The Crippling Blizzard of '16

[ny biker]

I am trying very hard not to think about the storm that is about to hit us. Every forecast gets worse with more and more snow expected. And I hate sitting here listening to the wind howling outside and hoping if the electricity will go out -- which means no heat and panic about possible freezing pipes. I would just like to fast-forward to Sunday.

Last night I realized that I played this wrong -- I should have packed a bag and headed up to my parents' house in NY. They're expecting far less snow. I could have been there to help them, shovel whatever they get, work remotely for a few days and let my neighbors down here deal with the task of shoveling out.

A few days ago it looked like things would warm up to the 40s next week, but that forecast has been adjusted down, so they think it will be above freezing during the day but only by a few degrees. That will prolong the melting. We don't have reserved parking here and storms like this tend to bring out the worst in people as they try to claim that the parking space they shoveled out can't be used by anyone else. The last time we had this much snow it was plowed into the few spaces that were empty during the storm -- giant piles, taller than me. But we needed those spaces so I spent several days clearing them out. Occasionally someone came out to help me but mostly people just watched. Then they complained when someone took the one and only space that they shoveled.

When we finally get back to work, things will be even worse. The county where my office is located has no requirements for shoveling sidewalks, so they do not get shoveled at all. You have to walk in the street -- busy roads with no shoulders -- or drive to get lunch and run errands. If you do try to walk, you will find 6' snow piles left by the snow plows at all the intersections, forcing you even farther into traffic.

All the roads here are so covered with salt that they are already white. The big trucks crush the salt and kick up the dust with their tires. So you drive along through white clouds of crushed salt. For me it's an asthma trigger. But the alternative is black ice and complete gridlock for miles.

This area is just not a good place to be when it snows.

I have lots of reading to do for work to keep me busy through the weekend. It's dull so I will struggle to stay focused, especially with all my neighbors home and making noise (and stinking up my house with the stench of whatever "food" they cook). I've got the indoor trainer for my bike which I hope will help me get through. I've also got the suspension trainer to work out at home, though I won't really need it once the snow shoveling commences. The condo association has announced that they won't start shoveling sidewalks until Sunday morning, so I'll probably go out several times tomorrow to clear the walk in front of our building. Something to do to pass the time.

(I've got a giant bottle of Jamaican rum and some cream liqueur in the fridge. But that would not be a healthy way to pass the time. :eek:)

[Crankin]

Eh, the rum doesn't sound bad.
You guys are really getting it. We are only getting a dusting-2 inches in the NW suburbs of Boston, although there will be more in Boston, and about 6 inches on the coast. I guess people deserve the time off after last winter here, but personally, last year's snow was heaven for me!
You have the right attitude. Look at it as time off from normal life. Shoveling is great exercise. Take some deep breaths if the sidewalks are crappy, or people don't know how to drive. It will pass. If the power goes out, be prepared, but, unfortunately, there's not much you can do.

[Trek-chick]

Hang in there. I was actually hoping some would head north to MI, because I want to go cross country skiing so bad but, at this time we just do not have enough snow. This kind of weather you describe makes me love having a Jeep Wrangler as a daily driver. It can go anywhere!!! I'm weird that I actually like to drive in the snow now.

[Crankin]

I'd say about 80% of the drivers around here have AWD or 4WD cars. I can't imagine living in a snowy climate without it. Of course, it doesn't help you stop (I also have super duper snow tires), but I couldn't drive up my street without it, let alone my driveway.
I learned to drive in the snow when I was 37. Enough said. I hate driving to begin with, so this was not a piece of cake for me. Obviously, most people don't need AWD in DC or the south, but to me, it is a necessity.

[Pax]

I like the rum idea. Do your work reading, enjoy a trainer ride, then settle in with a movie and a nice rum drink. Leave the snow and related issues to the neighbors and use you time to relax.

[Eden]

I dunno… where I grew up one or two good snows a year were not unexpected and the city didn't plow - just salt on the streets. It was totally an unwritten rule that you didn't park in a space in front of someone else's house that they'd shoveled out…(in many places there were few driveways). It's very nice of you to shovel other people's spaces, especially if they are able to do it themselves.

Out here there are few heavy snows in the lowlands - once every few years maybe, and mostly people just stay put, as they have little idea of how to drive in it, and even if you do have AWD, the city doesn't have the equipment to clear snow, the streets are steep and can get very icy and AWD doesn't help a person stop… We do have an ordinance that requires people to clear their sidewalks, but few people even own a snow shovel out here.

