radiating

What a busy day!

Among other things, we got a new radiator, courtesy of our super and his sidekick, Luis. They arrived around 2pm lugging the little thing (it's only 18" by 21" or so, and very narrow, but still very heavy) and set to work immediately dismantling the old one.

I'm not sure I've explained our radiator situation. Because so many apartment buildings were built so long ago in New York, many of us still use steam heat. Apparently this is a problem unique to New York. (It's really hard to find modern-looking steam radiators, or even someone who knows how to service them.) My first experience with them was in college, in our 19th Century dorms. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about though, the hissing, gurgling, banging pipes. Anyway, each room in our apartment has a radiator, but like everything else around here, the size and placement of them seems fairly arbitrary.

The main problem, we discovered last winter, was the radiator in the den. The room is roughly 12'x12', and the radiator was about 4' long and 9" wide. It ran under our window, preventing us from pushing our sofa up against the window (which is where we've placed it). There were about 2' on the other side of the pipe, in the corner, where we could stick a smaller radiator. And today we made that happen. (I'm not sure I'm making sense. Hopefully the photos will help.)

Here is what it looked like this spring, when we were painting:This is a photo of the work today, with the old radiator ready to be taken away: And here is our new radiator!! It still needs to be painted, but isn't it cute! (I feel like I should name it!) And the den feels so much bigger now that the sofa is up against the wall.

UPDATE: I have one radiator name suggestion from my father: Thumper. Anyone else?