2011 November
2011 November Vol. 9 No. 11
Focus on...Building Maintenance
Close Encounters with Wildlife
Winter is coming, and they’re looking for a cozy place to hunker down, stay warm and dry, and maybe raise a
family. And like relatives stopping in for a vacation, they’re cute at first, but more than likely will overstay their welcome.
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Breathing Easy
When you live in a multifamily building with possibly hundreds of people
residing under one roof, cooking, cleaning, dusting, and breathing, it’s no surprise that the airways, chutes, and garbage rooms can get clogged and
dirty over time, potentially leading to some serious problems.
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Up to Code
Every resident living in a building with more than two stories understands the
convenience an elevator affords. While antiquated forms of the modern elevator
date back to Ancient Rome, the first passenger hydraulic elevator was installed
in New York City in 1857. Since then there have been many updates in the
industry.
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Draffted Ice Dams
It’s a very special formula, says Ralph Noblin of the professional engineering firm
Noblin & Associates. In New England, we literally went close to 20 years without that
formula coming together. As a decades-long veteran of condo engineering, the
Bridgewater-based Noblin has seen that formula—heavy snow and little wind followed by sustained cold temperatures—converge many times. And when the proper ingredients do combine, they all add up
to ice damming—a costly headache for condo boards, property managers, and even unit owners
themselves.
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Holiday Harmony
Holiday decorations are a bit like art—you know what you like when you see it. And our own sense of neighborliness and
desire to live in a friendly community, combined with our need to respect
freedom of expression, mean we must recognize each other’s rights when it comes to decorating for the holidays.
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Timely Tune-Ups
The boiler squats at a building’s core, churning out heat like some hulking behemoth of the deep. We tend to
take the boiler and its labyrinth of pipes entirely for granted, except when it
fails to work properly. Ignored in spring and summer, the sleeping giant must
be awakened carefully before temperatures begin to drop in autumn.
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Keeping Up Appearances
For most of us, winter is dreary enough without worrying about the grit and
grime that often accompanies it. From December through March, the snows that
fall require almost non-stop attention, from making sure the sidewalks stay
ice-free to keeping the lobbies and common areas slush-free. For maintenance staff and management, the winter months are a never-ending
struggle to keep the places we call home clean and safe.
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Q&A: FHA Requirements for Buyer?
I am a member of the governing board for our condominium. One of our unit owners has a buyer for her unit and the buyer’s proposed mortgagee asked our board to sign one of the new FHA Project Certification forms—should we? Read More
Q&A: Owner Delinquent on HOA Dues
Our condo association, which is private, has a situation that seems to be going nowhere. One of the units in the association has been for sale for over 2 years and the owner has not paid their HOA dues in 3 plus years. We as the board filed a lien on the unit, prior to the unit going on the market and another after the unit went up for sale. The owner has had all HOA privileges taken away (access to the pool, clubhouse, etc.) but we still have one lingering issue and that is parking on the street by the family members. We can tell them not to park on the street but we are not sure how to enforce this. Can this be enforced? We have a lawyer dealing with the liens, but we were wondering as an association board, is there anything else we can do besides wait? Read More