[ZoneFive]

From what I've been hearing, the bands of heavy snow are expanding northwards so your parents might very well be getting more snow than expected, too. We've got a weather radio that charges with a crank, so we've been able to keep aware of the outside world in snowstorms when the power's gone out -- that was very helpful the last two winters! I wish you full power and heat the whole time, and nice people to talk to when you go out to shovel!

[Catrin]

All of you in the path of the storm need weather-proofing, as follows:

1 cup strong peppermint tea
tablespoon Trader Joe's peppermint hot chocolate
dollop half and half cream
1.5 ounces Kraken Rum

There, you are now warm from the inside out :cool: You're welcome

Seriously, stay safe all of you! I STILL remember the blizzard/ice storm of 1993...

[OakLeaf]

Be safe, all.

[emily_in_nc]

Hope everyone in the storm's path will be okay. It really looks like a doozy. I called my mom in western NC today, and they'd only had 4" but more was supposed to wrap in behind it, so we'll see what she ends up with.

We had more blustery wind and heavy rain bands move through Florida today yet again, another El Nino storm, and there was a tornado warning near New Smyrna Beach. Pax, are you okay? I hope you didn't have any problems. We dodged a bullet yet again west of Orlando, but they say another one of these storms is due to come through next Wed/Thurs. Scary when I see the tornado aftermath videos and photos of Cape Coral and Ft. Myers in SW Florida, right where my g-parents used to live.

[Pax]

We're good, thanks Emily. If you make it over near NSB let me know, we can meet up for lunch... we may have storms, but you don't have to shovel them!

[rocknrollgirl]

We are getting pounded. Power just came on, it has been out for about 8 hours. Very high winds, 10 inches of snow, now sleet and freezing rain, more heavy snow coming. Good times. Just hunkered down drinking tea. I will probably hit my trainer later since I can't run in this. Too dangerous.

[Catrin]

Stay warm and safe!

[Pax]

Thinking about all of you affected, hope you can stay warm and snug and wait this out!

[Blueberry]

We got very lucky (see the Thankful thread). Just to the east of us got heavy freezing rain, with lots and lots of power outages. We have lots of icy crud on the ground, but not much more coming and little to no ice accumulation on trees and power lines. Heavy winds this afternoon, and after that (knocking on wood), we'll be in the clear. Thinking of all those east and north of us who are getting it much worse!

[ny biker]

Well I was going to ride the indoor trainer last night but one of my friends who lives a block away invited me over to share the casserole she had made. I brought 2 small bottles of sparkling wine (the favor from my cousin's wedding last April).

They said the worst would be from 1 am to noon so I stayed up late and slept till 11:30 -- no point in getting up early. Unfortunately there is nothing good to waych on TV. Since I got up I've been frittering away time with social media and family texts. My nephew the Maryland firefighter worked yesterday, is still at it today and will probably pull a third shift tomorrow. They're very busy. His father is up on Long Island driving a snow plow as he does during every storm. And then there's the brother in California who took a break from watching his son play baseball to send me this:

http://www.biketheslopes.ca/

Other family members are currently converging on Denver to watch football (go Broncos).

I'm about to hit the indoor trainer and watch the NYC episode of Sonic Highways. I decided to wear my new socks, part of the spoils from TE's moving sale.

17944

Best wishes to everyone in the path of the storm. Still about 7 hours of snow expected here -- it's surreal.

[Crankin]

I hope everyone is safe and no long power outages. We are up in the White MTs. In NH. Very cold, gray skies this morning, but the sun did come out. Best thing was, no wind. It looks like we had an inch or two at home.
Although I don't want the dangerous parts of the storm, I'd have liked a nice 6 inches or so!

[ny biker]

After 28 hours of snowfall (and counting).

17946

17945

[Pax]

So, how are all the blizzard impacted folks doing??

[ny biker]

I shoveled for hours today. Our condo association is supposed to plow the parking lots and shovel the walks, and we have to shovel around our cars. But they've really dropped the ball -- no walks have been touched, some lots are still unplowed and ours just had a once-over the width of one car. Some residents were out today trying to shovel the lot but it's still a mess -- I watched an SUV try and fail to get out to the street -- and the plow left a giant pile behind one car so they're completely blocked now. A few of us tried to clear sidewalks too but others dumped snow from their cars onto the walks so the snow there is now chest high or higher. So if the hired shovelers ever show up, they'll probably just leave without trying to clear the huge piles. Our side of the lot gets no sun so we won't have sidewalks again until March.

