windowsill soot and stuff in the water

sounds like rust in your water, maybe? if so, yuck, but it won't hurt you.

does sound like a problem specific to your building -- or at least, it's not like that over here on prospect. (the water, i mean) i guess you could take it up with your landlord, who i am sure will be more than happy to engage in expensive plumbing work, just as all our landlords would be.... :?

some ideas about rust here: http://ask.metafilter.com/30125/Should-I-be-concerned-about-excessive-rust-in-my-water

i also have the pink stuff, but only in my toilet. i once went away on a long trip and even though it hadn't been used and was cleaned before i left, i returned to a pink ring.

ick.

Subject: Re: windowsill soot and stuff in the water

cythren wrote: I went upstate last weekend to visit relatives, and noticed how much cleaner the environment is - indoors and out. Here in Brooklyn my windowsills are coated in black sooty dust.

I live on Eastern Parkway, but my place faces Union Street. I have a whole lot between the windows and the street, and Union doesn't get nearly the amount of car traffic of a street like E.P. I'm on the third floor, too. Still there's a ton of soot. If it can travel all the way up to the third floor, it must be throughout the inside of the apartment, not to mention inside our lungs. Yuck!

Then there's the water. I have a brita attachment on my sink. Even with the filter, the water leaves an orange tint on the outside of the filter. I looked at the little screen where the washer attaches to the spout. It's full of little orange chunks. My bathroom sink, bathtub, and toilet are all tinted orange, too.

I'm on Union , right across that parking lot that your building faces. I too notice that orangish sometimes reddish tint in the tub. The water won't stop streaming out of the faucet in the tub , and it leaves an orange line inside.We turn it off from the main line , but it doesn't stop all of the water from pouring out. I have to scrub the tub and sinks with bleach powder daily to keep that orange and red stuff from the water from showing up. We don't drink the water out of the faucet. Only bottled.

I live on the third floor as well , and we have one of those Oreck XL tabletop air purifiers in the living room. You won't believe how much dirty shit is caught in there! The air is so dirty , you won't believe it till you see it. I have to clean the filter every week.

Here's a link to the Oreck XL air purifier machine. A little over $400 bucks , but it is a really good machine , and you never have to buy a new filter , you just take the it out and clean it. Then you see how dirty the air would be in your home.
http://www.oreck.com/air-purifiers/xl_air_purifiers_choice.cfm

cythren wrote: Em,

Hey neighbor!

Thanks for the tip on the air purifier. I'm putting that item on my wish list.

How ya like Union Street?

Hello!

Awesome , when you get it you're gonna love it! Clean air , breathe! Ahhhh.

Union Street has been fine for the most part. This is my first summer here and on Union. In the winter it's calm and usually quite. The guys that set up the table outside are usually the older guys that live in the little building next to mines , and they are nice fellows. The rowdy boys that sometimes stand out there do not live in my building. I think they live down the street and just stand around out there because of the barber shop next door.

As I am typing this , there is a man yelling outside , pretty harsh words , sounds angry.

LOL , I bet you heard him!

He stopped now.