Emergency tarp over a damaged roof section on a Long Island house

A tree on a house in Oakdale is not a tree job and it is not a roof job. It is one job with an order to it, and the order is what keeps a crushed roof from becoming a collapsed one. Alec's Construction coordinates the removal, does the structural repair, the roofing and the interior, and writes it as one scope for your adjuster, working out of the yard on Barton Avenue in East Patchogue. If a tree is on your house right now, stay out of the rooms under it, photograph it from the ground, and call.

What a Storm Does in Oakdale

Oakdale wraps the mouth of the Connetquot River where it opens into the Great South Bay, and the canal grids on both sides of the river — Idle Hour on the west, the Shore Drive streets on the east — are 1950s and 60s capes, ranches and splits built at grade on filled marsh a few feet above the water. A surge comes up the river and fills every canal and every crawl space at once. Idle Hour was laid out on the old Vanderbilt estate and still has the estate's big trees over small houses. The neighbourhood was one of the hardest hit in 2012 and a lot of it was rebuilt quickly; a second wetting finds the walls that were closed wet. Up by Montauk Highway and the college the ground rises and the damage is wind and trees.

Trees on the Canal Streets

The canal grids do not have many big trees, so when one comes down here it is usually a street tree or a single old oak in a yard, and it lands on a cape or a ranch that is one storey and easy to crush. A one-storey roof under a full oak is a shoring job before it is a cutting job.

The Order the Tree Comes Off

A tree on a roof is under load in ways you cannot see from the driveway. Part of it may be holding the roof up as much as crushing it. Cut the wrong section first and the weight shifts onto framing that is already broken. The sequence is: structural check from inside and out, photographs of everything as it lies, the crown and limbs off in an order that unloads the roof evenly, the roof supported and covered as the weight comes off, then the trunk, then the tarp goes on properly.

What Comes Next

Once the tree is off and the roof is dry, the damage is usually rafters or trusses, sheathing, shingles, and whatever the water did inside in the hours before the tarp. Sometimes a ridge or a wall top plate. We shore what needs shoring the same day, and the permanent repair — framing, sheathing, roofing, ceilings — goes on one scope with the tree removal, photographed step by step.

The Claim

A tree that falls on a covered structure is the classic covered peril under a standard homeowners policy, and most policies also pay something toward removing that tree, up to a limit that varies. What the adjuster pays on is the photographs of the tree where it lay and the damage as found, before anyone cut anything. We take those first, every time. Wind damage is kept separate from wear on the scope, and we meet the adjuster at the house.

Fallen tree on a Long Island cape with the roof being tarped after a storm

What We Do Not Touch Until the Utility Clears It

Anything near a downed line, and any tree that is on or tangled with a service drop. PSEG Long Island clears the line first; then we go to work. Assume every wire on the ground is live.

Building Department in Oakdale

Oakdale files with the Town of Islip on Main Street in Islip hamlet. The canal streets along the Connetquot River and the bay are in the mapped flood zone. Emergency work to make the house safe and dry does not wait for a permit; the permanent repair is filed once the scope is agreed.

Free walkthrough in Oakdale. Call or text (631) 312-7441. Tell us whether the roof is open, whether a tree is on the structure and whether there is water inside, and we bring the right equipment on the first trip.

Frequently Asked Questions

My Oakdale house is on a canal. What should I do before the water comes up?

Move what you can off the first floor and out of the crawl space, shut the power off at the panel if water is going to reach it, photograph the house as it stands, and leave if the street is going under. After the water goes down, photograph the water line before anything is cleaned, and call. Salt water below and wind-driven rain above are two claims, and the canal side of Oakdale usually has both.

Is removing the tree covered by insurance?

When the tree fell on the house, the garage or another covered structure, most homeowners policies pay for the damage and pay something toward removing the tree, up to a limit that varies by policy. A tree that fell in the yard and hit nothing is usually not covered. Photograph it where it lies before anyone cuts it.

Can I stay in the house with a tree on the roof?

Not in the rooms under it, and often not at all until it is off and the structure has been checked. A roof that is holding a tree can move when the tree is cut, or in the next wind. We tell you honestly on the first visit whether the house is safe to sleep in.

My neighbour's tree fell on my house. Whose claim is it?

Generally yours. A tree that falls in a storm is an act of nature and the damage is claimed under the policy on the house it hit, unless the tree was visibly dead or dangerous and the neighbour had been told. Your carrier may pursue theirs afterwards; that is between the carriers. Your job is to photograph it and get it off.

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Work With Alec's Construction

This guide is written by the crew that does the work. See Alec's Hurricane & Storm Damage Repair service — fallen trees, flooding, roof and siding damage, cleanup and the rebuild. Licensed and insured on Long Island, one crew start to finish, free walkthrough and a written estimate inside 48 hours.

Booking the cold months now: we also handle Roofing and Storm Damage & Insurance Restoration.

Get a Free Estimate from Alec's Construction

Licensed and insured, working across Nassau and Suffolk County since 2018. We come out, look at the actual job, and put a written number in your hand — no pressure, no obligation.

Or call (631) 312-7441

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