Kitchen Stack Cleaning

It’s a common practice for some people to pour kitchen liquid waste into the sink. When oil, grease, food crumbs and other things go down the kitchen pipe (or the kitchen stack), some of it stick onto the inner wall of the stack and do not go all the way down and out to the city sewage. Over time, this narrows the inside space of the stack pipe. Eventually, when the stack pipe get clogged up so much that it “vomits” the scum in its “stomach” (the black stuff in the picture) out to the kitchen sink.

Scums backs up and flows out to the kitchen sink.
(Click here to see a larger picture.)

High-rise condos have to schedule cleaning the kitchen stacks regularly. In the 880 Grandview Way building, kitchen clean-out openings (the access point) are located in each unit on the 2nd, 7th and 13th floors.

This year the kitchen stack cleaning in the 880 Grandview Way building will begin from September 14 to 22, and will be done by Firenza Plumbing. The cleaning costs about $6,000 (including taxes).

The more grease and food crumbs go down to the drain, the faster the scum will build up, and the more frequently this clean-out will have to be done (currently it’s done about once a year in the 880 Grandview Way building), and obviously the more costly your management fees will become.

You may help slow down (or perhaps even eliminate) the buildup of scum in kitchen stacks by avoiding dump liquid food waste (especially with oil and food crumbs) down the kitchen sinks. You may put the kitchen waste in a plastic bag (make sure it does not leak) – or even double-bag it – tie it tight and firm, and then put it down the garbage chute. This in the end will save you money.

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Main entrance doors

Of the two doors at the front of the 880 Grandview Way building, the pivot and closure of the south-side door (the door to your left when you are looking at the doors from outside the building) was damaged.

South-side entrance door cannot closed properly
Click here for larger picture

Possible causes include the strong northerly winds in the winter and blow slam open the south-side door, as well as careless use by residents and visitors.

One can use slide bolts to make it stationary but can be opened to make way for large items going through. This will cost about $350 (including taxes). Another way is to repair the close mechanism; this will cost under $1,200 (including taxes).

However, this is being put on hold temporarily because the Board is actively considering installing automatic door openers on the main lobby entrances (as well as at the P1 and P2 entrances). When and if it is decided to install the automatic door openers, it may not even be necessary to repair the south-side door.

Meanwhile, residents should use the door with care, as always should. Careless use and misuse will result in unexpected repair costs that end up becoming part of your monthly management fees. Please pass the message to your children and visitors.

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Guess Gas

Our current gas contract with Provident Energy Management will expire by the end of October this year. The three Boards of the three Corporations (the Casitas, the 88 Grandview Way building, the 880 Grandview Way building) have been investigating into new and better commitments.

The Management Office invited two suppliers for a presentation on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 in the party room of the 88 building. The first one to present was Mark Burtniak from Superior Energy. The second one was Ata Malick from Comsatec Inc.

Shorter-term contracts (e.g., 1-year or 2-year contracts) have lower rates and longer-term contracts (e.g., 3-year or 5-year contracts) have higher rates. One-year contract will save us money if gas price does not increase significantly next year, because it will allow us to continue to commit to lower prices next year.

However, if gas price increases significantly next year and in future years, then lock-in multi-year contracts now are better even though they have higher rates than one-year contracts.

During the presentation, prices for future natural gas starting November 1, 2009 were quoted as follows:

• For 1-year contract: 20.8 cents per cubic metre
• For 3-year contract: 24.3 cents per cubic metre
• For 5-year contract: 25.9 cents per cubic metre

(Note: natural gas prices, like stock prices, fluctuate every minute, if not more frequent. You may check energy prices on www.ino.com.)

To go long, or to go short? That’s the question.

The price for 5-year contract is about 25% higher than the 1-year contract price. That means if we go for 1-year contract, we already have (in a way) 25% immediate savings, but we risk of paying higher prices if natural gas price increases in later years. We don’t know unless we have a crystal ball, but unfortunately that’s something that we don’t have.

