Apartment dwellers/laundry

[calmloki]

A question. Is this an apartment that you rent? This landlord would be/has been pisssed when tenants make material changes to the property i own. Mostly because very few people have decent construction skills and/or their sense of taste and style differs from mine. Deconstruction is easy. construction and finish is hard.

[calmloki]

Do you own this apartment? I ask because this landlord would be/has been pissssed when material changes have been made by renting tenants. The problem with many do-it-yourself projects is they look like you did it yourself. Deconstruction is easy, construction and finish is hard. Style, suitability of material to location, availability and longevity of products, fit and finish - all are critical to a good job, and frankly, looking at the existing wall, your accomplishments, and reading this sentence of yours "I looked at bathroom pictures to confirm that towel racks don't need to be against tile." I think you would be best served by doing as little as possible.

[Boho]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calmloki A question. Is this an apartment that you rent? This landlord would be/has been pisssed when tenants make material changes to the property i own. Mostly because very few people have decent construction skills and/or their sense of taste and style differs from mine. Deconstruction is easy. construction and finish is hard.

Nope, I own it but it's a coop and I pay a maintenance fee.

A few years ago I build a vertical soffit to extend a closet and so I'd have a hollow section of wall to install coax and phone jacks. I chose steel studs instead of wood because the existing walls were plaster, steel studs, and diamond mesh and I wanted to keep them "fireproof" (a term no longer used in the NY building code). Whether I was allowed to do it without a professional contractor I wasn't totally 100% clear on (contractors have to be approved by the building and I wasn't one so I figured they didn't have to know what I was doing) but at least I was making it fireproof. A porter who's married to the building manager saw it one day and I explained that I'm using steel studs so I wouldn't be blamed for using wood in a fireproof wall and he shrugged and made a "you could have done that" face.

[calmloki]

OK then. You own the apartment, have at it. Make the bathroom your own and good fortune to you.

[Boho]

When the pros reach a consensus on whether or not to use a vapor barrier, whether or not to mix some joint compound in with the plaster, whether or not to add some dish soap, and when I find just one guy who could patch a hole smoothly, I'll considering hiring a pro. It took me days to build that soffit but it came out almost perfect without even sanding it.

[Boho]

Got all the parts. The waste arm could be used as a tailpiece in my case since I don't need a vertical section that could be trimmed to a particular height. The little tailpiece I bought was unnecessary.

The drying rack was a problem. It fell in a slight breeze after an hour on my terrace. I rinsed out the clothes and tried again after weighting it down. Luckily I keep heavy bricks on the terrace. The photo to the left is how not to use it outdoors.

[Boho]

I'm glad I kept a bunch of wire hangers. I got these clips on Ebay and I attached them to the hangers with small cable ties. They don't slide towards the center of the hanger from the weight of the clothes but you can slide them by hand wherever you want them. I have some hangers with four clips and others with three. They're strong enough that I think I only need the four per hanger when I want to hang multiple items.