Home Inspector in Levittown and Hicksville, Nassau County, NY

Areas we serve › Long Island › Nassau County › Levittown and Hicksville

Levittown and Hicksville are two of the places that made Long Island what it is. Most of the houses here went up in a few years after the Second World War, from the same short list of designs, and they have been remodeled, enlarged and re-heated many times since. That makes a home inspection in Levittown different from an inspection in a prewar Queens neighborhood or a 1980s subdivision, and the useful questions are specific: what was the house built with, what has been done to it, and what does it burn to keep warm?

This page uses census and flood-insurance records to describe the housing in Levittown (ZIP 11756) and Hicksville (ZIP 11801) and what that means for a home inspection in Levittown or Hicksville. Inspecwise is a New York State–licensed and InterNACHI-certified inspection business based in South Ozone Park, Queens, and we inspect throughout Nassau County. Where we describe history or rules, we link to the source.

Levittown and Hicksville at a glance

Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 five-year estimates, for ZIP Code Tabulation Areas and counties; FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program claims file. The flood-claims figure for Nassau County is the whole county’s total and is shown only for scale. ZIP codes are mail-delivery areas, so their edges do not match village or school-district lines, and Hicksville’s mailing area differs from the hamlet.

Houses built in a few years, from a few plans

The figures show how concentrated the building was. In Levittown, 87% of homes were built between 1940 and 1959, and only 2% before that. Hicksville is a little more mixed, with 73% from those two decades, 9% older and 18% newer. Nassau County as a whole is about 47% from the 1940s and 1950s.

Levittown is one of the best-documented postwar developments in the country, and several of its details bear directly on what an inspector looks for. According to the Levittown Public Library, Levitt & Sons began building on 7 May 1947 and finished on 21 November 1951, by which time it had built 17,447 houses. The first design was a Cape Cod. In 1949 a ranch replaced it, and the 1950 and 1951 models were similar. The Hofstra University Library exhibit notes that Levitt changed the design every year, so a house built in 1948 and one built in 1951 are not the same house.

Two points follow. First, Levittown is not all Levitt. The library lists four developments, including the 125-house Omega development of 1949 and the 600-house Miller development of the 1950s, so houses a few blocks apart can have been built by different firms. Second, very few of the houses look as they did. Hofstra’s exhibit says many of the original identical homes “have long since been expanded, renovated, and rebuilt, and few resemble their original appearances.” An addition built in the 1960s sits on the original structure, and its quality varies.

Hicksville, in the Town of Oyster Bay, belongs to the same postwar belt, and its streets run into Levittown’s and Bethpage’s. The census figures bear it out: 73% of the homes in Hicksville’s ZIP code date from the 1940s and 1950s. What public sources do not tell us is how many of its houses were built the way Levitt’s were, so treat anything said below about slab construction as applying to Levitt’s own houses and ask about each Hicksville house individually.

The effect on a buyer is that houses on the same street may share their construction and their problems, and also their upgrades. If the neighbor’s identical house has had its boiler, roof and windows replaced, that is useful context for what the one you are buying might need.

Oil heat: four in five Levittown homes

The single most distinctive number in the table is the heating fuel. In ZIP 11756, 80% of homes are heated with fuel oil, and only 14% with utility gas. In Hicksville the split is 40% oil and 49% gas. Nassau County as a whole is 26% oil, and Suffolk is 44%. Statewide it is 16%. Neighboring Plainview (11803) is 30% oil and Bethpage (11714) is 41%.

A house that burns oil has a tank. That one fact generates most of the extra inspection questions in these communities:

• Where is the tank? It may be in the basement or garage, outside above ground, or buried. A buried tank cannot be seen, and its existence is sometimes known only from a fill pipe and a vent on the outside wall.
• How old is it? Steel tanks corrode, and the age on the tank’s label or in the seller’s records is the first thing we look for.
• Is there evidence of a leak? Stains on the floor under or near a tank, a smell of oil, and soil staining outside are all documented in the report.
• Was the house converted to gas? A house that now uses gas may still have an abandoned tank in the ground or in the basement.
• What does the boiler look like? The age of the burner and boiler, the visible flue and chimney, and whether the boiler has been serviced regularly.

An inspector can see the above-ground parts of a tank system and describe what is visible. Locating a buried tank takes a separate search, and removing or closing one is a job for a licensed contractor. Our oil tank inspection guide covers what the options are.