Now my arms and back ache. I will work from home tomorrow. My car is not totally clear yet so I will have to go back out again with the shovel and snow brush in the afternooon.

I'm feeling very cranky. Mostly because I pay good money for condo fees that are supposed to cover snow removal but I and a few neighbors are having to do it all ourselves.

[lauraelmore1033]

I've been thinking about you and your positive attitude about the storm as we experience what I consider to be an unreasonably wet winter, and it's made me reduce my whining by at least 75%:p. Hope your ordeal resolves itself soon!

[rocknrollgirl]

My husband did a round of clearing during the storm with the snow blower, and then Sat night we go 3 more inches. No big deal until we went to the end of the driveway. They plowed use in, and because we had a lot of sleet mixed in, the end of the driveway was thigh high boulders of concrete. So my husband attacked that and I did the walkway and cars, then we did our neighbors. Four hours later we were able to get out.

Not fun.

[Crankin]

NY, that does not sound right. Do you have a management company running your condo association, or is it done by the people who live there? The place where we are moving switched to a management company, right before we bought, and I am glad. If your association contracted for plowing/shoveling services, then it should be done! I understand that a storm of that magnitude has extenuating circumstances, like we had last year, but it sounds like they did nothing.

[emily_in_nc]

Yeah, that is crazy, NY. I think too many condo associations fall down on their duties and just let the fees accumulate in an account instead of using it as it is intended.

We had the opposite problem when we lived in a small, rural subdivision in central NC. We had a very low neighborhood HOA fee paid yearly, and almost everyone in the subdivision wanted to pay extra for snow plowing on the rare occasions when we had a snow, since the amount in our HOA account wouldn't cover snow removal. We didn't, because we knew that in most cases in NC, the snow will melt within a day or three, and by this time, my DH was retired, and I could work from home in case of inclement weather. We had a huge pantry filled with food stores and a woodstove so didn't suffer too much even if there were power outages, and we didn't mind being snowed in for 1-3 days; we actually enjoyed it! I guess in an emergency, we might have felt differently, but in general, we were just not so important that we had to get out. So we balked at paying extra for this, but we were consistently outvoted.

[smilingcat]

I saw the front page of NYT at Starbucks today. and OMG!! What a mess. As always, be safe and with the snow removal, please don't over do it and hurt yourselves. You are shoveling frozen water and water is pretty darn heavy.

I hope it clears quickly.

[ny biker]

Finally tonight the condo management has provided more information. Apparently a bunch of residents gave them an earful today, by phone and in person. They are saying that the snow is too heavy for the plow (attached to a pickup truck) but not for the one Bobcat that we have, so they are trying to rent another Bobcat, then get back to using the plow once some of the snow melts. Also they say that they wanted to hire 80 people to help out but were only able to hire 30. And by the way there's no garbage pickup again tomorrow. We contract for that to happen 6 days per week -- it's a neighborhood of small apartment buildings and townhouses but there are no dumpsters or trash chutes -- and it's been canceled since Saturday. I'm fine since I live alone but people with kids and dogs are probably starting to have problems. If I go out tomorrow I'll expect to see many bags of dog poo left in the snow.

The really frustrating thing is that they waited until tonight to explain what was going on. There are many long-term residents here who know this isn't normal, even after a major snowstorm. They should have provided more information yesterday instead of keeping quiet and letting everyone get angry.

Anyway. I stayed inside today, working from home. My upper back muscles are so sore from shoveling yesterday that I had trouble standing up straight and taking deep breaths today. (That did not happen after shoveling out previous blizzards, so apparently I'm not doing the right workout at the gym these days.) I also wasn't feeling well today, due to what I think were non-headache migraine symptoms. So I will definitely work from home again tomorrow. Local federal government offices are closed again as are most school districts. The mass transit system was barely running today; most trains will be running tomorrow and I guess buses will be running too though most bus stops are not shoveled out. Many residential streets are still unplowed, there are huge snow piles blocking crosswalks at intersections, main roads still have problems on ramps and we're being warned of highway lanes ending in a pile of snow without warning. At this point I expect to be home on Wednesday, too, though I have to get to a grocery store by then even if I walk there. (Of course some grocery stores have not had any deliveries since Thursday so shelves are still bare.)

