Between 2015 and 2023, Lou Rubino inspected 12 homes in Port Washington. This is one of Nassau's genuinely old places — settled in the 1600s, a working sand-mining port into the twentieth century — and its housing runs decades older than the post-war South Shore, on hillier ground, closer to the water table in the low spots.
Rated 5.0 on Google as of August 2026 · U.S. Army veteran owned · NY licence #16000039568 · 516-330-3870
Age brings a different pest and moisture profile. Termite evidence — the mud tubes they build to travel — turns up in old sills and framing here, and finding it during the inspection rather than during a renovation is worth the whole fee. New York's standard has Lou reporting what he observes; a wood-destroying-insect finding is one observation you want early.
The cellars tell the rest of the story. Stone and early-concrete foundations, water services and meters that have been in place for generations, additions stitched onto houses that were already old when the additions went on. None of it is unusual for Port Washington — which is exactly why the person inspecting it should have seen a dozen of these before yours.
Related: North Shore grades and systems · What an inspection costs · Schedule an inspection.
All three photographs are from Lou's own Port Washington inspection reports, chosen because they show a building component and nothing that identifies a property or an owner.
Chimney crowns, caps and screens are the cheap parts that protect the expensive parts. Cracked crowns and missing screens let water and animals into a flue, and the damage below can run for years unseen. What happens when part of a system cannot be seen.
Cracks are information: their direction, width and pattern say whether masonry has settled and stopped or is still moving. The report traces them so a later reader can see change. What a condition report does and does not rule on.
Chimney crowns, caps and screens are the cheap parts that protect the expensive parts. Cracked crowns and missing screens let water and animals into a flue, and the damage below can run for years unseen. What happens when part of a system cannot be seen.
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.
Interior staining, failed tile and soft surfaces are the end of a story that started somewhere else. The inspection's job is to find the start — and to say whether the evidence looks active or historical. Water damage and moisture, explained.
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: Huntington & Northport · all 26 towns.
His Port Washington 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.