Oil heat means tanks, and the state’s guidance on the older ones is direct. The Department of Environmental Conservation notes that most home heating-oil tanks are outside its petroleum bulk storage rules because they hold less than 1,100 gallons, and it tells owners in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester to contact their county health department. It says 275-gallon steel tanks “were not designed to be buried and, if left in place, will eventually corrode and leak,” that state law requires aboveground and underground heating-oil tanks to be “emptied, cleaned and purged of all vapors,” that a bank or a buyer will often ask for an environmental assessment or the removal of a tank when a house is sold, and that contamination must be reported to the state’s spill hotline.

Nassau County’s own health department has asked owners to give written notice before a tank is removed or abandoned, and its older guidance warns that a tank 30 years old or more may be close to failing. Those county pages are archived copies, so check the current requirements with the Nassau County Department of Health before any work. The state’s standards do not require an inspector to observe underground tanks at all, so we report what we can see, and a buried tank takes its own search. Deciding whether to test, close or remove a tank is a job for a licensed contractor and, if oil has leaked, an environmental firm. Our oil tank guide sets out the steps.

Radiant heat in the slab

Levitt’s houses had no basement. In the Hofstra library’s words, the house “was built atop a concrete slab with embedded heating pipes instead of a costlier excavated basement,” and the library records that the zoning rules were changed on 27 May 1947 to allow houses without cellars. The slab was the heating system.

The best description of that system comes from Dan Holohan, a heating-trade writer who grew up in Hicksville. He describes soft copper tubing set in a four-inch slab with no insulation under it or at its edges and no vapor barrier under the tubing, fired by a small oil boiler in the kitchen, with the fuel tank and the house trap buried under the front lawn. He writes that the tubing sat on lumber that rotted in about ten years, leaving voids and cracks, and that leaks went into the ground, so owners noticed them first as higher water or fuel bills. This is a trade writer’s history and not a building record, so read it as background, not as a finding about any house.

He adds that most of these houses have since been converted to copper fin-tube baseboard around the perimeter. A conversion can leave the old loops in the slab, capped or still filled with water, and a house that has been converted once may have had work done on the boiler, the flue and the oil tank at the same time. What that means for an inspection:

• Find out what heats the house now. Baseboard along the walls, radiators, or no visible heating at all, which would suggest the original slab loops, are clues. The boiler’s location (kitchen, closet, basement or utility room) is another.
• Ask whether the slab heat was converted, when, and by whom, and what was done with the old tubing.
• Look at the slab and the boiler together. Cracks, damp or cold patches in the floor and a boiler that keeps taking on water point toward a leak.
• Check the boiler’s safety equipment: the pressure relief valve, expansion tank, fill valve and flue.
• Ask for the oil and water bills. Rising bills are the symptom the trade writer describes.
• If the original loops are still in use, be aware that the state’s Standards of Practice say an inspector is not required to observe and report on in-floor or in-ceiling radiant heating systems. Ask your inspector what they will do, and ask a heating contractor to pressure-test the loops.

Mid-century materials: what we expect to see

Beyond the heating, houses built in the 1940s and 1950s share a handful of materials and details that we look for by name. This is general building knowledge about the period, and any one house may have had these replaced.

• Electrical. The original service was small by today’s standards. Many houses have been upgraded to 100 or 200 amps, but some still have a fuse panel or an early breaker panel. We check the service size, the panel brand and condition, and whether the outlets in the kitchen, bath and garage are grounded and protected.
• Plumbing. Supply lines from this era are commonly copper or galvanized steel, and drains are cast iron or clay. Past repairs and the point where old and new meet are the first places to look for leaks.
• Floors, siding and insulation. Older vinyl floor tile, shingles and pipe or furnace insulation can contain asbestos. Intact material is generally left alone, and disturbing it is when it becomes a concern. Sampling needs a lab; the section below explains.
• Roofs. Asphalt shingles from earlier replacements, sometimes two layers deep, and flashing around chimneys and dormers.
• Windows and insulation. Original wood or steel windows, and attics with little or older insulation, which affect heating costs and comfort.

The EPA lists where asbestos may turn up in older homes, including vinyl floor tile and its adhesive, roofing and siding shingles, asbestos-cement products, hot-water and steam pipe coverings, and the insulation on oil and coal furnaces. The agency says exposure happens when the material is disturbed or damaged, that you cannot tell by looking, and that undamaged material that will not be disturbed does not need to be tested.

The issue for a buyer is renovation. The NYS Department of Labor says an asbestos survey must be performed before interior and exterior renovation, remodeling, repair and demolition work, with an exemption for an owner-occupied single-family house when the homeowner does the work. A buyer who plans to pull up floors, replace siding or open up walls should ask about a survey before the contractor starts. See our asbestos guide for how sampling works.

