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We generally begin with the facade.   It is not visible in this photo, but someone replaced the downspout and when they did, they left a hole in the brick where the bracket had been.   That hole is an entry point for water and that water can freeze and expand and cause further damage to the mortar or even dislodge bricks.   

Note the window.   We usually check windows from the inside but it is wort

This sort of crack in brick work is troubling because it shows movement.   Homeowner has been advised to consult a professional about this damage.

These are bluestone sidewalk flags in a historic district.   It seems that the city is a little more lenient with these stones than they are with concrete sidewalk flags.   This owner has been advised to monitor these to be sure a nearby tree does not offset them more than they have already moved.   

Rusty Iron work with separation between top rail and newel post.  Advised customer to have an iron worker look at the separation between the rail and newel.   Told them they can maintain the iron by scraping loose paint and heavy rust and priming the iron with a rusty metal primer and painting with an industrial oil base paint.   Advised them to test for lead or practice safe lead techniques.

This is part of a fire escape on a multi family house.   The customer was advised to maintain this with a light scraping and rusty metal primer and some industrial paint.    of course safe lead practices should be used.

Fire escapes require special attention because some of them have steps that have been welded in place as opposed to bolted or riveted and the welds can deteriorate and break.

This is the inside of an entry door.   On the outside is a brass plate.   Inside is the wood shown running across the bottom.   Both the plate and this wood were put on the bottom of the door to help hold it together and hide rot.   

This is the exterior extended jamb to the right of an entry door.   All of these will have issues in the older housing stock in the city but the reason I pointed this out was because the bottom rail under the panel is not only separating but it appears to have been replaced with thicker wood, making it protrude.    A proper wood worker can address this using wood planed to thickness.

There is a void in the flashing cement on this capstone and in the mortar in the joint below.   I am not a big fan of putting flashing cement on mortar or mortar joints because once water gets into the joint, it has no way out and will sit there and cause problems.   In this case, i advised the owner to continue with what the neighbor and previous owner had started and maintain the flashing cement

Open flashing joint around a skylight with evidence of water sitting in it.   Advise Customer to maintain some of these joints himself with flashing cement.

This is mortar on the side of a chimney facing the neighboring house.   We always inspect parapet walls and chimneys where they rise over a neighboring house.   My feeling is that the mortar joints on this chimney had failed and some bricks had moved, allowing water in which had escalated the problem.   A previous owner mortared the surface to slow the damage but the cracks suggest further damage.

These are cracks in the mortar crown on top of the chimney.   One of the cracks is in a newer crown placed when the chimney was relined, the other in the older crown.   Mortar often cracks as it dries, often because too much water was put in it as it was mixed.  This customer has been advised to speak with a chimney specialist although their appear to be do it yourself crown repair products on the

Open mortar joint on parapet wall.   If water gets into this joint and freezes, it can compromise the entire wall.   Customer has been advised to monitor and consult an expert.

Roof blister.    Some of these blisters are caused by water intrusion and others are caused by warm moist air expanding under the membrane, pushing it away from the surface.   Blisters suspected of containing water must be investigated as leaks.   In this case, Steve returned to this house at night and using thermal imaging technology, confirmed that the blister does not contain water.    Homeowne

Under this debris and dirt is a roof drain.   it looks as thought it has not been cleaned in three or four years.   As a courtesy, Steve cleaned and advised the customer to inspect the roof drains at minimum, two times a year.   

Open seam in roof.   Black spotting indicates roof paint is wearing thin.   Advised home owner to maintain the seam with flashing cement and fiberglass mesh and paint the roof as soon as the flashing cement hardens.

The condensation in this replacement window is from a broken seal in the thermal unit.   These units can be replaced by removing the sash and bringing it to a glass shop so they can measure it and order new glazing.   The shop can open the aluminum frame and install the thermal unit.   In this house, i explained to the customer how to remove the sash.

