One of my five-year-old daughter’s favorite YouTube clips involves an elaborately decorated house, whose  thousands of colored Christmas lights were programmed to flicker, strobe, wave,  and blink to the tune of the Trans-Siberian Orchest…

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 136 million tons of construction and demolition waste was generated in 1996, which was the last time these figures were made available, and those numbers have most likely ri…

Managing a cooperative or condominium apartment building in New York would be a piece of cake… if weren’t for all those people. “The bricks and mortar is easy,” says Margie Russell, managing director of the New York Association…

 For building owners and managers in New York, winter weather not only refers to  the white stuff that falls out of the sky—but rather, the white stuff that collects in a building’s lobby.    That’s right—ice and snow can be a build…

The deep freeze of winter will fall on New York again very soon and most New Yorkers are hoping that we don't get pounded as badly by snow and ice this year as we did some years ago. Because of weather’s unpredictability during winter, …

In many ways, a building’s boiler is like the heart is to the body: it provides heat and circulation; it works unseen; and if properly maintained, it will function well for decades without a problem. Maintaining the heat source of the c…

It’s a well-known fact that New Yorkers are tough. But even the bravest Big Apple resident shivers just a little bit when the first signs of winter settle over the city. Winter and the inevitable snow and ice that accompany it take thei…

If you’re a board member, a manager or just a unit owner of a typical New York City-area co-op or condo, chances are you use an elevator every day, except if you live in a “garden apartment” complex in one of the outer boroughs or the s…

As winter approaches, it will soon be time to batten down the hatches so the warm air stays in and the cold air stays out. Keeping indoor air clean is critical to maintaining a healthy environment. The inner workings of a building’s ope…

Q In our parking garage we have access to a bike storage room and an outside bike rack that is next to a resident's handicapped parking spot. Right now the only way to get to the bikes is to "trespass" over the parking spot. Our concern…