Additions, dormers and finished attics

Few of these houses are still the size they were built. Long Island owners expanded them upward and outward for decades: dormers on the Cape Cods, a bedroom and bath over the garage, a finished basement or a rear extension. Each is a place to look at the quality of the work, such as framing, insulation, wiring and ventilation, and a place to ask whether it was permitted.

Each town keeps its own records, and they are where a buyer learns what was permitted. Hicksville is in the Town of Oyster Bay, whose building division issues certificates of occupancy, and whose own residential permit form tells owners that they are responsible for researching the property file for existing conditions and for any recorded permits and certificates (CO, CA or CC). Levittown is in the Town of Hempstead, whose building department enforces the rules on the use and occupancy of buildings and runs an online permit center. Whether a certificate is needed when an existing one-family house is sold depends on the municipality, so ask your attorney to order the records for the address and read what they say about additions, finished attics and converted garages or basements.

In the inspection we look at how an addition meets the original house, such as roof valleys, flashing, floor levels and wall cracks, and whether the heating, wiring and plumbing were extended safely. We note what looks unpermitted or unusual, and we leave the question of legal status to your attorney and the town’s records. Our guide to what an inspection includes describes the limits of a visual inspection.

Water: what the district reports show

Drinking-water quality is a regular question in these communities because of two contaminants that Long Island’s wells have had to deal with: 1,4-dioxane and PFAS. In 2020 New York set maximum contaminant levels of 10 parts per trillion each for PFOA and PFOS and 1 part per billion for 1,4-dioxane, according to the State Department of Health. Public water suppliers publish an annual report showing what they found.

Hicksville is served by the Hicksville Water District. Its two most recent drinking-water quality reports (data for 2024 and 2025) give these results:

Source: Hicksville Water District 2025 Drinking Water Quality Report and its 2024 report. The district says it treats its wells with advanced oxidation at seven plants, granular activated carbon at eight, and nitrate removal at three. It also detected other PFAS compounds that have no state limit (for example, PFBA up to 10.3 ng/L in 2025).

Levittown’s water comes from the Levittown Water District, which the Town of Hempstead runs with four other districts and reports on together. The Town’s 2025 report says Levittown has nine operating wells, that the district was established in 1949, that advanced oxidation treatment has been installed on 18 wells across its districts to remove emerging contaminants, and that two wells use ion exchange to lower nitrate. The report’s test results for these contaminants are for untreated well water, so they are not a measure of what reaches the tap.

What this means for a house purchase: the district treats and tests before the water reaches you, your inspector does not test water, and the pipes inside a house can change what comes out of the tap. If you want a number for the water in a particular house, a laboratory test of the tap is the way to get it, and the district’s annual report is the place to see what it found at the source. Our water quality testing page explains the options.

Sewers, cesspools and storm water

Nassau is largely sewered, but not entirely. A US Geological Survey report says sewers covered about 80 percent of the county’s land area by 2019 (that is area, not a share of homes), and the county’s watershed plan for nitrogen describes most of the south shore as sewered and much of the rest as reliant on septic systems. The Hicksville Water District’s own assessment of its well areas names “unsewered, high density residential land use” as the reason for its high susceptibility to nitrate.

Whether a particular house is on a public sewer or a cesspool is an address-level fact, so ask for it in the contract package and the survey. If the house has a cesspool or septic system, an inspector reports what is visible, such as slow drains, odors and wet ground, and a septic or cesspool specialist evaluates the system itself. If it is sewered, a camera inspection of the line from the house to the connection is the way to see its condition.

Flood risk in these two communities is low compared with the south shore. FEMA’s claims file shows 16 flood-insurance claims in ZIP 11756 since 1978, and 25 in ZIP 11801, and Plainview has 53. For comparison, in Howard Beach, Queens, the same file has 2,029. Low flood-claim counts do not mean dry foundations. A low spot in a yard or a failed gutter can send water toward any house, whether it has a basement or not, so we look at grading and drainage regardless, and you can check an address on FEMA’s flood map.

Termites on Long Island

Termites are a long-standing concern on Long Island. Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County reports that termites generate more inquiries than any other insect in the county and that Long Island has one species, the eastern subterranean termite. Its fact sheet is old (last reviewed in 2003), so we rely on Cornell’s New York State Integrated Pest Management program for current guidance, which says subterranean termites are the main termite pest in the Northeast, that most problems begin where a house meets the soil, and that tubes can be hidden inside hollow concrete block and hollow metal supports.

