Between 2017 and 2026, Lou Rubino inspected 20 homes in Park Slope. The Slope's brownstones went up mostly between the 1880s and the 1910s, and buying one means buying a hundred-plus years of decisions — original, Victorian-era craftsmanship and every owner's project since, stacked four storeys high.
Rated 5.0 on Google as of August 2026 · U.S. Army veteran owned · NY licence #16000039568 · 516-330-3870
The cellar is the honest end of the house. Down there the original joists, the notches and patches of every plumbing era, and the beams that have carried it all along are simply visible — nothing has been decorated. Lou spends real time in Park Slope cellars because the floors above only make sense once you have seen what holds them.
The top floor is the other truth-teller. Under the roof, the rafters record every leak the ceilings have long since been painted over — and with a curb-invisible flat or shallow-pitch roof above, that record is usually the only warning you get. A finished top floor with no attic access is precisely the "not observed, and here is why" case New York requires the report to spell out.
Related: How Lou inspects a brownstone · What an inspection costs · Schedule an inspection.
All three photographs are from Lou's own Park Slope inspection reports, chosen because they show a building component and nothing that identifies a property or an owner.
Cracks and damaged framing are information: their pattern and extent tell the report whether further evaluation by an engineer or the right contractor is the honest next step. The report documents location and extent so change can be seen later. What a condition report does and does not rule on.
A flat roof hides everything from the street: membrane seams, patches, drainage and parapet condition. Patching is normal maintenance — the report records what condition the membrane shows today and whether repair or further evaluation is the honest next step. How roofs are examined and reported.
Old wiring is not automatically a defect — it is a question of condition, capacity and what was added to it over the decades. The report describes what era of wiring is present and where it needs a closer look. Old wiring and panels, explained.
Meters, regulators and gas piping are checked visually and, where warranted, with instruments — outdoor equipment in salt air earns a closer look. How a building is metered is also part of what you are buying. The licence behind the inspection.
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.
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.
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: Prospect Heights · Prospect Lefferts Gardens · all 26 towns.
His Park Slope file goes back to 2017. Yours would not be the first.
Not sure yet? Read what New York requires of your inspector or see a real report.