Westchester home inspections: the ground here is not Long Island
Lou works up here regularly, and the honest summary is that the house above ground is often familiar while everything below it is not.
Septic and wells, under county rules
In northern Westchester, being on a septic system is close to the norm rather than the exception, and a great many houses draw their water from a private well. The county health department sets its own rules for how those are designed and built.
Both matter more than anything cosmetic you will look at on the day, and New York's standards do not require an inspector to evaluate either one. A septic inspection is its own job and water testing goes to a laboratory. Lou will note what is visible and the evidence around it, and the report will say plainly where his scope ended.
Radon here is not what the map says it is
The EPA's radon zone map puts Westchester in the same zone as New York City, Nassau and Suffolk — the lowest of the three. That map was drawn in 1993, it is county-wide, and the EPA itself warns that potential varies within a county.
More recent data points the other way. On CDC figures, New York State's own housing agency requires passive radon mitigation in Westchester and does not require it in Nassau or Suffolk. State health department testing has found roughly one basement in six here above the EPA action level. Northern Westchester sits on the same granite as Putnam next door, which is in the highest zone.
So: test. The kit is inexpensive, and a thirty-year-old county-wide map is not an answer for your address.
Buying in Westchester?
Different ground, different rules, and different questions to ask.
Not sure yet? Read what New York requires of your inspector or see a real report.
Photographs from real inspections
Real photographs from Lou's own inspections, chosen because they show a building component and nothing that identifies a property or an owner.
Where Lou works
Long Island, the five boroughs and Westchester. The seven areas below each have their own page, because a house in Levittown and a brownstone in Brooklyn fail in completely different ways.
Locator diagram, not a survey. The dark marker is Wantagh, where Lou is based.
- Levittown & MassapequaLevitt-era slabs and expansion attics
- Long Beach & Island ParkFlood zone, elevation and drainage
- Garden City & Rockville CentrePre-war houses and original systems
- Huntington & NorthportSeptic, well and north shore grades
- Queens co-ops & condosShared systems and board access
- Brooklyn brownstonesCentury-old party walls and cellars
- WestchesterOlder housing stock, larger lots