• Mud tubes along foundation or basement walls, wooden posts, studs, and window or door frames.
• Heat sources. The extension sheet says termites favor the warmth around furnaces, chimneys and hot-water pipes.
• Slab houses. The same sheet flags wood framing in contact with earth fill under concrete slabs, and form boards left in place, as suspect.
• Hidden activity. Workers stay underground and are seldom noticed until damage has been done, which is why the standard advice is a dedicated inspection.

New York’s definition of a home inspection excludes pest inspections, so a termite inspection is a separate service, and the extension sheet adds that many control methods can be used only by pesticide applicators certified by the state. See our termite inspection guide.

Radon

The State Department of Health’s estimates for Nassau County, published in 2007, are the most local radon figures available. They show how many homes tested above the EPA action level of 4 picocuries per liter:

The department’s own program results, which run from 1987 and are published as an open dataset, tell the same story with newer numbers: 5.7% of the 837 Nassau basements tested with its kits measured at or above 4 pCi/L, and 1.2% of 246 first-floor tests, against 7.6% of Suffolk basements and 17.5% of Westchester’s. Those results are not every test done in the county, so they are a guide and not a prevalence rate. Statewide, the department’s basement estimate is 18%, so Nassau is on the low side, and the Town of Oyster Bay’s figures, which cover Hicksville, are higher than the Town of Hempstead’s, which cover Levittown. The state’s guidance is that even where average levels are low it is prudent to measure, because levels vary house by house, and EPA says all homes should be tested regardless of zone. Basement readings run two to three times higher than first-floor readings, and Levitt’s own houses had no basement, so the lowest living level is what to test. Because the state’s definition of a home inspection excludes radon, it is a separate test; see our radon testing page. The table dates from 2007, and the state says that this kind of data does not change significantly over time.

Buying here: where the inspection fits

In Nassau County the sale of a house usually runs through attorneys, and the contract sets a window for the inspection. If the inspection finds problems, the buyer can negotiate a price change, ask for a credit or a repair, or withdraw where the contract allows. Our inspection contingency guide explains the clause. Three points apply to the postwar houses here:

• Ask for the heating and tank history. Age of the boiler and tank, service records, and any past oil delivery problems or spills.
• Ask about additions. What was added, when, and whether the town has a record of it.
• Plan the add-ons. With this housing, a tank check, a radon test, a termite inspection and, where there are doubts about the water, a lab test are the usual extras.

Expect to see the seller’s property condition disclosure statement before you sign. The law still lets the parties agree to sell “as is,” the seller has no duty to inspect, and the form itself says it is no substitute for a home, pest or radon inspection, so the statement tells you what the seller knows and not what is true of the house. Our guide to what a New York inspection includes covers it, along with the smoke alarm affidavit that follows at closing.

What a home inspection in Levittown focuses on

Selling a house in Levittown or Hicksville

Sellers of postwar houses often know the weak points better than the buyers do, such as the age of the boiler, the way the attic was finished or an old tank in the yard. A pre-listing inspection in Nassau County puts those on paper before a buyer’s inspector does. It can lead to a repair that costs less than a negotiation would, and it lets you present documentation with the listing. Our seller’s guide explains the process.

Sellers in Nassau complete the disclosure statement before the buyer signs. If something you disclosed turns out to be materially inaccurate before closing, the law requires a revised statement as soon as practicable, and a pre-listing report is a way to find the surprise first.

Nearby communities

The same postwar housing continues through East Meadow, Westbury, Bethpage, Plainview, Massapequa and Wantagh. For the county as a whole, see our page on home inspections in Nassau County, and for the Island generally, home inspections on Long Island, Suffolk County and Huntington. In the other direction, our South Ozone Park page covers the older, denser housing of southeast Queens.

Every neighborhood and county page is listed on our areas we serve page.

Frequently asked questions

About the numbers on this page

• US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2020–2024 five-year estimates: year built, heating fuel, units in structure and tenure for ZIP Code Tabulation Areas 11756, 11801, 11803 and 11714 and for Nassau, Suffolk and New York State. Estimates carry margins of error, which are larger for small areas.
• OpenFEMA, National Flood Insurance Program claims, counted by reported ZIP code. Claims reflect insured losses only.
• Figures were pulled in October 2026. Public data changes over time, so check the date.

Booking an inspection with Inspecwise

If you are buying or selling in Levittown, Hicksville or the surrounding communities, tell us about the house when you call, and we will tell you which of the add-on checks make sense for it. Our New York State home inspector license number, NYS LIC # 16000113811, is printed at the foot of every page, and this guide shows how to check it.

We work in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester as well as all five boroughs, and travel elsewhere on request. We speak English, Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi.

To ask a question first, call 718-925-7071.