YOUR HOUSE NEEDS A Maintenance Plan

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Know this first:   Since graduating from college in 1990, Steve Cymbalsky, the owner of Brownstone Home Inspection LLC, has worked in four professionally managed buildings (or properties) as a member of the management team.   Three of these buildings were commercial buildings in NYC - one of those was a high rise building in Manhattan.    One thing is paramount to professional building managers:   life safety.   Second to that is liability and the protection of the building and its systems.   Know that if you hire Steve to perform a maintenance inspection of your property, he will be looking for issues that can cause bodily harm to you, your family or tenants, and the general public.  Steve will also look for items that can lead to property damage.   Know that Steve has extensive safety training, including Fire Safety training from John Jay's Fire Science Institute and OSHA training.   Steve is the person who developed the initial New York City Fire Department (FDNY) approved Fire Safety Plans for 165 West 57th St in Manhattan (1995) and 1500 Pelham Parkway in the Bronx (1999). 

For people working in building management, after life safety and liability comes general maintenance.   Most important of these are things that can get worse if they are not addressed in a timely manner.   Then come issues that might be considered inconveniences.   In totality, all of the items found during an inspection could comprise a list of issues that may be mind boggling to many new homeowners or even to some experienced home owners when confronted with a long list and limited budget.   Prioritizing will come a lot easier for a trained person who has managed renovations, general maintenance, and budgets.   if you have Steve of Brownstone Home Inspection LLC walk your house with you and discuss maintenance items, he will be able to help you prioritize what must be done now and what can wait and what can be left indefinitely.   

With a maintenance inspection from Steve at Brownstone Home Inspection LLC, you will have the opportunity to have a trained professional who has managed entire buildings, including renovations, walk your property with you, from the roof down.   This kind of home inspection can include all of the following if you wish:

Exterior Walls & Window Frames & Appurtenances

Brick, mortar, and stone walls are great when they are in good condition but if they are not maintained or the building has settled, issues can arise.  Steve can advise you on what is acceptable and what must be addressed to correct deficiencies.

Exterior Sidewalks and Concrete Steps 

Sidewalks and concrete steps present safety concerns as they age.   A full inspection will enable someone to list the concerns and advise you where to take action to either remedy the issues or replace the flags.   Some sidewalk flags can be ground at the edges to reduce trip hazards. 

Roof

Steve is a Haag Certified Low-Slope Roof Inspector.   He has performed hundreds of inspections on commercial and residential flat roofs in New York City and has sold and managed residential roofing projects on Long Island and in North Carolina.   He has performed reroofing on residential shingle roofs and repaired flat roofs.   Steve is fully trained and qualified to write a report on the condition of your low rise roof.   Steve can advise you when you need to contact a professional roofer and can coach you should you wish to maintain your own roof.    Most of all, he will prepare you to deal with a roofer who may be more interested in selling you a new roof as opposed to maintaining your old one.

Chimneys and Parapet Walls

Any roof inspection will include an inspection of the chimneys and parapet walls.   This will include inspecting mortar joints, capstones, and looking inside the chimney to check the flue liner.

Skylights

All skylights and gutters will be inspected during the roof inspection.  

Interior Walls

To the homeowner, cracks in interior walls often look serious but to many professionals they are superficial  and are simply the result of settling of the building's interior structure.   Cosmetic cracks can be repaired by a skilled painter or even a talented homeowner with a little coaching.   Larger cracks in plaster applied directly to the brick structure could be indicative of something more serious and may require assessment by a licensed professional.   Steve can advise you how to proceed with all of these situations and perhaps explain to you how to tape a crack in a plaster wall and finish it off yourself with drywall compound.

Doors

Doors are checked with emphasis on the entry doors.   Steve is a former restoration contractor and can advise customers on how to approach rebuilding historic doors and what can be done to refinish varnish and painted doors.  He has extensive experience purchasing and installing traditional and modern locksets including Baldwin mortise locks and Medeco and Mul-T-Lock deadbolts in historic and commercial buildings.  Steve can coach you on lock selection and installation.    

Windows

Steve first began working on buildings when he was hired by a siding, window, and roofing contractor on Long Island in 1980.   The windows he learned to install and service in the 1980's are the same windows now aging in many houses today.   He can advise you if the windows must be replaced or tell you what to do if you wish to keep and maintain them.   He can show you how to remove sash, adjust balances, change weather seals and what to do in the event a seal is broken in an insulated unit.  Often, if budget is an issue, many older, quality replacement windows can be made to last another decade or more with a little maintenance.   Parts for most replacement windows are available at swisco.com

Stairs

As a restoration contractor, Steve has rebuilt staircases and rebuilt and built balustrades.   He knows the codes on the height of the handrails and the distance between the balusters and other safety concerns that appear around the stairs.  

Kitchens and Bathrooms

All plumbing is checked for proper function and where accessible, for leaks.   Electric outlets in kitchens and baths are checked to see if they are GFI's and if they are, they are tested for proper function.   Cabinets are checked to see if they are securely attached to walls and if the doors are out of alignment, Steve can coach you on how to correct these your self (if they are modern, Blum style hinges).   Steve has made and hung cabinets during his forty plus year career.

Floors

Are checked to see that they are level.   if they are sagging, Steve can offer some advice on leveling them but know this kind of work takes the skill of an experienced person to do it correctly and often requires the consultation of a licensed engineer.   Steve has installed and refinished wood floors and can advise you on whether it is best to keep what you have and sand or screen and refinish them or replace.   

