Bad vibrations in Ovington apartment

March 11, 2013 Denise Romano
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There’s a whole lot of shaking going on in Kathie Resch’s Ovington Avenue apartment and she wants it to stop.

Resch has lived in her sixth floor apartment for the past 18 years. She said that the strange vibrations started in 2006.

“I slept on the kitchen floor last night,” she told this paper when we visited her home on a late winter morning. “It’s worse when the weather is bad. You can feel it when you lie in bed, sit on the couch, even on the toilet!”

This paper did feel very strange pulsing sensations in both our back and feet while sitting on Resch’s couch.

Resch, who works at the Guild for Exceptional Children, called 3-1-1 to make complaints when the problem first arose, but got nowhere. Then she reached the Department of Buildings, who suggested that she hire an engineer to conduct a “vibration analysis.”

According to the $2,000 analysis performed by AKF Analysis and Testing in June, 2012, there are “low amplitude frequencies present” with “constant vibrations” throughout the apartment.

“There is nothing on the roof, not even a ventilation fan,” Resch said, adding that the report found that the pulses are coming from two different motors within the building that are not an air conditioner or a refrigerator.

With this data, Resch took her landlord, SG and Sons Realty to court.

“The judge said that vibrations were not a violation,” she said, adding that the judge deemed her analysis invalid since it did not come from a city agency. “I was even charged for taking the landlord to court.”

Resch then contacted the Department of Environmental Protection to do a reading of her home. Last month, the first and second round of inspectors brought the wrong type of meter and she is waiting for a third visit to be scheduled.

“Taxpayers are paying them to come with the wrong meter,” she lamented. “The [building’s] super felt them [the vibrations]. I even put rubber matting underneath the couch and the bed, but you must stop it at the source.”

According to a DEP spokesperson, inspectors did take noise readings at Resch’s apartment, which were found within legal limits. However, he said that more inspectors will be sent out with an octave meter to measure for vibrations.

The spokesperson went on to say that DEP can only make enforcements if the source is commercial, such as vibrations from living above a bar or restaurant with loud bass music. He added that the landlord would be responsible for any residential enforcement.

SG and Sons did not return calls seeking comment.

Resch said that Councilmember Vincent Gentile and State Senator Marty Golden’s offices have been helpful, but she wants the problem solved.

“I am on sleeping pills and anti-depressants,” she added. “How can I retire when I can’t stay home?”

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