 122

The following sign was posted in the lobby and common areas Saturday afternoon or evening (I saw it around 7:30pm. Can anyone comment on the time the signs were actually posted?).

*******
Saturday 9/29/07
4:30pm

THANKS TO OUR PLUMBERS AND BUILDING STAFF, KEYSPAN APPROVED SERVICE TO A, B, C, D, F, J, K, L, M, N LINES.

RECONNECTING STOVES WILL TAKE PLACE ALL DAY TOMORROW.

We ask that residents be home or arrange to have someone stay home. you may also leave your keys with the superintendent.

Plumbers will start reconnecting tomorrow at 8AM.

You can leave the key tonight by calling security to arrange for the super to pick up your keys.

We wish to thank residents, building staff and plumbers for their cooperation and effort to resolve this matter in short order.

********
Unfortunately, my line is not one of the lucky ones. Residents in E, G and H apartments received this notice on our doors:

********
Saturday 9/29/07
4:30pm

REGRETTABLY YOUR LINE FAILED TO PASS THE INTEGRITY TEST.

IF NOT DONE SO ALREADY ACCESS WILL BE REQUIRED TO OPEN THE WALL AND CAP THE RISER IN THE WALL TO RE-PERFORM THE PRESSURE TEST ON MONDAY 10/1. KEYSPAN WILL THEN BE RECALLED TO WITNESS THE SUCCESS OF THE INTEGRITY TEST.

We ask that residents be home or have someone stay home ON MONDAY 10/1. You may also leave your keys with the superintendent ON MONDAY MORNING.

You can leave the key SUNDAY NIGHT by calling security to arrange for the super to pick up your keys.

Plumbers will start reconnecting tomorrow at 8AM.

PLEASE FORGIVE THE INCONVENIENCE.

******
So there are a few things that don't make sense here.

Residents in "failed lines" are asked to stay home on Monday, but then it says that "plumbers will start reconnecting tomorrow at 8am." So will they be knocking on our doors tomorrow or Monday?

And then there's the "we ask that residents be home or arrange to have someone to stay home" thing... Um, isn't someone who "stays home" by definition a resident? Yes, I know what they mean, but it's just more illiterate writing from Management. Sigh.

Friday, September 28, 2007

NEWS: Status of Ruptured Gas Line at 122, and Management's Access to Apartments

As most of you probably know by now, TimeWarner ruptured the gas line to 122 Thursday morning (remember the jackhammers at 8:30am?). Coincidentally, the water had been shut off for the notorious Tank Cleaning (see previous post), so we didn't notice that our hot water disappeared because there was no gas to heat the water in the boiler room.

To fix this situation, all stoves in the building needed to be turned off -- regardless of whether the resident was present.

This aspect of the situation is what bothers me most: I have allowed Management to retain my apartment keys since I moved here, for the sake of convenience and necessity -- in case I locked myself out (which I did once), or in the case of an emergency.

Now, anything involving gas certainly qualifies as an emergency, and I don't mind that they had to go into my apartment without my being there (well, I do really, really mind that because I had done laundry the night before, so my living room was decorated with my line-dry underwear!). But the thing that bothers me is that they didn't leave any kind of notice that this had been done!!

I think Management should have some kind of form notifying residents of any apartment access. It should include the reason for the access, the name(s) of the repair person(s), the time and duration of the visit, and possibly the rooms accessed. This form should be filled out and left in in the apartment.

Please let me know your opinion about this -- if you think it's a good idea, and/or whether more or less information should be requested. Or do you recommend not leaving your key with Management at all (I have since retrieved mine).

I spoke to Mike Urena early this afternoon and he explained the situation regarding how and why the gas had to be turned off and the procedure for turning it back on. (He prefaced it, as one might expect, with, "Well, you might not understand this, but I'll explain it anyway since you asked." (?!?!?!)).

First of all, every stove in the building had to be turned off before any work could be done. And since each apartment line has its own gas feed, all units in that line had to be treated as a whole before each step of the work could progress.

Once the gas was off, all of the fixtures leading to the stove had to replaced with new ones. (The plumber explained that to me). This was to ensure that, once the gas was turned back on, the fixtures could handle the pressure of the restored flow. With the fixtures in place, the gas can be turned back on.

Now, since each apartment line is treated as a whole, everyone in a given line must be turned off and have the fixtures replaced before gas for the entire line can be restored.

So this would be a good reason to let Management have your key, as many of us may wait a long time for our stoves to work if others in our line don't cooperate.

On the other hand, I still say they should let us know what they're doing and when they're doing it.

That being said, and for the sake of record keeping, here is the most recent sign posted in 122 (with spelling/grammar corrections -- sorry I couldn't help myself):

*******
9/28/07
Gas Service Interruption Update

Plumbers were able to access all apartments to prepare for testing Saturday 9/29.

Once the main line is tested and passed by KeySpan hot water and dryer service will be available. This could occur by midday.

122 Residents' swipe cards will allow access to 191 for laundry service. After the main line is prepared for KeySpan's inspection, individual apartment lines will subsequently be prepared as well. KeySpan is prepared to come several times throughout the weekend to inspect apartment lines.

Once apartment lines are approved by KeySpan, the plumbers will provide a notice under doors advising you to call security to arrange to have plumbers re-enter your apartment to reconnect your stove in the proper manner.

You will again have the option to leave the key by calling security to arrange the super to pick up your keys.

Thank you for your cooperation and your forbearance in this matter.

The property manager will be available in the morning to assure that all proceeds as planned.
***********

Thursday, September 27, 2007

OPINION: Tank Cleaning in 122?!? A Discussion of Timely Notification and Other Quality-of-Life Issues.

OK, things need to be cleaned -- like me, at 10am this morning, standing in the shower watching the last tepid drops trickle down the drain.

I have no problem with maintenance, and I have no problem with inconvenience as long as you let me know in advance!

I called Management (718-522-0320) and spoke to one of Mr. Urena's assitants who assured me that "signs had been posted in the elevators and on the floors since Tuesday."

Am I blind? Did I not see these ubiquitous notices? No, after a few calls to other neighbors, I learned that, in fact, they only started posting them yesterday afternoon -- when I and most others were at work.

And I, like many others, returned late and didn't see the sign purported to be posted at the elevator -- not because I was bleary-eyed from work, but because after hours there is usually an elevator sitting in the lobby. And, being tired, I walked right in, only glancing around enough to see the familiar "new package room key" and "fall schedule" signs. I didn't notice any other signs.

Now, granted, Management has gotten a lot better about notifying residents about construction, maintenance and other Quality of Life issues. But they have a long, long way to go.

Please feel free to post any and all comments about either today's tank cleaning, or any other notification issues -- good or bad -- about work being done in your environment.

Thanks!!