I hadn't thought about getting long matches; my thought was wooden kitchen matches and tongs.
The long matches will work much better. If you're holding a match with tongs or some such, it's too easy to bump the match (turning it inconveniently), drop it, etc -- at which point you'll be tempted to improvise. Note of experience: newspaper twisted up to make a poor man's long match burns faster than you think it will.
I'd just like to avoid paying for someone professional (aka expensive) to come out to do something simple.
I'm with you on that! Maybe there's a neighbor who could help? Does this building have a local caretaker? This would be part of his job if so. And beating up on the contractors who caused the problem is definitely worth trying; I'm just pesimistic about success.
Re:
The long matches will work much better. If you're holding a match with tongs or some such, it's too easy to bump the match (turning it inconveniently), drop it, etc -- at which point you'll be tempted to improvise. Note of experience: newspaper twisted up to make a poor man's long match burns faster than you think it will.
I'd just like to avoid paying for someone professional (aka expensive) to come out to do something simple.
I'm with you on that! Maybe there's a neighbor who could help? Does this building have a local caretaker? This would be part of his job if so. And beating up on the contractors who caused the problem is definitely worth trying; I'm just pesimistic about success.
Good luck!