Attached and semi-attached houses, two- and three-family layouts, and the mechanical systems that come with them.
Queens housing is dominated by attached and semi-attached homes and small multi-family buildings, which raises a specific set of questions that a detached-home checklist misses.
Party walls, shared roof lines and drainage, and conditions at the connection between buildings. When homes share structure, a neighbor's deferred maintenance becomes your problem, and the inspection looks for evidence of that.
Two- and three-family configurations, evidence of prior conversion work, separate utilities, and means of egress observations. Undocumented conversions are common and carry both safety and legal-use implications worth knowing before contract.
Cellar moisture, sump and drainage conditions, and steam boiler systems including visible piping, controls and safety devices. Steam heat is still widespread in Queens and is expensive to replace when it reaches end of life.
Astoria, Long Island City, Flushing, Jamaica, Forest Hills, Ridgewood, Sunnyside, Woodside, Bayside, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst and the rest of the borough.
Aging steam systems, basement moisture, roof drainage at attached rooflines, and electrical service that has not kept up with modern demand. None of these are automatically deal-breakers, but each one carries a cost that belongs in your decision before closing.
Yes. Small multi-family properties are a common inspection type in Queens.
Yes, including visible piping, controls and safety devices, with observations documented in the report.