PROBLEM SOLVED

Sometimes the smallest parts can play an outsized role in reducing your building’s energy consumption. If you’ve got radiators, look no further than the steam trap or the oddly named orifice plate to see how these components, with a bit of diligence and care, can really deliver significant savings to your building’s energy usage. Habitat’s Carol Ott interviews Spencer Kraus, Vice President of Fred Smith Plumbing, to learn the ins and outs of the dynamic role these small parts can play.

Apartment lobbies come in all sizes and shapes, but one thing most have in common are mailboxes. Jonathan Baron of Jonathan Baron Interiors shares how he modernized this vital area for one co-op, including the addition of a package storage cabinet. New postal code requirements for mailbox size and package storage lockers framed the redesign. Habitat’s Paula Chin interviews Jonathan Baron.

Hiring building staff can be a daunting exercise, particularly if it’s a key position such as a super or resident manager. One large Manhattan co-op faced this task head on when it fired its resident manager and turned to Spark Super, a third-party staffing company, for a temporary placement. James Park, Managing Director of Spark Super, shares the challenges such a significant hire brings, and how it can be met. Habitat’s Emily Myers conducts the interview.

Using wireless technology to monitor conditions in your building is the gold standard of catching leaks and other dangers. In this episode Jerry Kestenbaum, founder of Aware Buildings, explains how it can be successfully done at a price point that makes sense. The side benefit to these systems is its significant impact on your building’s insurance loss record – catch a leak before it does damage and you can avoid filing insurance claims for the repairs. Habitat’s Carol Ott conducts the interview.

Retrofitting a building’s elevator is one challenge, but equally important are its aesthetics. Louis Lipson, a principal at Ethelind Coblin Architects, unpacks the story of a 1910 co-op that was upgrading its elevators to meet current building codes, but had historical elevator doors that were integral to their ambience. In this interview, conducted by Habitat’s Paula Chin, he explains how the two challenges were met.

Many apartment buildings with terracotta details are beautiful to look at, but with beauty comes expense if the material needs repair. Dane Barnes P.E, partner at Joseph K. Blum, was hired to do a façade inspection at a prominent Fifth Avenue co-op and found multiple cracks on the terracotta cornice. Small cracks often signify dangerous conditions underneath. “When we see these kinds of conditions our heart sinks because we know we’re going to have to give bad news to the board.” In this episode of Problem Solved, Habitat editor Paula Chin interviews Dane Barnes to learn how the bad news was delivered, what materials were proposed for the fix, how the project passed all the regulatory hurdles, the project cost and the final outcome.

Some people own multi-million-dollar apartments, others on a more modest scale, but doing laundry in a communal laundry room is one activity that levels the playing field. That makes the choice of a laundry room vendor crucial to providing a space that meets the needs of the community while at the same time a much-needed revenue source.  In this episode Habitat Magazine's Carol Ott speaks to Automatic Industries president Denise Savino about user-friendly solutions for diverse demographics, laundry room legalities, technology, different types of laundry room contracts and the timing sequence of searching for a new vendor or negotiating with your current one.

Around 1500 buildings in New York City use Con Ed steam for heating and cooling, and many are considering moving to electricity to reduce their carbon emissions. If your building has a distribution system that uses the same pipes for heating and cooling, like the Beekman Hill co-op discussed in this episode, there are steps to take and timing issues to consider. Habitat Magazine's Carol Ott speaks to Controlled Combustion president Michael Bendjouya about what those are.

Thanks for listening. Subscribe to this podcast for more stories on how New York co-ops and condos have solved a myriad of problems. Brought to you by Habitat Magazine, the "bible" that hundreds of board directors turn to every day!

It's not uncommon for condos with commercial space to find the owner of that space isn't contributing adequately to the shared expenses of the building. The board then finds itself doing assessments for residential owners while the commercial owner's monthly payments stay flat. The question is, how to get out of this situation without discord or a lawsuit? Avi Zanjirian, CPA and partner at Czarnowski & Beer shares how a 15-unit condo-op on Manhattan's West 3rd Street accomplished this. Habitat Magazine's Emily Myers interviews Avi Zanjirian.

Thanks for listening. Subscribe to this podcast for more stories on how New York co-ops and condos have solved a myriad of problems. Brought to you by Habitat Magazine, the "bible" that hundreds of board directors turn to every day!

Apartment buildings that are heated and cooled by centralized systems are prime candidates for technology that can monitor and adjust all the controls needed to power the systems. In this episode, Habitat’s Emily Myers talks with  Robert Post, senior sales engineer at Parity, to learn how a Harlem co-op embraced this technology to lower their energy costs by monitoring and tweaking motor speeds, temperature settings and pressure set points.