Mirrors and Carpets

Hi, I don't know about the mirror removal, but there are plenty of contractors who advertise that they put them up, so I'll bet they also take 'em down! The wall behind it will surely need some holes filled and that means repainting as well, but otherwise it should be sound, unless the mirrors were put up to hide a big problem.

One way to check the floor is to go to the corner(s) of the room and pull the wall to wall up. It's attached to furring strips on the edge of the floor with little nails poking up and will go back down fine, assuming the carpet itself is sound. Pull it back by about 3-4 feet or so. If the carpet is in bad shape, you may make a mess with this.

You will probably want to refinish the floor in any case, or stain it a new color or whatever. Note, pet urine stains (look black or very dark) usually cannot be removed, but the affected boards can be replaced, and then you have to stain the new wood to match the old because wood changes it tone over time.

I wouldn't assume carpeting means the floor sucks. I just installed nearly wall to wall wool floor tiles (see www.flor.com) over a truly beautiful wood floor in the apt we just bought, because I wanted the softness and cozy feeling of wool carpet.

Thanks WaxPoetic!

This is the type of work the handyman in your building will do for $500 to $1,000. Most contractor I know will not care about this type of small amount of work. The work involve some tools (glass cutter, hammer and so forth) to take the glass down. Usually there is tar like glue behind the glass, which will require some scraping, plastering, sanding and painting to refinish. If you are handy, you can do it yourself.

I use Jessie Shapiro COmpany in The Bronx for all glass and mirror issues, they have been wonderful and very reasonable and come exactly when they say they will. I found them on www.newnewyorker.com