Electric 

In addition to checking the GFI's in the bathroom, Steve will check all of the accessible outlets in the house for proper polarity and grounding.   

The main service panel is also opened and inspected to be sure that it is wired to code and that the grounding and bonding system is in place.   Most often, in these older city homes where there is only a single cold water ground, Steve is recommending that an electrician be consulted about having a grounding rod installed.

Steve will advise you if your service panel is on a recall list or if it is no longer acceptable for use (such as Federal Pacific Stab-Lok)

Basements & Cellars

Unfinished basements and cellars are usually the most telling places about the history of a building.   This is where all of the old stuff that has been half removed is left to be seen and where all of the new stuff originates as it winds its way through a building.   A close examination of the exposed work in the basement allows us to make an assessment about the level of professionalism applied to the work throughout the house and  hidden behind walls.    we can also look for evidence of wood destroying insects.   The cellar is also a good place to look at the  foundation and see if there has been any settling or excessive movement.

Plumbing

Plumbing is inspected as a matter of course as kitchens and bathrooms are checked but in the basement or cellar, Steve will check all of the visible plumbing and will check the incoming water main to see if it is lead or copper and he will check the waste line to see if it has any cracks in it.   Gas lines will also be checked to see that they are properly supported.   If there is a gas odor, Steve will attempt to locate the source of the leak and will advise you if a professional should be called.  

Smoke & Gas Detectors

Steve formerly held a New York City Fire Department Certificate of Fitness to inspect and maintain smoke detectors and did so in commercial buildings.   He not only knows the codes about these important devices but has extensive fire safety training.  He knows how to exceed the code and does so in his own house by using a combination of smoke, heat, and gas detectors.   Steve has been in buildings that have been on fire (165 West 57th St, July 1995) as a member of the building's fire "brigade" and understands the danger a fire can present to you and what is most important to you.   He has also developed FDNY approved fire safety plans for two commercial buildings in NYC.   He will advise you on how to wisely exceed the code in the placement  of fire and gas detectors. 

Fire Extinguishers 

Fire Extinguishers should be placed near the exits - either the exit from a kitchen or apartment or a basement or the building itself so that if someone goes to use one "their back is always facing the exit as they attempt to put the fire out".    Steve can advise on the placement of fire extinguishers and the types to purchase.

Termites & Other Wood Destroying Organisms

So long as the joists in the cellar of a house are visible, Steve will inspect the premises for Wood Destroying Insects.   Steve is licensed by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation to identify these organisms.  

Lead Paint

We are not licensed to test for lead paint and because lead paint is so prevalent in NYC's older housing stock,  Steve takes a position that all houses built before 1978 in NYC have lead paint on the walls and trim and exterior painted surfaces.   Working from this position, he will advise homeowners how to maintain their painted surfaces to ensure that paint does not peel and flake and fall off the walls.

Radon Testing

Although radon is less of an issue in NYC, we do carry a radon gas detector during inspections and can set it up to take a reading.   Steve is not licensed to conduct Radon gas tests in New York State and this test is done as a favor at no charge to the customer.   Because this service is free of charge, no reduction in the cost of he inspection will be made if the radon detector is not working or unavailable during the inspection.   There is no claim made to the accuracy of the test equipment nor to the results.   

Steve can advise you how to take your own radon test using commercially available product that can be sent to a lab for analysis.

Exploritory Wall Opening

A "plunge" saw to neatly cut drywall or plaster open to examination wall cavities, hidden pipes, or to search for leaks.   What i am less willing to do is close the walls back up and tape the repaired holes (i do not want to become a full time handyman).

Telecom and Ethernet Line Testing
I carry test equipment to test telephone and internet connections to be sure there are no crossed wires or breaks.

Thermal Imaging and Leak Detection 

With Thermail imaging equipment and the proper conditions (a temperature differential between the insided and outside, i can use thermal imaging to look for leaks.

Wall Stud Locating

Wanting to hang something large?   I can locate studs in walls and joists in ceilings.   

While Steve does not claim to be an expert at everything, he has at some point in his life performed many things himself - including digging footings, mixing and pouring concrete slabs, wall framing, wiring, drywall, plaster work, plumbing, roofing, repointing of brick, flooring, and window installation - he can even weld steel.   And what he has not done with his own two hands, he has hired professionals to do in a career that has spanned in excess of forty years.   Having been an in house manager and having hired skilled trades and trained semi-skilled workers, he knows which tasks are easy for someone with limited experience and what must be left to the pros.  

Know that this kind of inspection takes anywhere from three hours on a very small home and up to six hours on a larger NYC home.   As would be expected, these home inspections cost a little more than buyer's inspections.  

Steve works for you and no one else.   He is not a contractor trying to sell you something.   Steve protects his reputation and to that end, he is committed to you and not some third party or contractor.   Steve promises to tell you the truth.   If Steve does not know something, he will look you in the eye and tell you "I do not know".   That is a promise.   Steve has the resources to have the answers to questions he can not answer by the time the written report is delivered.

Steve will provide you with a written report with photographs documenting what he found.   Know that on most presale home inspections Steve takes in excess of 100 photos.   On owners inspections, this can exceed 250 photos.  

Steve knows there may be things in the report that you may have questions about.   For this reason, every home inspection he does comes with a review.