On the news now they're saying a woman was just rescued after being stuck in her car, buried in snow, since Friday. That's three days!! A National Guard humvee reached her to rescue her. The National Guard has been helping local fire departments since the storm started, pulling fire trucks out of snow piles with tank haulers and providing personnel and humvees to help out with emergency calls.

They're also warning people to make sure the exterior vents for dryers, furnaces and water heaters are clear of snow to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning within the house. So many seemingly small things to think about.

So yeah, one day at a time. At least I'm able to work. I rode my bike on the indoor trainer for 45 minutes tonight. It actually made my back feel better. Maybe tomorrow I'll attempt to go for a walk.

[Helene2013]

Ouf. What a storm some of you were hit with. Do not forget the snow on roofs either.and stay safe. No job is worth your life or serious injuries.

[Crankin]

I empathize with you, NY. Stay safe and baby your back. My shoulders and arms hurt every time I shovel, no matter what I am doing at the gym. I don't shovel often, as we have a giant snowblower and a plow guy who does our access driveway. But, last Monday we had about 4 inches of fluffy snow, DH was away, so I shoveled almost the whole driveway. I counted it as 2 hours of exercise.
I've seen the pictures of DC and it looks like it's getting dangerous.

[emily_in_nc]

What a disaster, NY! I am glad your condo association finally explained the reasons behind their seeming non-action. The trash thing sucks! I hope it will warm up soon and take care of a lot of the snow and ice the natural way. Thinking of you!

[Helene2013]

Wow NY, you guys have trashed picked-up 6 days a week?

In almost every city in Montreal area that I know, it is weekly in the summer months and then every 2 weeks. Lots of places (buildings) have no dumpsters. I never paid attention to huge buildings as I supposed they have their own systems but not sure.

Recycling is picked up every 2 weeks too. Compost (will be new to us as a city) to be picked up every 2 weeks too.

And I don't see any stuff (bins, bags or furniture, etc) at curbs until the night prior to pick up.

I did noticed though when their is a big storm here, those in Montreal (the crowded area), still dumped their mini bags (like grocery ones) in the pile of snow and the poor snowing crew are stuck with those and most of the time do not see them in the snow banks and it makes a mess. Even if they are warned not to put them out during the storm, they still do.

[ny biker]

In this area the management companies for apartment buildings and condo associations contract for trash and recycling services -- the county/city services are only for single family houses. Our whole neighborhood consists of townhouses and garden-style apartments -- 2-3 story apartment buildings with 4-6 units per building -- arranged around courtyards. Half the neighborhood is one condo association (where I live) and the other half is split into smaller condo associations. Unlike bigger apartment buildings, we have no trash chutes or other centralized place to put trash. And we can't store it in large covered trash cans in our yards (like you do in a single family house) because we don't have yards. So we contract for trash pickup 6 days per week. And yes, that is not enough for some people. I went out for a walk last night and was amazed at the lack of garbage -- this seems to be a rare occasion where folks are following the rules. Today we do have trash pickup and also they're picking up the recycling on schedule. So that's one thing that's back to normal. They've also managed to rent additional Bobcats so they are making more progress clearing out the parking lots. Of course the sun and above-freezing temperatures are also helping. The giant pile where I put the snow that was on and around my car is noticeably smaller.

So, a couple of years ago I rented a storage unit and filled it with things that I wanted to get out of the house while I was having various contractors come in to do work. All the framed pictures that go on the walls, my stereo, my books, old record albums from my younger days, framed photos that were on display on my bookshelves -- it's all in the storage unit. All my summer shoes and sandals are there too, along with some extra bike tires and some things I'm forgetting.

Last night just as I was going to bed I received an email from the storage company. The roof of the building has collapsed under the weight of the snow. Right now they are waiting to find out when the building will be safe enough for us to go to see what has been damaged by the collapse and the water from the melting snow.

If a roof is going to collapse, I would prefer that it be the storage building and not my house. So there's that. And most of the things in the storage unit are replaceable. I will be upset if the framed photos are ruined, and a few of the large framed pictures. And the albums can't be replaced -- I could probably buy many of them again, but that's not the same.

