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Inspect This Home Inspections Army Veteran Owned · NY Licensed
Brooklyn · town homes and colonial

Home inspector in Canarsie, NY

Between 2015 and 2020, Lou Rubino inspected four homes in Canarsie — four jobs, each with a written report, and the photographs below come from them. Three of the four reports cover two town homes and one colonial.

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What the Canarsie reports found

Across three of the four reports, the summaries listed 13 repair-or-replace items, most of them under the roof, chimney and attic, the electrical system and plumbing. A repair-or-replace item is HomeGauge's term for something that was not working as intended or needed a specialist's look — it is not a verdict on the house, and the full report explains each one with photographs.

Canarsie is in Brooklyn, and Lou covers it from his base in Wantagh the same way he covers every other place on this site: same licence, same report format, same-day report as a rule. The count above is history from his own files, not a service boundary — call or text 516-330-3870 and he will quote the actual property.

Related: The Brooklyn page · What an inspection costs · Schedule an inspection.

What the inspection can examine here

  • The roof, chimney and attic — how the roof was observed is stated in the report, as New York requires, and the attic is entered wherever a hatch allows.
  • The panel, with the readily accessible covers off — New York requires it — and the visible wiring, outlets and grounding.
  • Supply and drain plumbing where it can be seen — materials, visible leaks, the water heater and its venting, and what moisture has already done.
  • Radon — a separate, optional test arranged alongside the inspection.

Photographs from Canarsie reports

Flat white rooftop with dark wet streaks running along it, a brick chimney and parapet to the left, three red arrows at the bottom edge.
Water is ponding at the rear of the roof over the last three sections; the three red arrows mark each wet section.
Base of a silver-coated chimney flue pipe on a flat roof with a red arrow pointing at the sealant around it.
Crack in the flashing cement at the chimney flue base; the red arrow marks the sealant where the flue pipe meets the roof.
Garage door torsion spring and track seen from below, with a red line drawn along the spring.
Safety cables are not present in the garage door lift springs and the door lock is worn. Lou recommended evaluation and repair by a licensed garage door contractor.

All three photographs are from Lou's own Canarsie inspection reports, chosen because they show a building component and nothing that identifies a property or an owner.

Buying in Canarsie: the questions with sourced answers

Each answer below cites where it comes from — the Census, the office that holds the permits, the state code, or Lou’s own reports.

How old are the houses in Canarsie?

The Census puts the median year built for homes in zip code 11236 at 1957, and about 28% of the 37,002 housing units there were built before 1940. An older house is not a worse house, but its wiring, plumbing and roof were installed under different rules and replaced piecemeal, which is exactly what the inspection looks for. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-year estimates, tables B25035 and B25034, ZCTA 11236.

What kind of housing is Canarsie: single-family, two-family or apartments?

Of 37,002 housing units in zip 11236, about 8% are detached single-family houses, 45% are two-unit buildings, and 50% of occupied homes are owner-occupied. A two-family or a co-op is a different inspection from a detached house: shared systems, common areas and what the board or the other unit controls. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2019–2023 5-year, tables B25024 and B25003, ZCTA 11236.

Who holds the building permits and certificate of occupancy for a house in Canarsie?

NYC Department of Buildings handles permits and certificates of occupancy for every address in the borough. Permits and COs are kept by the municipality, not the inspector; checking them is a records search, usually through your attorney. The inspection reports the condition of what is there and flags work that typically needs a permit — a finished basement, a dormer, a moved panel — so you know what to ask about. NYC Department of Buildings. Lookups: BIS https://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/bispi00.jsp; DOB NOW Public Portal https://a810-dobnow.nyc.gov/publish/#!/

Which building code applies in Canarsie?

Brooklyn is governed by the New York City Construction Codes enforced by the NYC Department of Buildings; the State Uniform Code does not apply inside New York City. Source: www.nyc.gov.

Public water and sewer, or well and cesspool, in Canarsie?

NYC DEP supplies the borough with more than 1 billion gallons a day from upstate reservoirs, serving about nine million customers; there is no private-well supply. NYC DEP runs the sewer system (over 6,000 miles of sewers) and 14 wastewater resource recovery facilities treating 1.3 billion gallons a day; homes are on city sewer, not septic. The inspection reports what the house actually has and its visible condition; a cesspool or septic system needs its own evaluation. Source: www.nyc.gov.

Is Canarsie in a flood zone?

Flood zones follow the address, not the town. OpenFEMA holds 6,319 NFIP claim records for Kings County (FIPS 36047). NYC notes FEMA's city flood maps have not been significantly updated since 1983 and insurance rates still rest on the 2007 Effective FIRMs. Look the address up on FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center before you sign. Source: www.fema.gov.

Should I test for radon in Canarsie?

Brooklyn is in EPA Zone 3 (low potential) — Zone 3 counties have a predicted average indoor radon screening level below 2 pCi/L; EPA still recommends testing every home. NYSDOH's borough estimate (Feb 2007, 339 homes measured) is 1.3% of living areas and 7% of basements above 4 pCi/L. Radon is a separate, optional test arranged alongside the inspection. Source: www.epa.gov.

Is there a local rule in Brooklyn a buyer should know about?

Co-op and condo units are sold under an offering plan reviewed by the NY Attorney General's Real Estate Finance Bureau under the Martin Act; the AG advises reading the whole plan and consulting an attorney before signing. Source: ag.ny.gov.

What did Lou’s Canarsie inspections actually turn up?

Across his reports in Canarsie, the summaries listed 13 repair-or-replace items, most of them under the roof, chimney and attic, the electrical system and plumbing. Every one is in the written report with a photograph; see what a report looks like.

How much does a home inspection in Canarsie cost, and how fast is the report?

Lou quotes the actual property, not a flat rate — what drives the price is size, age and what is included. The written report arrives the same day as a rule; a large or complex house can run to the next morning. Call or text 516-330-3870.

Brooklyn, town by town

Every Brooklyn place with a page here, each with the real count from Lou's records. The Brooklyn page covers the county as a whole.

Where this sits in Lou's territory

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: Sheepshead Bay · Clinton Hill · Prospect Heights · all 250 towns.

Buying in Canarsie?

His Canarsie file goes back to 2015. Yours would not be the first.

Schedule an inspection Call 516-330-3870

Not sure yet? Read what New York requires of your inspector or see a real report.

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