The Trash Man

Fingers crossed, the NYC Dept of Sanitation has treated me well so far. I've been taking out 6 "bulk items" each trash pickup night this week. I feel a bit ghetto with my Radio Flyer cart in the hall and hauling it out through the courtyard after 10 PM, but its not like I'm doing anything illegal so who cares!

So far, NYC sanitation picked everything up on Saturday, Tuesday, and hopefully today (I left this morning before they came to my building). Today is the real test though as I didn't take out any bundles of wood, but 6 heavy bags of plaster. I'm going to try and keep this going for a while until they don't pick it up and my building gets angry. Another money saving technique since I have the time. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Where are you living?

A lot of people have been asking me where I've been living while all this is going on. When I tell them in my apartment, they think I'm insane, but we've already established that.

Here are a few pics of my living room/kitchen arrangement at the moment. It's a bit messy, but I thought I'd share anyways.

Bags, Bags & More Bags!

There are 130 bags of plaster + lath sitting in my bedroom right now. After two solid days of work with my Dad, we're not doing anymore. It's unbelievable how dense this stuff is. You can really only put three coal shovel scoops into a bag and it is just managable to pick up. Heavy heavy stuff. I didn't quite demo the whole bedroom, but the little bit left is nothing to fret about and can be done easily later.

I'm a little worried about the structural load of all this on my floor, but that's why I have insurance I guess. I've spread it all out and plan to take some out every other night for the trash pickup. My garbage truck contact is going to come next week and give me an estimate to haul this all away, but I figure it's going to be out of my budget at the moment, so I will probably risk the city sanitation route for now.

This old construction is really interesting to me. The wooden beams look to be in good shape and there are a few spots where there is clearly some water damage, but hopefully the co-op stops dragging their feet and we get started on the roof soon. I find the combination of metal and wood lath in the bathroom oddly fascinating too.


All in all, we worked super hard this weekend. I'm so thankful my Dad came out to lend a helping hand again. I'm not sure what I would have done without him...well, I would have been bagging plaster every night this week is what would have happened.

I'm really tired, so it's off for a relaxing evening.

It's Official, I'm Clinically Insane

I just the day off of work to tear apart my apartment. I've got to be clinically insane. I've made a way bigger mess then I can handle and now I've got to clean it up. The dust is killing me, much worse then knocking down the kitchen/living room wall, likely due to the bigger space I'm working in. I was able to squeek out cleaning the foyer up tonight, but that was more necessity then anything else as I do need to get out and go to the bathroom.

I'm taking Friday off (not for Good Friday) to continue working and clean things up. On the bright side, my Dad called me today and had a change in plans. He is going to come out tomorrow to help me out with this mess. I didn't know how much time this would take me so I didn't call any of my buddies to ask for help this weekend. I'm sure they are all booked with family plans anyways and this is the nasty part of the renovation process. I want to subject as few people as required to this mess if I want any friends in the future.

All in all, I'm sure this will be worth it in the long run. Cracking plaster, 1/8" of paint, no insulation and water damage were all the reasons for this. I'm not insane to try to make this place loads better...am I???

1 Bedroom to Studio

With the work permit obtained, it is time to start thinking seriously about getting some work done. I've spent the day moving everything I own in my closets and bedroom into the living room and kitchen. It's weird going through everything you and cleaning out the closet. You begin to realize how much stuff you don't need and how much stuf has just been sitting there for a rainy day. I threw some things out, but I don't have time to deal with all of it now and it will be a more appropriate and rigorous exercise when I move it all back into the bedroom in a few months...hopefully.

The Jumanji of Work Permits - Finale

The Jumanji of the DOB never fails me. Day 2 in a row was much better then Day 1. Bright and early, I had breakfast with Steve who kindly looked over my paperwork. All good this time and it's time to kick butt and get this permit.

First at the ticket window again, the woman will not give me a ticket. Clearly, she remembers me and what I'm there for. At this point, all the expeditors feel sorry for me and one of them just tells me to give them my folder and he'll file it for me. Great.

That plan quickly fell apart as the woman behind the window suddenly decided she had a the executive decision that I needed insurance for the amount of work I'm doing. "Yes mam, but I have an insurance waiver from the State of NY" Not good enough apparently. She must be bigger then the State.

At this point, I'm furious. The DOB is clearly designed around the business of an expeditor, not the homeonwer. I march into the Borough Commissioner's office, asking to speak to someone about this situation. No one is free (of course).

As I'm waiting, the expeditors I've made friends with are walking by asking "What's going on?" and when I tell them they respond with "Fuck those fucking fucks!" type of lines with best wishes of "good luck kid."

One person who I need to speak to in order to resolve this I recognize. It's the guy who I spoke to on New Year's Eve about what I needed to do to get my plans filed and permits obtained. While I was waiting in the lounge, I caught him walking in the hall and explained the situation. John is his name and he's here to rescue the integrity of the DOB. We head to a window and he grabs a free agent. We go through my paperwork and he agrees to file it for me (apparently the insurance waiver needs approval by someone else). I thank him profusely as I can't stick around since I'm off to work. As I cut a check for him for $35 for the work permits, I see a sign stating "DOB employees cannot accept gifts or gratuities. Thank yous are appreciated" and this makes me feel better because I'm not looking to giving the city any more money.

A few hours later, John called me to tell me everything was squared away. I could now print out my work permit. Success!!!

The Jumanji of Work Permits - Part 2

After a busy week, I'm headed back down to the DOB again to file for my work permit. The early bird gets the worm, and I was there at 7 AM to try and finish this up. Confident and cocky, I didn't show my paperwork to Steve. We rushed into the maze at 8:30 as usual and I was first to the ticket window. I had a bit of trouble getting a ticket as I only have my driver's licence and the expeditors behind me are ticked off, not at me thank goodness. This lady isn't the brightest bulb in the shed so it's super annoying.

Anyhow, I'm first to the window and I proudly present my paperwork. 5 seconds later, it's all handed back to me. They've changed the forms and I haven't done the same. So after all that waiting, I need to go back to the office and fill it all out again and come back another day. I'm glad I have a friend who is a notary in the office, but this is becoming a royal pain.....grrrrrr.....