InspectEvery building
has a history.
Most of it
is hidden.
We walk crawlspaces, climb attics, and swab surfaces so you know exactly what's hiding — asbestos, mold, lead, radon — before the closing, before the cough, before the compliance deadline.
Five hazards.
One inspector who's seen all of them.
Each section below is written from the field. Read it as a reference. Use the checklists. Understand the regulations. By the end, you'll know whether you need us — and exactly what to tell us when you call.
Mold
1 in 4 positiveWhat you can't see is already growing.
Mold doesn't announce itself. By the time you smell it, it's already been colonizing for weeks — sometimes months. I've found active Stachybotrys colonies behind brand-new drywall installed over a slow leak nobody noticed. The HVAC system was then distributing spores to every room in the house. The family had been coughing since October. It was March when they called me.
Regulatory Context — Fairfield County
Connecticut DPH recommends ACGIH guidelines for indoor mold assessment. Commercial properties over 10 sq ft of visible growth must follow EPA Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings protocol. Fairfield County properties in FEMA flood zones AE and X500 have elevated baseline risk.
When to call us
Call us when: you've had any standing water event, a tenant or family member has unexplained respiratory symptoms, or you're within 30 days of a property closing in Fairfield County.
Asbestos
60% positiveThe material that built the suburbs is still in them.
Asbestos was in everything until 1980 — and some products kept using it into the 1990s. Vinyl floor tiles, pipe insulation, duct tape, popcorn ceilings, roof shingles, joint compound. It's not dangerous when it's intact and undisturbed. The risk starts the moment someone drills a hole, sands a surface, or tears out a ceiling without testing first. I've been called in after a contractor started a gut renovation only to find the whole house was wrapped in it.
Regulatory Context — Fairfield County
Connecticut DEEP requires NESHAP notification 10 business days before any demolition or renovation of facilities with regulated ACM. EPA AHERA regulations govern school buildings. Fairfield County municipalities including Stamford, Norwalk, and Bridgeport require licensed asbestos abatement contractors for any identified friable material.
When to call us
Call us before: any renovation, demo, or HVAC work in a structure built before 1985. Also before any purchase of commercial property regardless of age — asbestos products continued in industrial settings through the mid-1990s.
Lead Paint
1 in 3 positiveThe most common hazard in the oldest housing stock.
Lead was banned from residential paint in 1978, but Fairfield County has some of the oldest housing stock in New England. I've tested Victorian-era homes in Bridgeport with seven layers of paint — lead in every one of them. The risk isn't the paint sitting on the wall. It's the friction points: window sashes that rub every time you open them, door frames that bind, windowsills where children rest their hands. Those surfaces create dust. Dust is the pathway.
Regulatory Context — Fairfield County
Connecticut Public Act 21-10 lowered the action level for childhood blood lead to 3.5 µg/dL. EPA RRP Rule requires renovation firms to use lead-safe work practices in pre-1978 homes. Fairfield County landlords with pre-1978 rental properties must disclose known lead hazards and provide EPA pamphlet to tenants.
When to call us
Call us when: any child under 6 lives in or frequently visits a pre-1978 home, you're a landlord receiving a tenant complaint about paint condition, or you're a buyer without a lead disclosure addendum on a pre-1978 property.
Radon
1 in 5 positiveIt comes through the foundation. It has no smell.
Radon is a radioactive gas produced by uranium decay in granite-bearing soil — and Fairfield County sits on bedrock geology that makes it one of the higher-risk regions in the Northeast. It enters through foundation cracks, sump pits, and construction joints. It concentrates in basements and first floors. The EPA estimates it causes 21,000 lung cancer deaths per year in the US. Most of those people never knew their basement tested at 8 pCi/L. The test takes 48 hours. The fix, if needed, is a sub-slab depressurization system.
Regulatory Context — Fairfield County
EPA action level is 4.0 pCi/L; Connecticut DPH recommends mitigation at or above this threshold. Real estate transactions in Connecticut commonly include radon testing as a contingency. Connecticut does not currently require radon testing for home sales, but Fairfield County real estate attorneys increasingly recommend it as standard practice.
When to call us
Call us when: you have no test result on file, you're listing or purchasing any property with a basement, or you're in a real estate transaction where the buyer has requested a radon contingency.
Indoor Air Quality
When the building itself is making people sick.
IAQ complaints are the hardest to diagnose because the causes stack. VOCs off-gassing from new flooring. Carbon monoxide from a cracked heat exchanger. Formaldehyde from pressed-wood furniture. Particulate from a poorly sealed return air plenum pulling from the attic. I've seen sick buildings where every single test came back marginal — nothing catastrophic, but the aggregate exposure was enough to put three employees on medical leave. You need someone who can read the whole picture, not just run one test.
Regulatory Context — Fairfield County
OSHA PELs and NIOSH RELs govern workplace air quality for commercial properties. Connecticut DEEP enforces indoor air quality standards in schools under the Indoor Air Quality in Schools program. For residential IAQ, ASHRAE Standard 62.2 provides ventilation guidelines; Connecticut building code references ASHRAE 62.1 for commercial occupancies.
When to call us
Call us when: any occupant has symptoms that correlate with time in the building, you've received an OSHA complaint or EPA notice, you're managing a commercial property with unexplained employee health issues, or you've completed a major renovation and want a post-occupancy baseline.
We cover the full
Fairfield County corridor.
From Greenwich waterfront estates to Bridgeport triple-deckers — the building stock in this region spans 150 years of construction methods, materials, and code changes. We've inspected them all.
Fairfield County
New Haven County
Westchester County, NY
48 hours
Phase I Turnaround
24 hours
Mold Clearance Report
48–96 hrs
Radon Test Duration
Same day
Lead Inspection
Download Our
Pre-Inspection Checklist
A 4-page field reference covering all five hazard categories — what to document before we arrive, what questions to ask, and what findings to request in your report. Used by real estate attorneys, property managers, and home buyers across Fairfield County.
Schedule your inspection.
We respond to all requests within two business hours. For real estate transactions with a 48-hour deadline, call directly: (203) 555-0182.