The story begins on July 1.
Last week my bedroom started to smell. Smells are hard to communicate and harder to describe. This one is chemical — turpentine, mineral spirits, toxic, strong. My bedroom became uninhabitable.
Mt bedroom is on the top floor. Of the 6 walls we have: ceiling shared with building roof; floor shared with downstairs neighbors we've never seen; north wall has a window; east wall has the door to the living room; south wall shared with my other bedroom; west wall is brick and has nothing on the other side of it (we are a story higher than the building to the west).
At first we thought The Smell was coming from the tenant downstairs who we've never seen.
It's a compelling read... spanning now seven posts...
I've been sniffing around the bedroom so much I have a headache. And a burning in my eyes and throat. The Smell is awful. It peaks during the evening, is strong through the night, starts diminishing in the morning, is almost gone by the afternoon, and starts again. It has a pattern, but seems also inconsistent at the same time.
She considers, seriously, hiring a smell expert. (Only $750!) There are also patch tests. A visit from the super. A Westminster rep. Ultimately, it's just a frustrating experience.
There's more drama and intrigue... until the source of The Smell is identified.
But now what?
[Read all the posts to date here]
13 comments:
I bet it is roofing tar from the neighboring roof!
Ugh, what a nightmare!!!
I'd be checking with neighbors to see who is using their apartment as a painting studio...
Hello! Call the DEP tell them the building smells of toxic chemicals, they will be there in the hour. Literally make it seem as if your life is in danger...who knows, it could be. I did this when the building next to mine smelled of petrol, it was spilling into the sewer outside from however they were using it...right outside a coffee shop where many people smoke. Yikes!
The DEP shut down the site for the rest of the day.
Ooooh, that smell!
Can't you smell that smell?
anon 7:13 might be on to something with roofing tar... if it is roofing tar, the smell will take a few weeks to go away...this is the time of the year when roofs get redone...hope the wind is your friend and blows the stink away from your windows.
Meth lab?
As Dr. Johnson replied when some matron complained that he "smelled," "Madam, *you* smell. I stink."
Great banner visual.
An HP (Housing Part) action is pretty fast and low-cost, about $50. What happened to the hyper-local Kushner tenants association was being organized?
Brian, Squadron and Rosie have all responded quickly to me in the past on landlord issues from emails. I haven't had a chance to try Hoylman yet, but new electeds are often the most responsive on non controversial constituency complaints.
Decades ago I gave my AC to a neighbor and never regretted it. Opening all the windows, I get constant breeze. The air shaft and stairwell are low pressure areas, so they suck the air through the apt. Just an idea.
G'luck, Jill.
Hi--yes I am building my case, just in case this doesnt get resolved, but trying to work with the landlord to give him a chance to remedy the situation. I've sent my certified letter, and the Dept of Health is coming, as they are responsible for indoor smells.
I am concerned because this is a new landlord and his ways are unknown. a friend recently spent weeks trying to get her electricity restored after construction in the building took it out, and it was a really bad experience. Eventually it got done, but not without a lot of pain and tears.
I started to blog it because it was such a mystery, and the drama seemed like a good story, at least how it was running through my head. I just wanted to write it out.
I've been to housing court before and it's easy, but time consuming. I've listened to a lot of cases while waiting my turn and the tenant usually doesn't win, or it gets delayed so much you give up. You wind up going back several times, which means taking 1/2 day off work each time. I hope to avoid doing that again, but if I have to, I will.
If anybody has free time, I recommend spending a morning in housing court, it's pretty fascinating.
To be clear, it wasn't Kushner's people who applied the roofing tar to our building's wall, it was the neighboring building's super, trying to do the right thing to waterproof the crack between our buildings, but never considered there was a bed just the other side of that wall. But shit happens and now they have to fix it. I've read that roofing tar off gassing can persist for years, rearing up during hot weather.
If the cause is a neighboring property, housing court is probably not the place for remedy. ECB maybe?
Maybe I've just been lucky, but I've always had success with housing court. An HP action took about a week and an easy win, no lawyer necessary. In a rent strike, the landlord took us individually to court and we won each time, no lawyer.
(But I don't recommend rent strikes now that the court gives records to landlords on who has been taken to court for withholding. You can be blacklisted from ever finding a new apt. Blacklisting should be made illegal, with stiff fines.)
another way to get you to move out.
Jill or anyone else in a Kushner building -- are you having hot water issues? It's been spotty for almost two weeks now in my building. Today I haven't had it for over 36 hours. Wasn't so bad during the heatwave to take cold showers, but now I have to go to the gym before work just to get clean. I'm going to call Jose but sounds like from Jill's blog that he's got many issues to deal with.
Dint know who you are, but you should ask your neighbors if they have the same problem, probably your building's boiler. Our hot water is fine. You should call both Jose, Jared in the office, and 311 at once. Get your neighbors to call too.
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