NEW YORK CITY

The 162-unit Tracy Towers at 245 East 24th Street isn't the only co-op that boasts a pristine boiler room. The Columbia, on the Upper West Side, also has a squeaky-clean boiler room, thanks to resident manager Michael Smart.

"It's easy to say, 'Let's worry about how the boiler room looks later,' but if such a simple room is a mess imagine what else you are going to encounter," says Smart, who tends to the building's two boilers. The boilers date back to 1983 and provide heat for 302 units. 

After a second mind- (and toe-, and finger-, and nose- ...)numbingly cold winter, radiators are probably the last thing on New York City residents' minds. And yet while most apartment-dwellers are taking advantage of longer days and warmer temperatures, one company is quietly revolutionizing how we heat our homes.

Meet Marshall Cox. Cox is the CEO and founder of Radiator Labs, a small tech start-up with an eye on solving one of New York's most annoying problems: overheated apartments. It's a common issue without a simple solution, particularly in steam-heated buildings. How can you quickly and easily move heat from overheated apartments to cooler ones?

We're not all amateur entomologists, so if you catch a creepy crawly scuttling around in your apartment in the corner of your eye, it's understandable if you panic. After all, bedbugs really are the stuff of nightmares. If you think that's an exaggeration, then you've never lived through an infestation. But if you see something that looks like one of these ghastly little beasts, it might not actually be a bedbug. Brickunderground has compiled a list of bugs that look like these dastardly devils. That's right: as if they weren't horrific enough on their own, they've got doppelgängers. The most alarming one on the list? Bat bugs. "These tricky insects resemble bed bugs so closely that it takes an expert to identify them," says Brickunderground. Great. Itching yet? In the meantime, let's hope these guys finalize their system to eradicate them for good! 

Marathon Cares, the charitable arm of the family-owned oil, gas and electricity supply and service company, Marathon Energy, helped sponsor last month two New York fundraising events for organizations dedicated to treating childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases: Ronald McDonald House and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. On May 16, Marathon supported the 20th annual Niki Sedaris Memorial Walkathon to benefit the Greek Division of Ronald McDonald House New York. 

A READER ASKS: I would like to install several ductless air-conditioning units in my apartment to replace the window A/C units. I’m on the 10th floor of a 12-story condominium. Installing the unit on the roof seems like the most practical option, but my board has raised some concerns regarding running the lines outside the building. What are some of the issues I need to contend with to install a ductless air-conditioner?

Replacing an elevator, especially in a building with only one, is no small feat. It's an exercise in organization, planning, coordination, and damage control — lots of damage control. Timing is everything with any major capital improvement project, but sometimes there's no way around it: if your elevator breaks down and the only real, cost-effective fix is replacement, it's going to be a long and grueling process. And people are going to complain, especially now that the days are turning hot and humid.

It is the small details that can lead to big problems. Working as an energy efficiency consultant, Matt Brown, an engineer by training, discovered an airport airline facility was losing $4 million and no one knew why. 

Mystery solved: Brown discovered that a button on the building's computerized management system was somehow being disabled. Press a button and save $6 million? Brown knew technology should work more efficiently with buildings.

It is the small details that can lead to big problems. Working as an energy efficiency consultant, Matt Brown, an engineer by training, discovered an airport airline facility was losing $4 million and no one knew why.

Mystery solved: Brown discovered that a button on the building's computerized management system was somehow being disabled. Press a button and save $6 million? Brown knew technology should work more efficiently with buildings.

Is your building in a state historical district or a designated state landmark? If so, you might be able to take advantage of the New York State Homeowners Credit, a law that became effective in 2009 that earns eligible tenant-shareholders and unit-owners of co-op and condo apartments tax credits for doing repairs to the exterior and interior of the building.

To qualify, the building must be an owner-occupied residential structure — sublet units are not eligible — listed with either the State Historic Preservation Office or the National Register of Historic Places, or located in a state or nationally registered historic district and certified as being of historic significance to the district. Designation by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) doesn't determine eligibility for the credit, but the LPC does has oversight over the scope of the work.

A husband and wife found the perfect apartment — no small feat in the complex world of New York City real estate — located in a "white-glove" co-op, complete with private entrance. Very, very posh. The couple's bid was accepted, but then the pair read the building's governing documents and got a glimpse of living large that made them very uncomfortable. "They said that 'household help' was restricted to using service elevators and entrances, while residents could use the main ones. Two sets of laundry facilities separated such workers from residents. My husband noted that since we would have our own entrance and don’t have any household help, the bylaws wouldn’t affect us. But we would still do our laundry in the separate laundry rooms and would still be a part of what we consider reprehensible policies," they write to Ronda Kaysen in this week's Ask Real Estate column in The New York Times. The couple withdrew its bid and wants to know whether the building's policies are ethical or even legal. Kaysen explains that by definition, a white-glove building "connotes Old World (and old money) sensibilities — a modern-day 'Downton Abbey' on the Upper East Side." After all, Kaysen points out, the term "white-glove building" refers to the gloves its staff either still wears or tended to wear in the past. So it's no surprise that, first, they include language about "household help" and that, second, they have policies in place that keep domestic staff out of sight. Kaysen adds, however, that governing documents don't necessarily offer an accurate picture of a building's culture. For example, the language and policies with which the couple took umbrage may have been drafted decades ago and may be no longer enforced. For better insight, the couple might have asked to read meeting minutes, asked brokers for details about the building's cultural atmosphere or jumped on the old Google machine for an inside scoop.