Building lobbies and hallways are high-traffic areas, prone to tracked-in dirt and street grime, scuffs from shoes, luggage, and equipment, slush and salt in the winter, and in dog-friendly buildings, the occasional indiscretion committed b…
The tragic partial collapse and subsequent demolition of the Champlain Towers South Condominium in Surfside, Florida this past June revealed some gaping holes in the structures, governance, and oversight of the country’s multifamily buildin…
In light of the catastrophic, deadly condo building collapse in Surfside, Florida last month, boards and residents in multifamily buildings across the country are taking a hard look at how their own properties measure up to the structural m…
Cities reshape and reinvent themselves regularly and organically. Old buildings become obsolete for a variety of reasons, and new buildings replace them. Many a four- or five-story tenement has been knocked down to make way for a shiny, new…
Leaks are a common problem in multifamily buildings, including co-ops and condominiums. It’s not unusual to see watermarks and dampness on plaster near or below interior widows, but since such infiltration usually stems from an issue on the…
As we know, climate change has far-ranging effects on everything from polar ice caps to coastal shorelines to expanding deserts around the world. The steadily warming planet also affects man-made structures, including the buildings we live …
Even though the world has been contending with COVID-19 and its consequences for nine months and counting, the routines and practices we’ve adopted to prevent its spread and minimize personal risk of infection are still evolving. With new d…
The Greenpoint Post reports that the New York City Council passed a bill on September 16 requiring the Department of Buildings (DOB) to study the safety and feasibility of using aerial drones for building facade inspections. Under th…
Now that the official ‘pause’ on construction has been lifted, more and more construction projects stopped by the onset of the pandemic will be starting - or finishing up. Possibly complicating this shift is the fact that there is a new rou…
Whether in a single-family home or an apartment building, every homeowner has experienced that moment: he or she turns on the kitchen light in the middle of the night to see a huge water bug scurry across the counter, or hear the sound of t…