Between 2015 and 2025, Lou Rubino inspected 8 homes in Cambria Heights. The neighbourhood's 1930s brick Tudor rows are good enough that the City landmarked two blocks of them as historic districts in 2022 — and the features that earned that, slate roofs and storybook brickwork, are also the ones an inspection has to treat with respect.
Rated 5.0 on Google as of August 2026 · U.S. Army veteran owned · NY licence #16000039568 · 516-330-3870
Slate is the rare roof that can outlive its owners — but it fails piece by piece, and the repair question is always the same: slipped and broken slates, or a system at the end of its fasteners? Lou marks the individual slates so the report supports a repair conversation, not just a replacement quote.
Inside, many of these houses have been renovated top to bottom, which changes the inspection rather than shortening it. New kitchens and finishes sit on 1930s bones; Lou tests what was installed — receptacle by receptacle with a tester where they are accessible, not with a glance — and reads what the renovation chose not to touch.
Related: Queens co-ops and condos · What an inspection costs · Schedule an inspection.
All three photographs are from Lou's own Cambria Heights inspection reports, chosen because they show a building component and nothing that identifies a property or an owner.
Siding, trim, masonry and parged walls are the building's raincoat, and cracks or failed mortar can give water a way in. The report documents their location and pattern so the right contractor or specialist can evaluate them when warranted. Where water gets in, explained.
Managing roof runoff is often one of the most cost-effective maintenance work a house gets — discharge against the foundation raises the risk of moisture problems below. Why drainage decides basements.
Water heaters have a known service life, and their installation — clearance, venting, the gas connection, the pan — matters as much as their age. All of it is checked where it sits. What the write-up looks like.
A boiler's data plate gives its real age; the burn chamber and the piping around it give its real condition. Both go in the report so replacement budgeting is arithmetic, not argument. What an inspection costs against what it finds.
Managing roof runoff is often one of the most cost-effective maintenance work a house gets — discharge against the foundation raises the risk of moisture problems below. Why drainage decides basements.
Asphalt and slate-type roofs age in legible stages: curling, cracking, slipped pieces, exposed fasteners. Reading the stage helps establish the visible wear and whether maintenance, repair or further evaluation is the honest next step. The report must say how the roof was examined.
All photographs are from Lou's own inspection reports for jobs in this area, screened so nothing identifies a property or an owner.
Lou covers Long Island, the five boroughs and Westchester from his base in Wantagh, and the archive behind these pages shows where that work has actually concentrated.
Also nearby: Bellerose · Floral Park · all 26 towns.
His Cambria Heights file goes back to 2015. Yours would not be the first.
Not sure yet? Read what New York requires of your inspector or see a real report.