In 2015, Lou Rubino inspected one home in Rye — one job, one written report, and the photographs below come from it. The report describes a colonial, about 126 years old.
Rated 4.9 on Google as of November 2026 · U.S. Army veteran owned · NY licence #16000039568 · 516-330-3870
The report, as Lou wrote it up.
2015, a colonial, about 126 years old: 13 items flagged: 3 rooms; 3 bathrooms; 2 exterior. As recorded: fiberglass, r-19 or better and foam insulation; brick full brick and stucco siding; poured concrete foundation, 2 x12 floor framing, steel lally columns, crawlspace: crawled; double-hung and thermal/insulated windows, hardwood t&g floors. Flagged, in Lou’s words: “Front door side lights and transom are single pane glass, and wood panels are only 1" thick, 36 degree reading at side light frames”; “Rear living room double doors, 27 degree reading over door and at center seam”; “Front door to 1st floor guest bedroom warped at top and not sealing”; “Rear Kitchen door checked at top right. Cold reading at left side of frame and at floor”; “Den right side door cold air from under and over door 47 to 54 degree range”; “Second floor gallery double door, 32 degree reading at floor and center”; “Master bedroom 47 degree reading at base of quad doors”; “Master closet balcony door 55 degrees at bottom”; “Third floor recreation room double door 34 degrees at bottom”; “First floor has a total of 5 single 8' and 4 double 8' doors”; “Second floor has a total of 4 single 7' and 1 double 7' and 1 quad 7' doors”; “Any time you add a exterior door to a structure you are compromising the insulation envelope”; “The day of the thermal imaging was an extreme weather condition with record low temperature 3 degrees F with 15 to 20 mph winds”; “Rear basement window under living room 37 degree reading around frame”; “Kitchen light switch area to right of rear door cold 47 degree reading”; “Kitchen window double hung right side cold air around window and bottom right 47- 52 degree range”; “Kitchen picture window west wall 45 degree reading”; “Master closet side windows east wall. 55 degrees around window frame”; “See item 2.1 doors exterior”; “Office ceiling over left side door 27 degree reading”. Also noted: “Heat lose north side foundation exterior fresh air vent left side”; “Heat lose north side foundation exterior fresh air vent right side”; “Living room turret window west side heat lose not complimentary of inside photos”; “Turret window dining and recreation rooms heat lose not complimentary of inside photos”; “Heat loss images may not be complimentary to inside photos because of windy conditions”; “Difficult to capture heat images, wind was about 15 mph on west side”; “It may be advisable to plant shrubbery close to the house to block wind on bay (west) side”. On the day: clear, 15 to 20 mph winds off bay, frozen ground, no rain in the three days before; the house faces east.
“Flagged” is HomeGauge’s Repair or Replace mark, not a verdict on the house. See a complete report.
Related: The Westchester page · What an inspection costs · Schedule an inspection.
Both photographs are from Lou's own Rye inspection reports, chosen because they show a building component and nothing that identifies a property or an owner.
Median year built in zip 10580: 1956 (Westchester: 1958). Of 6,614 units, 31% predates 1940; 16% is from 2000 on. Next come the 1950s at 16% and the 1960s at 11%. An older house is not a worse house, but its wiring, plumbing and roof were installed under different rules and replaced piecemeal, which is what the inspection looks for. Lou’s reports here: 126 years old. (ACS)
74% utility gas, 15% fuel oil or kerosene; fuel oil 15% against 30% county-wide. NYSDEC logs 538 petroleum spills at private homes in Rye since 1986, 147 since 2015. 23 were logged in 2012, the year of Hurricane Sandy. A gas conversion can leave a tank behind. An abandoned tank is most likely in a house that was converted from oil. Buried tanks are outside the standards New York sets for a home inspection, so the seller’s answer matters. (ACS, NYSDEC)
66% detached houses, 9% buildings of 50 or more units, 6% two-unit buildings; 72% owner-occupied (Westchester: 62%). Detached houses dominate, so most inspections here run from the roof to the foundation of one building. (ACS)
City of Rye: 115 basement tests, average 2.31 pCi/L, 19 at 4 or above (17%). Westchester: 18% of 2,826. First-floor tests there: 28, average 0.84. On the share at 4 or above, it ranks 14th of the county’s 23 towns and cities. The highest basement reading was 9.5 pCi/L. EPA’s action level is 4 pCi/L, and it advises testing every home whatever the area’s results. Radon testing is optional. (NYSDOH)
1,996 flood-insurance claims from zip 10580 since 1978, most in 2007 (303): 15th of the 189 zips on these pages. A claim count describes the zip, not the house. Flood zones follow the address. Check the address on FEMA’s map. (OpenFEMA)
The City of Rye Building Department. Your attorney usually runs the search. The inspection reports the condition of what is there and flags work that typically needs a permit, such as a finished basement, a dormer or a moved panel, so you know what to ask about.
By median year built, fuel-oil share and owner-occupancy: Rye (zip 10580) 1956, 15%, 72%; Larchmont (zip 10538): built 1938, oil 27%, 78% owner-occupied; Scarsdale (zip 10583): built 1953, oil 17%, 85% owner-occupied; White Plains (zip 10606): built 1961, oil 25%, 38% owner-occupied. (ACS)
The New York State Uniform Code, the local water suppliers and the county rule on testing private wells at sale: county-wide, written once. They are the same for every town in Westchester, so they are set out there with their sources instead of on each page.
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.
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.
Nearby towns Lou has inspected: Larchmont · Scarsdale · White Plains · New Rochelle · Hartsdale · Bronxville · all 250 towns.
His Rye 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.