"mm" wrote
That was 1976. Today you'd probably find the door wedged open. Those women in their 80's were very conscience, unlike may younger people today.
That is incredibly unrealistic. Your idea sounds like it came from a 1950 TV show.
Yes, it does. With that many people there will be a couple that are problems.
Its better than just having people walk in off the street the way it is now.
Jimmie
Oh... This "issue" is with the building itself -- you have inherited a "soft target" which you should take immediate steps to fix, as you wouldn't want to discover WHY people are coming into your unlocked building, as that might scare both you and your tenants...
What does your local building code require ??? I know anything around my area requires a self-closing and self-locking exterior door wherever there are 3 or more tenant units...
It might be a good investment in your new property to have a commercial property inspector go through it with you and identify how to address this situation and any other shortcomings the building has because now as the owner and landlord you are responsible for providing a safe, secure, code compliant multi-unit dwelling occupancy for 20 different tenants...
One thing you will need to consider when changing the configuration of your front entry door is how this will effect the delivery of the mail... Will this require a keybox for the postal service ??? Does your local fire department also require a lockbox at the main entry door with door keys to gain entry to the building and any mechanical spaces and roof access points ???
Before you go digging yourself in deeper, you really should have a commercial property inspector/consultant come out and look at what you have in place and give you the proper LOCAL advice on what is required and what you need to do to be in compliance...
Installing a wired door bell/lock release system in a building after it is built is just running wires... The cost of the system depends on how fancy of a system you select and how difficult it is to run the wires from a standardized place in each unit for the intercom speaker and door release button back to the controller location...
~~ Evan
You could put a combo key and number paid lock on the entry door. You could keep the only key or you could give all the tenants a key in case the batteries die. Visitors call the tenant, tenant tells them the number code so they can get in. A lot of gated communities here in Arizona use that kind of setup for the gate at the entrance. Most of these type of systems allow at least two entry codes. You could have a different code for people like the mailman in case you need to change the other code every few months.
Well, the building was constructed in about 1920 and was initially used as a hospital until the 60's. It is of wood construction and totals over 4 floors, (basement, main, 2nd and third).
"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in news:KdadnXzJo67m8BfWnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:
That is your problem.
A 90 year old 20-unit wood frame building? Okay, now I understand why the building was affordable for somebody still in school. Does the place come anywhere near current code for sprinklers, fire walls, alarm systems, egress paths, and such? Or do they consider it grandfathered? You are a braver man than I am, buying a structure like that. My office is of similar vintage, but it is of modern office building type construction, mostly. (Steel, brick, concrete, etc.)
You need a pro to lay eyes on the place. It may be trivial, it may be OMG expensive, especially if things need to be pretty.
-- aem sends...
The property is equipped with a fire alarm system with sprinkler heads, has been completely re-wired, insulated with fiberglass insulation and has been drywalled with 3/4" thick fireboard. The property wasn't cheap by any stretch, but was worth every penny as it is completely rented grossing almost $15,000 monthly. I may be in school, but have been working for the past 20 years. I just wanted a change. I am just worried about losing my tenants because of the vandalism. I will be contacting a communications technician to give me a ballpark estimate as to what it would cost to install a door entrance system to better protect my tenants.
I think I remember that one. You're right. But most of the NYC elements of the story were very realistic. The buzzer system in general, the intercom, the alternate side of the street parking rules.
Even the doors and the peepholes. There are a lot of dramas and comedies supposedly set in NYC where the doors are wrong, and the peepholes are very wrong.
Kojak was wrong, in that during chase scenes in Manhattan, they would turn the corner and suddenly be in the Bronx. OTOH, although Cagney and Lacey was unrealistic, at least for the period, in having two women in the same car, when they had a chase scene, when they turned the corner they were still in the same part of town. (There was rarely enough detail to know what block they were on either before or after turning, but they were in generally the same area.)
A lot of other shows have scenes with alleys. I don't think there are any alleys south of 200th St. in NYC and only maybe a tiny number in Brooklyn, but still they show scenes in alleys. Deliveries and garbage collection are made straight from the street, which is one of the reason for traffic problems (although they may have forced most of that to be done after 6PM. That was the plan, but I don't know what happened). Not counting Elphreth's Alley, which is actually a street a block long just north of Wasington Square Park.
Going to NJ to get a better price on an air conditioner might have been accurate. Prices are probably lower, even counting the tunnel toll, but I don't know how many would go to the trouble.
Key money and competition for newly vacant apartments is very NYC. (Attending a wake to get first crack is not.) (I myself just lucked out when all 4 girls renting a 3 BR 3Bath living room/dining room/eat- in kitchen apartment for $275 in Brooklyn decided to move out only a year after they moved in, and they "gave it" to me because I had dated one of them a year earlier.)
Dealings with supers and doormen and Greek coffee shops were pretty accurately done, although the comic side was emphasized.
As to parking, I have bad news and good news.
The bad news is that the world will end tomorrow.
The good news is that alternate side of the street parking rules have been suspended.
I used to have a friend who had that.
They'll probably expect you to get a separate phone line, but even if they succeed in making the op do that, he could change to his own phone line after they leave. Just disable long distance. :) And you may get interruptions when you are on the phone. :)
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