Posted on 01/01/2011 12:26:32 PM PST by Sub-Driver
Manhattan Status Symbols: Washers and Dryers By C. J. HUGHES
THE final noisemaker has squealed and the last dinner guest has straggled home, so the holiday extravaganza that is Christmas and New Year’s — spread out over two long weekends and punctuated by a blizzard — is over.
Now it’s time for the cleanup, and that can mean dealing with more than the usual number of napkins splashed with red wine. For most people in the city, getting the laundry done will mean lugging it to a wash-and-fold service or taking it to the machines in the basement with a stack of quarters in hand.
But a growing number of New Yorkers can give the holiday linens a hot bath at home in their own washers and dryers. This staple of the suburbs remains uncommon in the city — apartments that have washers and dryers make up only about 20 percent of the sales and rental listings in Manhattan, according to StreetEasy, the real estate Web site. But demand is increasing, Condominium developers are making these appliances part of the standard package, and older buildings — even prewars — are relaxing longtime bans to keep residents happy and to avoid scaring off buyers.
But newer buildings have the edge. A search of StreetEasy’s listings in late December showed that 593 Manhattan co-ops for sale offered washers, versus 1,849 condos.
A washer can be worth far more than its weight in lost socks.
Jonathan J. Miller, the president of Miller Samuel, the appraisal company, said that “while there is no known empirical data to reliably measure this amenity,” a washing machine can add as much as 5 percent to an apartment’s price tag.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
We had one of those til about 5 years ago. It was a beast that I’d guess actually dated from about the time you mention, but we bought used from s neighbor in the early 90s.
When it wasn’t in use, it was wheeled out of the way.
This is true. You could easily add additional hot and cold outlets in each apartment for the appliance. You could even plumb the drainage pipe into the existing drains. The problem would be increasing the capacity to accomidate the volume of water usage, both in and out.
We've got what I figure is the perfect setup for us. The best of both worlds. We live in a nice suburb about 15 miles out of a fairly large metropolitan area. The city has all of the big city amenities - theaters, pro sports, orchestra, museums, great hospitals, fancy restaurants, universities, boating/sailing, etc.
Before that we lived (for 30 years) in an close-in, older suburb with tiny lots and high population density. Lot of activity but too close to too many people and their noise and antics.
But now we have our own little acre with peace and quiet and friendly, helpful, active neighbors who always seem to be working on some project but who have respect for each other. The shopping out here is great. Close to everything we need. If we want city, we can have it. If we want 'country' we can have it.
Our recently purchased property needs a lot of outdoor and indoor work, so there's no time to be bored. And I've always loved cutting grass. Now my wife wants to run the riding mower, too, but there are plenty of other things to do.
When we sit in the yard, we feel as if we are 100 miles from the nearest people. And we love watching all the critters that visit us. The dear are not our friends, though, since they want our garden.
Too bad we didn't have this setup when the kids were younger.
I've visited NYC many times and it found it fun and lively. But I felt somewhat trapped and was always glad to leave after a few days.
Used to be illegal. That’s because NYC has a combined sewer/storm drain system and they felt the disposals would add too much to the waste stream. They legalized them when they found that the additional waste wasn’t as great as feared. What’s interesting is that I live on Long Island (Suffolk County) where most of us have cesspools instead of sewers or septic fields. Because of that most people don’t have garbage disposals. Since almost everyone here is originally from NYC or their parents were from there garbage disposals are an unknown animal.
In the early 70s I lived in one big barracks room with about 50 guys in bunk beds. Then, one day they came in and built partitions between them! The modern army had arrived! No doors yet, but better than nothing. Pretty cushy compared to the guys who lived in the jungle, though.
I spent half the 90s in an ASOS. We’d go to the Grafenwoer Army Training Grounds for weeks at a time and live in open bay barracks. At least with my Air Force dorm room, during the late 80s, I had the public bathroom with the open shower room just down the hall. At Graf, you had a bit of a walk across the road to the crappers and showers.
During my most recent deployment, just last year, I shared a room with three other Senior NCOs. The showers were in the building. Each shower stall had two shower curtains so you had a small, private space to towell off/dress.
Most of us old guys weren’t bothered with privacy; we “grew up” without privacy at our first duty station. We stepped out of the shower, dried off and got dressed. The “open minded” youngsters who welcome homosexuals in the military hid behind their curtains.
Yep. There were a few certain guys, though, who were known to look a bit too much.
We didn't ask and they didn't tell. But we knew.
OK.
You win.
They've existed down here near college campuses for over two decades. They named them Suds & Duds.
Anyone who would want to look at my flabby, hairy, scar covered body has more issues than homosexuality!
Seriously, among the old ones, like myself, if we saw anyone acting inappropriately, we would quickly make their life unpleasant.
What if the seals on your upstair neighbor's toilet tank fails? Water from the tank would pool on the floor and seep into your apartment. I guess people in apartments shouldn't have any plumbing! They should crap in chamber pots and dump them out the windows into the gutters, just like in the old days!
Some folks run rubber hoses to/from a nearby sink...messy.
true, plumbing issue........
try living on a submarine...........
I’m sure your accomidations sucked more than mine. There’s a reason I didn’t “Go Navy.”
Thank you for your service.
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