I'm piecing this together still but basically i got a letter from JCMUA saying that a leak had been detected and that the condo building i live in (2 family) would need to replace its connection to the main. I was having work done on my apartment at the time and told my contractor. In the following day or two, an outside contractor (either for the water company or PSEG, i'm unclear) had the street dug up, partly because there was a small sinkhole uncovered on the other side of the street from my house. My contractor worked quickly to get his plumber over and replaced the old lead pipe with copper, billing me around $3k all in, including grounding clamps inside the house.

I thought I was done. In retrospect i should not have taken the word of the outside contractor or my contractor and should have followed up with JCMUA itself. But i never got any quote, invoice or bill apart from the original letter and no one contacted me until the line item showed up on my water bill. In my mind at least, the contractor was digging up the street to find a leak in their system and I managed to get my pipe installed while that was happening. I don't think i should be billed for excavation when they were digging up a large part of the street.

I'm trying to find out from my plumber what the best course of action is and then will call JCMUA.

for others who have had to replace their water pipe to the main, are you willing to share how much it cost in total, including excavation and plumbing work?

talk about ruining a nice saturday...

Has anyone had to fight the water company regarding excavation bills?

Essentially my building was notifies we had to replace our water main. The street was being dug up for the pseg stuff and my plumber did the work when the main was exposed. I paid him directly.

Now my most recent water bill, out of the blue, includes one line for a $6600 charge for excavation.

Has anyone had this issue?

After some research I was not that comfortable with the high temperature systems like ultrafin. There were plenty of proponents, but the gist seems to be that low temperature systems that touch the subfloor do not damage the wood floor any more than a high temperature system, can be more efficient, and offer more margin for error with the heat calculations (works by both conductive and convective heat so more potential heating power). A big concern with the ultrafin type system seems to be whether the water returns cold enough to the boiler for the modulating and condensing abilities of the high efficiency tankless boiler to increase the efficiency of my system. Perhaps the biggest thing I learned is the installer needs to run a full heat load analysis to calculate how many btu per sq ft each of your rooms needs in order to determine if the radiant heat system is powerful enough and to tune the system.

I went through all this with the contractor and heating specialist and they agreed. The main concern with the low temperature systems I have is the installer and floor installer need to be careful not to put a floor nail through your tube (we are doing the floor install first), and you want the system with quality aluminum plate fasteners rather than the cheap staple up systems if you can afford it. I am concerned about laying the floor first because many recommend running the heating system under the subfloor for some period to dry it out and avoid moisture riding into the wood floors right away. In our case the plywood subfloor has been in place for several months and is likely acclimated now. In addition we are using a coat of glue under the floor which seals the floor from moisture below and is treated for use with radiant.

I learned about a product called warmboard a little late in the process, but I could have used it instead of the plywood subfloor. It holds the heat tubing in contact with the floor which allows more efficiency and lower temps, but is expensive ($4 per sf). We are using a type of this in our back extension where were don't have easy access to the joists below.

Fingers crossed this turns out well

My contractor tells me he will be installing the pex tubing well beneath the sub floor inside of the joist. It will be on hangers so that it is not touching the plywood and will not dry out / damage the wood. It will be insulated from beneath. This sounds less efficient to me, has anyone done it this way?

is navien any good?

thanks for the responses so far, keep them coming! i did not know the hot water would not work without power, thanks for the heads up on that.

reading online, i'm seeing ballpark figures of $6-15 per sq foot which is closer to the price i'm being quoted

its a real nice space and will be great not to have baseboards everywhere.

now it just seems like i need to add a power generator to the place. man stuff adds up...

i'm being quoted $20k plus for a two zone radiant heat system covering roughly 2500 square feet on two floors. Installation will be in-joist and the joists are currently exposed. this includes high efficiency navien tankless boiler/hot water heater and all the plumbing. We will be preserving existing wood flooring over plywood subfloor for the majority of the space.

then i went to this site which makes it seem like the price should well be under $10k
http://www.radiantec.com/pricing/ballpark-estimates.php

can anyone weigh in?

thanks, yeah, i have been working that angle but i assume some stuff happens off of those sites and hoping to find it here

My wife and I are looking for a furnished, clean sublet studio to 2br with a washer/dryer and dishwasher from October to January. Does anyone have a lead for us? We are looking near Grove St, Paulus Hook, or Newport. Thanks!

What was the outcome here? Same thing just happened to me and I have to go to court next Thursday morning. This Abandonment of MV Subsequent Offense I got is just bush league.

Quote:

I got a bunch of tickets for parking when my car registration temporarily lapsed. I reinstated the registration as soon as I found out but I still need to go to court next week. Anyone been through this or have a recommendation on a lawyer for "moving" violations?

Hey everybody, my wife and I are undertaking a large remodel in a historical brownstone in Van Vorst and are considering using George Weiner of GALE Architectural Services for our architect. Does anyone have anything to say positively or negatively? We are checking references and found him through word of mouth but figured we would check here too.

thanks!