I am working from home again today -- traffic is a mess, worse than usual even though most schools are still closed and the federal government opened late -- so I will try to drive over there later to see how bad things look from the street. And I guess I might as well call my insurance company now to talk about how to proceed if my things are damaged. I've heard horror stories about people being dropped by their homeowners insurance companies after filing a claim -- I hope I don't run into problems.

On the positive side, things are okay with my parents. The guy who usually shovels snow for them has had some health problems, but he referred his customers to someone else who came and shoveled them and their car out. Though it did take a few days for them to find out what was going on and contact the new guy. But now they're already focusing on other things like planning summer trips. :)

[Pax]

Wow, NY, you're having such a challenging week! Hope you can catch a break soon.

[Helene2013]

I understand better for the garbage removal now. :) Thanks.

Yep...you've had a challenging week and it is something! Hoping not too much damaged in your things. The better you can get there, the better chance of saving the stuff from snow, debris, etc.

Good luck.

[Crankin]

Hope your stuff is not destroyed.

[ny biker]

I think maybe I got lucky. I just spoke with someone at the storage facility who said that the damage is limited to a small area and only a few units are affected. And it happened in a different part of the building from where my storage unit is. Right now they are only allowing people to access their units during office hours, as a safety precaution. I'll try to visit in a few days just to check things out. But overall it is good news -- I was worried that I would either have to scramble to move my stuff out quickly or have to deal with the hassle of an insurance claim. I'm happy to not have to do either of those things!!

Meanwhile, the cleanup continues slowly. I think my experience has been pretty typical of most people in this area -- slowly waiting for the snow to be cleared from streets, sidewalks, bus stops, crosswalks, parking lots, etc. Some roads are still unplowed, most are "passable" but that is not the same as normal. We'll be in a melt-refreeze cycle for the next few days so we'll have to look out for black ice at night when temperatures drop. Things should warm up this weekend -- I'd like to think about going for a bike ride outside but I don't know yet if that will be possible.

[shootingstar]

Good luck whenever you can do a bike ride NY. Today another employee returned from a cruise ship vacation where ship stopped by NYC. So there was a temporary vehicle ban in NYC because of the impassable roads? Wow, that's serious for a big city.

[OakLeaf]

Ugh NY. Hope your stuff is okay and the snow removal starts moving faster as there's less of it (as opposed to slower as it turns to boulders of solid ice ...). Hang in there.

[emily_in_nc]

Glad to hear that your stuff is probably fine, NY. You have had enough trouble with that storm than to have yet another thing to deal with! Has your garbage been picked up?

[ny biker]

Thanks so much, ladies. The cleanup continues here. They're saying it's the 4th-worst snow storm we've had in the DC area and it is certainly taking time for everyone to get back to normal. The schools were closed every day last week and one county (about 30 miles west of DC, where they got 30" or more) is starting 2 hours late tomorrow. I was out running errands yesterday and found most roads plowed, some multi-lane roads still having lanes cleared and giant snow piles causing significant blind spots at most intersections. It's still very dangerous for pedestrians in many areas.

The very good news is that we're getting several days of warm weather -- 50s or 60s during the day and above freezing through the night. This will help a lot with the clean up. Yay melting!!

My upstairs neighbor is moving out. Since we have trash pickup 6 days per week, the condo rule is that you put stuff out at the curb in securely-tied plastic bags from 6-9 am, and the truck comes through and picks it up during the late morning. Most people realize that this is really quite convenient and are able to abide by the rules. A few folks are too self-absorbed and/or have no problem living in a garbage dump so they put garbage out at night. When this happens the condo association will fine them. Anyway, as the upstairs neighbor has been getting ready to move she has been putting huge piles of trash bags out every night since Wednesday. She did it again last night (Saturday) knowing full well it would sit there for two days. This makes me furious. :mad: And there's no excuse for it, she could have put stuff out in the morning instead of at night, she could have made other arrangements for the last few things she needed to toss today, or at least wait until tonight to put it out instead of making her neighbors live with her garbage all weekend.

Since I am powerless over her self-centered behavior, I am trying to convince myself that she would have put stuff out in the mornings throughout the week if the storm had not suspended trash pickup for several days, but given the situation she was overwhelmed and therefore unable to come up with a way to give a crap about her neighbors while getting ready to move.