So we turn to the experts. Mark Burtniak of Superior Energy recommended to go long term (5 years), but Ata Malick of Comsatec Inc. recommended to go short term (1 year). Well, looks like they don’t have the crystal ball either.

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Exercise room door damage

About three weeks ago, the door to the exercise room of the 880 building was broken in the hinge area on the door spine. Due to the composition of the door, the door cannot be repaired but had to be taken down. As the door is not of standard size, a new door would have to be ordered. It would take about another four weeks (mid-September 2009) for the new door to arrive and be installed. The cost is about $1,200 including taxes.

Exercise room without door.
(Click here to see a larger picture.)

After lengthy discussions and careful considerations, the Board of Directors of the 880 Grandview Way building has made the following decisions.

1. The exercise room will still remain open while waiting for the new door so that residents can still enjoy using the exercise room. Please be reminded that, as it has always been an ongoing rule for using the exercise room, children under the age of 16 are not allowed in the exercise room. Notices have been posted in the exercise room.



Notices have been posted in the exercise room.
(Click here to see a larger picture.)


2. Security camera has been installed in the exercise room to monitor the area as of writing. The cost is about $1,500 including taxes, with a 5-year warranty, supplied by AFY Electronics Ltd.

In the past, there had been some incidents in the exercise room (such as some dumb-bells were “lost”). With the new camera installed, the general security and safety of the exercise room should improve.

The exercise room is a public area. As for security and safety reasons, security cameras have been already installed elsewhere in the 880 Grandview Way building, e.g., in the hallway on the upper lobby level, and in each of the three elevators, as well as in the swimming pool. Privacy should not be an issue here.

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Visitor delayed calling

The current procedure dealing with visitors in cars are like this:

When visitors in cars come to visit residents of Grandview Way, they have to stop at the gatehouse, tell the security guard which building and unit number they are visiting. The security guard then has to call the unit to get confirmation that they are expecting the visitors. Once confirmed, the gate-arm is open to let the car pass through to visitor parking.

Sometimes no-one in the unit answers the phone. This could happen for a number of reasons. Perhaps the visitors show up a bit early, and the resident is running some errands nearby but not at home. It could also be that the resident is not expecting visitors but the visitors just show up. The visitors may ask the security guard to try some other phone number (such as a cell phone number). This delays the processing, and if more visitor cars arrive, the cars could queue up and spill onto Doris Avenue, and you probably have seen such a situation.

As you may know, Doris Avenue is currently being extended from Byng Avenue to Finch Avenue as a bypass route for Yonge Street traffic. The construction is scheduled to complete before the end of this year. Then the traffic will be expected to be heavier than now. If visitor cars queue up and spill onto Doris Avenue, traffic would be messy and even dangerous.

The Shared Facilities Committee has decided to implement a new “delayed calling” procedure on a trial basis:

During rush hours (4pm to 7pm, Mondays to Fridays, holidays excepted), visitors cars after giving the building and unit number they are visiting, will be let through to the visitor parking so as not to clog up the entrance. As soon as when it is less busy, the security guard will then call the unit to confirm that their visitors are legits.

This new “delayed calling” procedure has already been in effect since July on a trial basis until September this year when it will be reviewed. A notice is supposed to have been put up to inform residents the change of new procedure.

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INDEX

• At the Grandview Tower (MTCC 1132) AGM
• At the Parkside (TSCC 1446) AGM
• At the Casitas (MTCC 1113) AGM
• MTCC 1132 (Grandview Tower) AGM
• TSCC 1446 (Parkside) AGM
• MTCC 1113 (Casitas) AGM
• New Garage Door
• Frozen to Death, Almost
• Organic Waste Recycling
• Traffic Control at Gatehouse
• Gate Arm Repair
• Names and Numbers
• Kitchen Stack Cleaning
• Main Entrance Doors
• Guess Gas
• Exercise room door damage
• Visitor delayed calling
• What is Grandview Way?

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Read more about living in a condo at ILiveInACondo.blogspot.com

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