Brownstones and townhouses fail differently
A 1900 row house and a 1995 colonial have almost nothing in common behind the finishes. Attached walls, a flat roof, a cellar rather than a basement, and a hundred years of other people's repairs.
The things a suburban checklist misses
Lou spent thirty years building and renovating before he started inspecting, and pre-war city housing is where that matters most. These are the items that separate a real inspection of a brownstone from a walk-through with a clipboard.
- Party walls. An attached house shares structure with its neighbours. Movement, moisture and fire separation all behave differently when the building next door is part of yours.
- Flat roofs and drainage. Ponding, failed flashing at the parapet, and internal drains that nobody has opened in years.
- The facade. Spalling brownstone, failed pointing, and previous repairs done in the wrong material — which fails faster than the stone it was meant to protect.
- Knob-and-tube. Pre-war wiring hidden behind newer renovation work. Finding it is a safety issue, not a footnote.
- Cast iron waste stacks. A century-old stack can look sound and be paper-thin at the joints.
- Lead and galvanized supply. On one inspection Lou found a lead service line the previous owners did not know was there.
- Steam heat and old boilers. One-pipe steam is its own discipline, and the cost of getting it wrong is a heating system.
- Settlement, old versus new. Cracking that has been stable for eighty years, and cracking that started last winter, do not look the same to someone who has built.
A Brooklyn brownstone, on very short notice
“We needed a home inspection on very short notice, and he made himself available for a 3-hour inspection to keep us within our timeline. Lou possesses a deep wealth of knowledge about Brooklyn brownstones and townhouses, and was able to explain historic quirks and issues specific to the home, and provided suggestions about facade restoration and electrical upgrades.”
Buying a co-op or a condo instead?
The unit is only part of what you are buying into.
For condos and co-ops, common areas are included in the inspection where building management gives permission — the roof, the cellar, the mechanicals you will be paying to maintain through your monthly charges whether you ever see them or not. It is worth asking management for that access before the inspection is booked, because it is the part most buyers never get to look at.
One Brooklyn client had several condo inspections done and put it plainly: “He can work with a tight schedule and does a very thorough inspection. His reports are excellent.”
Under contract on a brownstone?
Call and describe the building — age, how many units, whether it has been renovated. Lou will tell you what he would be looking for, and whether he can make your deadline.