(I'm also terrified that the next upstairs neighbor will be a loud stomping elephant-walker with a noisy hyper dog, like the one who lived there before this garbage-piler moved in. I don't know the owner/landlord for that apartment but I'm thinking about taping a note for them on the door to request -- beg -- that they not rent to anyone with an energetic dog. Cats are fine, lazy dogs are fine, but the ones that run around a lot are like giant bowling balls rolling back and forth and back and forth and back and forth on my head. I might also offer to buy a new soft-close toilet seat for them, because the last two people who lived there slammed the toilet every single time they used it and it drove me nuts. But I digress.)

I got a late start today but I'm working on getting outside for a quick ride around the neighborhood to enjoy the warm weather while it's here.

[emily_in_nc]

The garbage thing would work my last nerve too, NY. I can't stand it when people are inconsiderate.

Our apartment complex in NC had a rule about no moving in or out after a certain time of night, and I remember when one young couple flouted that rule, moving in until late, late in the evening, which of course makes tons of noise Drove me batty!

I hope you get good upstairs neighbors. After living below several sets of "elephants" in various places, we vowed "never again". Our most recent apt. in Mexico, we were in the penthouse, which was a big improvement; however, we found that we could even hear the people below us if they were particularly noisy types. That unit was a vacation rental, so we had everything from super quiet people you never even knew were there to folks who slammed closet and bathroom doors all night long, or so it seemed.

Crossing fingers for you!

[Crankin]

NY, your description of DC sounds like the Boston area last winter. We were just lucky because where we live has a lot less population density than the suburbs closer to the city, hence, more places to put snow. One of our drives into Boston for our theatre subscription night last February or March was just horrific because of unplowed lanes. I can't even describe what I saw in Boston.
We are very lucky with the new condo, in terms of noise. No one above us, just 2 sides. We were there this morning, doing work, and i commented that it seems dead. Since this was DH's main concern about multi unit housing, he is happy, but I am sure we will be the ones going in and out the most, especially since we are still working. Others are, too, but they all seem to stay home a lot!

[ny biker]

There's not much I can do about people upstairs, but I do hear some sound from downstairs and I am looking into something to improve that situation. My next project will be to replace the old wall-to-wall carpet and with new floors and I was about to move ahead with installation of a hardwood floor. Then one day I realized I was tired of listening to the crying baby downstairs, and tired of being woken up by the vibrations when they run up the stairs from their basement to their main floor early in the morning. So I'm looking into cork floors now. I started the online research last week and went to a few stores yesterday. There aren't as many color choices so I will probably end up with something a bit darker than I had originally chosen for the hardwood floor. And I know it won't completely solve the noise problems. But it should help, and it should also be warmer for my cold feet in the winter.

One good thing is that I don't have noise problems from the people on either side of me. I can only hear sounds from one of them if there's lots of noise in their kitchen, like people talking very loudly, and that rarely happens. From the townhouse on the other side I can hear one of the dogs barking, but it's a well-trained dog so it's not much of a problem, and I don't hear any other sounds.

The flooring stores I went to yesterday were in the suburbs just northwest of DC. The area where I live got about 20" of snow, while the suburbs north and west got 30ish inches. The area I was in yesterday wasn't in the hardest-hit area but they definitely had bigger snow piles than we have here. The manager at one of the stores told me that the county was piling lots of snow in a lot down the road from his store, giant piles, like 30 feet high. He mentioned that when it melts it will run off into Rock Creek which runs through a big park in DC, and it won't be clean water so not good for the environment. That's another side to snow and ice in our area -- tons of salt ends up in the rivers and eventually in the Chesapeake Bay.

[Blueberry]

NY - Is moving to a new place an option? It seems like the entire situation (snow, noise from above, trash, smells, condo management and snow removal, etc.) is making you pretty unhappy, and I fear there's only so much you can do from inside your unit.

For the unit above you, you might want to look into noise ordinances (and condo rules) to see if there's anything that's required. If there is, find the owner through the management company or tax records or property records and send them a letter. Otherwise, the new tenant will probably just find a note when they move in. As far as your floor, I wonder whether there is a natural equivalent of a padded laminate. That would probably insulate from noise fairly well.

