A good friend of mine tells me that she has to get rid of her 25th story garden on the outdoor 20x25 foot terrace, according to the co-op board and building managers. The garden has 45 years worth of collected plantings, various decorative wood pieces and other decorative items including a shrine to her husband including some of his ashes. It's an oasis in the sky and it would be a shame to destroy it. It has a nice Japanese theme.
The engineers (or maybe just the building people) insist that they have to do the entire job in one shot, and can't do half one day and the other half next week, so she could have people move things to one side at a time. It has something to do with the lining having to be in one piece.
Yet her next door neighbor has a greenhouse building on the patio, and he gets away with that because it's outdoor living or some nonsense like that. They won't be replacing his entire lining. I don't have to mention that he's on the co-op board.
He was trying to take pictures of my friend's garden over the wall, and fell and hurt his leg.. there's some justice in the world :)
Anyway, if anyone out there has run into something like this and beaten it, or any engineering or other professional folks can give us their opinion or advice on this, it would help a lot..
Thanks for any help!