This house has 1970's era storm windows on it.   These windows are important to the house because it still has the original single pane sashes and those, aside from being uninsulated, are drafty around the edges of the sash.   Some of the storm windows have this sort of damage along the bottom.  

Note the wood frames.   Though dried, the frames are in good shape for a house built in the mid 19th ce

Note the open joint between the top rail and hinge stile on this door.   The glue has given way on this inner vestibule door.   Once this happens, a door begins to sag.  This can be repaired with out taking the door a part by mortising new joints between the stiles and rails and epoxy wood between them. 

This is a capped gas line from where a gas lamp was once located in the stairwell of an older home.   A plumber should determine if these lines are still necessary for other appliances and if they are not, they should be cut in the basement.

This sink was filled with water and allowed to drain.   I could have made and drank a cup of tea as i sat there waiting for the water to go down.   The clog was probably local, in the trap below the sink because everything else in the bathroom and house worked fine.

The light bulb in this fixture blinked on and off.   It is an LED bulb and those can be problematic.   Customer was advised to change the bulb and if that bulb continued to blink, there was probably a loose wire inside the fixture in which case they should source a new fixture and have it installed by a licensed electrician.

This outlet is outside and is not a GFI.   Outdoor outlets must be GFI's to protect against electrical shock or worse.   Damp conditions and older tools make this a very risky situation.

Note the paint on the exterior brick.   It is bad to paint brick because if water enters it someplace, it can become trapped and will freeze in the winter damaging the mortar joints.

This outlet tester shows an ungrounded circuit. The outlet is a 3 prong so something is wrong with the ground wire.  Client has been advised to consult an electrian.

The large red and black wire are the main feed wires from the meter to this box.   They are sitting very close to the front of the box and run directly behind a screw hole for the cover.   I pushed them back in the box before reinstalling the cover.   It should be noted that only special screws with flat points on them should be used on panel boxes so the screw tip does not puncture the insulation

This is a grounding rod.   They were not required in New York City until the city adopted the National Electric Code in 2004.   Modern construction requires two grounding rods.   This home has the older cold water ground intact and this rod.

This panel box is missing cover plates where there are no circuits.  The open area must be covered and taped off.  

Junction box is missing a screw and is partly open.

The red circles indicate corrosion.   Corrosion can increase resistance and resistance can make the wires hot.  I told the homeowner to call an electrician.   The electrician looked at the situation and determined that water was leaking in through the Con-Cd conduit located above the box.   The homeowner contacted Con-Ed and asked them to fix the leak.

This is a valve for the sprinkler system in a multi family house.   The equipment is painted red with a sign to say it is part of the fire system.  Notice the chains on the valves.   Valves that are not monitored by a tamper alarm must be chained open.   This valve and system must be inspected every 30 days an FDNY certificate holder.

I used hold a FDNY Certificate allowing me to inspect these.   I

This picture shows a corroded cold water ground on a four family house.   It is also the only ground wire in the house.   I was not sure what to say about a single ground wire in a four family so i advised the owner to contact a licensed electrician.   The owner later told me that the entire grounding system was insufficient for a house with four apartments and additional grounding and grounding r

This is a "sistered" joist.    A single bolt through the center of the joist - the "dead zone" - is the least effective way to sister a joist.   Bolts or even 10d nails can be used alternating along the lower portion of the joist or the upper portion, no closer than 1" from the edge and with no two of the next nearest bolts or nails lining up with one another (they can split the wood).   

These are the dryer vent and furnace intake on a multi family home.   The furnace intake should be a minimum of 3' from the dryer vent.   Note that the dryer vent is missing its flap.   This is bad because a rodent can crawl into the vent line.   In spring of 2022 a neighbor of mine called me because they found an opossum in their dryer.

This is a thermal image of two homes in Brooklyn. The darker color indicates moisture or water inside the brick.   We took this image because the house on the right has a leak at the top of the door frame inside the house.   The house on the left is about to have a leak over the window.   With this technology we  determined that the water is entering up high, near the top where there is a downspou