[ny biker]

Unfortunately no, moving is not an option. I own this condo and can't afford to sell it, nor can I afford anything better in this area. The real estate market is still not good for one bedroom condos in this area. This is also the reason I am surrounded by renters. I am doing what I can to make it pleasant on the inside and I do like the improvements that I've made so far. And I'm looking into other things like an air purifier that can be installed as part of the HVAC system.

I lived in very good apartments in Chicago and Manhattan -- solid pre-war buildings where you barely knew the neighbors existed. But on the other hand I hated the weather in Chicago and there were roaches in my building in NYC -- there's always something. The places I've lived in the DC area have not been nearly as solid -- I don't know if it's because the building quality is worse here overall or if I've just had bad luck. Whatever it is, I just don't have the money to go anywhere else.

One thing I do know -- I will like my home a lot more when the big pink flowers bloom on the tree across the courtyard in the spring. :)

[OakLeaf]

As far as your floor, I wonder whether there is a natural equivalent of a padded laminate. That would probably insulate from noise fairly well.

We have cork flooring in our downstairs and love, love, love it.

It's a superb insulator for both sound and temperature. As far as humidity, it behaves more like hardwood (the space was carpeted when we moved in, and when we tore the carpet out and replaced it with the cork, the humidity dropped by 10 percentage points without making any other changes!). It's just beautiful, and comes in a variety of colors and patterns, both natural and dyed. It hides dings and doesn't stain. Ours is a floating floor, so it isn't suitable for wet spaces, but sealed cork is available. It wasn't cheap, but it's comparable to hardwood, less expensive than some woods.

Oh, and it's super durable. That was a concern of ours, and one of the things that really sold us on it was that the flooring display store had cork in their highest traffic areas. Where we have ours doesn't get a lot of traffic, but it's been there I think seven or eight years and looks new. My hairstylist has cork floor in her salon, and that DOES get a lot of traffic, including being swept after every haircut, and after several years it hardly shows any wear at all.

My favorite story about our cork flooring - soon after we installed it, we were replacing our picture tube TV and set it on a window bench. It was a smaller TV, but being a picture tube TV, still at least 50#. When the cushion compressed, the TV fell about a foot and a half onto the floor, right onto a corner of its cabinet. You have to look hard to see the ding in the floor, even though it's maybe 2" in diameter. If we tell the story to someone who doesn't know where the hole is, we have to show them where it is, they can't find it. Best part? The TV still worked after it fell onto the cork-cushioned floor. :cool:

[ny biker]

Oak, thank you so much for your post. I had seen something in an old thread about your having cork floors and I was going to ask you how they had held up.

The rooms that will get the new flooring are the living/dining room, bedroom and hallway in between. There is a closet next to the hallway with the washing machine and dryer, so theoretically there could be water damage from the washer in that area, but otherwise I don't have to worry about wet spaces. I had a little trouble at first finding flooring stores that carry a decent selection of cork, but now I've found 3, possibly a fourth, and two have a really good selection of several different brands.

I would like something that comes in planks rather than tiles because that seems more "floor like" to me. The tough part is finding the right color -- ideally I'd like a medium brown, not too light or too dark, with no red undertones. From the cork samples I've seen so far, I think I will end up with something that is a bit lighter or darker than what I had in mind because so far all the medium browns I've seen are pretty red. But even if I end up lighter or darker than originally planned, I think I will be able to find a color that I'm happy with.

Oh and incidentally there now is a "For Sale" sign in front of my building, so I'm assuming the unit upstairs is for sale. I haven't been able to find a listing online for it yet. The crazy person in me wants to call the realtor to say that if either the buyer or seller has plans to replace the hardwood floor, I would like to pay for a soundproofing layer underneath. The current floor was refinished less than 10 years ago, so most likely there won't be any changes made to it, but I would kick myself if they did rip up the floors and I was not able to take advantage of the opportunity. Anyway, right now I am crossing my fingers that the new owner is a reasonable person who understands apartment living.

And here's a happy story from the big storm, as we continue to deal with icy sidewalks where people fall and hurt themselves... someone I work with had planned a trip to southern California the same weekend as the storm. Her flight out of town was the night before it hit. Her return flight was cancelled due to the weather, so she ended up staying a couple of extra days at a very nice hotel with very nice weather. Yes it cost her a bit more but she does not regret it because she had a great time. Meanwhile her college-age daughter was back home the whole time, and their neighbor helped shovel her out and made sure she was okay despite the bad weather.