06/18/2008
Hello everyone, my name is Christopher Purnell and I am the founder of EZ Furniture Assembly & Interior Innovations, as well as NYC HANDYMAN which is a divison of our main company. I started the company myself & now we currently have over a dozen technicians between both companies. We are currently 5 star rated on IKEA FANS, and was awarded the "Superior Service Award" by Angie's List which only a mere 5% of all the companies nationwide are even considered for this award.
I am very pleased with our growth and by adding this blog was another one of my goals and I intend to have it updated several times weekly by professional technicians, as well as experts in the interior design industry. We also hope to provide tips, & tricks and special answers to your most troubling household questions. This blog is open to the public so all you have to do is email us at ezfurnitureassembly@gmail.com and we will publish your comment or questions space providing.
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06/18/2008
I saw this article in GAWKER and had to post it! It's like the same old stereo type of the Big Apple is coming back!!
Prepare to be robbed, IKEA Customers
The first-ever IKEA store is opening in the borough of Brooklyn tomorrow, a development which has the local media all atwitter. Close to 40 people have lined up for the chance to be the first ones in the rapidly gentrifying Red Hook neighborhood to buy mass-produced Swedish furniture. To celebrate the occasion, the gruff and hilarious Park Slope guy who goes by the name of Blognigger (just to make you uncomfortable) has posted his own Onion-esque take: "Red Hook Blacks Line Up to Rob First 100 IKEA Customers." But he doesn't forget to make the scheduled robberies a multicultural endeavor for the Curbed.com-reading gentrifiers themselves, too:
______________________________________________________________________________________Surprisingly, not everyone camping on line is African American - two white Park Slope residents, Rob Tanzer, 24 and Jake Feingold, 23, have also joined the group.
"We read about this on Curbed, and we just thought that being on this side of the fence seems like a far more authentic Brooklyn experience," explained Mr. Feingold, "We basically want the black community to know that not all white people are here to displace them; That really, we're part of the solution. And of course we're also down to get paid."
We have been contacted over at least a thousand times over the last 2 years with this question, and now that we opened NYC HANDYMAN it has become ever more frequent but no less important. We have provided some useful information below.
A larger air conditioner will not always provide more cooling. It should be sized for the room area. If properly sized it should operate long enough to remove moisture from the air. It is the moisture removed from the room which actually produces the feeling of cooling. Unfortunately many people in their rush to purchase a window air conditioner buy too large a model.
Too large a unit can actually provide less cooling than a smaller, properly sized unit. This is because with an oversized air conditioner its run time is too short. Consequently it does not remove enough moisture from the room to produce a feeling of comfort. If you’re A/C seems to cycle off and then back on every few minutes and does a poor job of cooling, it is probably oversized for the room.
Air conditioners are rated in BTU’s. British Thermal Units are a measurement of how much heat is being transferred form the room being cooled to where the heat is dumped out of doors. This is why the cooing coil inside the room is cool to the touch, while the part that hangs outside is extremely hot.
A window air conditioner used in the average household room can be as low as 4000 BTU. While 5000, 6000, and 8000 are the most common sizes purchased.
How do I determine what size A/C I need?
Following is a basic sizing chart for calculating the window air
conditioner needed for a room. Calculate the size of the room by
multiplying the width of the room by the length of the room. Use your
room size to determine what BTU's are required to cool that particular
room size.
room in sq ft-----room in sq m-----A/C size in BTU's
100 – 250............9 – 23............5000 – 6000
250 – 400...........23 – 37............6000 – 8500
400 – 550...........37 – 51............8000 – 11000
550 – 875...........51 – 81...........11000 – 15000
Based on a room occupied by two adults, having an average insulation, number of windows, and sun exposure.
Which is the best room for placement of an air conditioner?
Wherever it gives the most comfort is where it should be installed. If you only have one air conditioner then we usually suggest the bedroom. This is because most people find that if they can sleep comfortably during a hot summer night then their next days work will be a lot easier. Getting through a hot day at work becomes a lot easier when you know you will sleep comfortably that night.
Some people do not like a cool sleeping environment so they will tend to place it in a living room or family room. Or some people will place it in the family room because the whole family can sleep there. Get out the sleeping bags and turn it into an adventure for the young ones. Beats waking up in the morning to find a dog, cat, and four kids in the bed with you.
Also window air conditioner can be noisy, which may disturb sleep. Others find the drone of the fan actually promotes sleep because all the neighbourhood noises are drowned out. Some people say the air conditioner works as well as a sleeping pill
But whichever room you eventually pick don’t expect the impossible from you’re A/C. It is not meant to cool more than one room or one open area. Air conditioners will not cool other rooms? This is because the blower in a window air conditioner is not very powerful. It is sized to cool one open area, not a number of interconnected rooms. Therefore once again a couple of smaller units may be better for your home than one large unit.
Lastly, remember to properly secure the air conditioner in the window. Once installed a piece of wood to stop the window from being lifted up is a good idea. If you have wooden sills the simple addition of a wood screw at the top of the raised window (the one you had to raise to install the A/C) will only take a minute. Otherwise an intruder could gain access to the house by lifting the window and letting the A/C fall out. This could result in the loss of both your valuables and the air conditioner.
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IKEA Comes to Town
June 18th, 2008
The yellow and blue have taken over Brooklyn.
That’s right, with a clap of a yellow baton, Red Hook IKEA thrust open its doors this morning to a hipster-laden crowd, anxiously awaiting to embrace the big box, Swedish chain store.
And while police directed traffic for the grand opening and gaggles of Brooklynites sought out affordable, “functional” furniture, discussions abounded across the city of what it means for small businesses.
So far, the five boroughs have resisted the Wal-Mart temptation, having fought off numerous attempts, but supporters of IKEA — of which there are many since the stores worldwide saw 583 million customers last year — claim this is different.
On WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show
this morning, shoppers responded from Brooklyn to Brazil — and,
according to the show’s comment page, it appears most people are pretty
perturbed to have IKEA in town.
On the show this morning, Community Board 6 district manager, Craig
Hammerman, gave IKEA credit for improving transportation in the
access-starved Red Hook area, which now gets shuttle buses to Brooklyn
Borough Hall and Smith and 9th Street on the F . IKEA is also funding a
ferry from Manhattan.
But this may not calm the flared tempers of Red Hook residents, who may be more used to biking around Brooklyn than hopping on IKEA-funded buses.
Here is one commenter, Charles, on WNYC today:
“Ikea in Red Hook is a government facilitated corporate takeover of a neighborhood. It’s the new form of corruption, where government officials make backroom deals and tax breaks for the benefit of one corporate entity or developer. Make no mistake about this, the people of Brooklyn are getting screwed, and once again, there is nothing to do about it.”
IKEA, however, seems to be trying hard to get customers acclimated to the outer borough. Its grand opening web site, which says “it’s easy to get there,” hosts a game, where users can search a Brooklyn map for hidden IKEA boxes.
Some officials seem to be happy the Swedes have infiltrated Brooklyn. This just in from Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz:
This story was taken from the "Gotham Gazette" in which we give great thanks to for allowing us to publish the article.“Clearly, IKEA recognizes that if you want to make a big splash in this city, you gotta go to Brooklyn. IKEA has not just built a store that offers stylish, quality furniture that average Brooklynites and New York City residents can actually afford, it has committed to becoming a valued member of the community—by bringing hundreds of new jobs to Red Hook and making the hiring of local residents a priority.”
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