Restoration crew at a storm-damaged Long Island house

Alec's Construction handles storm damage and insurance restoration in Huntington, Suffolk County — emergency tarping, drying, the documentation, and the rebuild — working out of the yard in East Patchogue. Winter is when most of it happens here: nor'easters from November, ice dams from January, and burst pipes any night the temperature drops after a power cut.

Winter Damage in Huntington

Huntington's housing spans everything from village-core houses over a century old to large colonials on the hills, and the winter claims follow the age. The older houses leak at the chimney flashing and around original windows in a nor'easter, and they freeze pipes in walls that were never insulated. The larger newer houses lose shingles on the big roof planes and take ice dams where the attic access was never sealed. Huntington's tree canopy adds the ice-storm branch as a regular claim.

Older Houses Have More Ways to Let the Water In

The village-core houses are the oldest on our board, and age gives a winter storm more to work with: original windows that leak under wind-driven rain, chimney flashing that was roof-cemented decades ago and finally lets go in a nor'easter, and plumbing that was extended through unheated walls and crawl spaces in a renovation long forgotten. The damage often shows up a room away from the cause — a stain on a ceiling two rooms from the chimney, a wet floor under a wall with a pipe in it.

Finding the cause is the first job, because the claim is for the damage and the repair is for the cause, and they are not the same scope. We trace it, photograph it, and write both.

How a Winter Claim Goes

1. Stop the water. Tarp the roof, cover the opening, shut the supply, pull the wet material that will grow mould if it stays. Same day where we can. 2. Document as found. Photographs of everything before it is disturbed — the damage, the cause, the water path. This is what the claim rests on. 3. Write the scope. Line by line, the way the adjuster reads one, with the photographs attached. Storm damage and pre-existing wear kept separate, so the claim is for what the storm did. 4. Meet the adjuster at the house if it helps, and answer the questions with the photographs. 5. Rebuild to the agreed scope, and correct the cause — the flashing, the attic, the pipe run — so the same claim does not come back next winter.

Ice dam and icicles along the eave of a Long Island house in winter

What Is Usually Covered and What Is Not

Wind damage and the water it drives in, ice-dam water damage, a tree on the house and the tree's removal up to a limit, and burst-pipe water damage in a heated house are the usual winter claims under a standard homeowners policy. Tidal flooding is a flood-policy claim on a separate policy. The age of a roof is not a claim, and the attic that caused the ice dam is not a claim — those are the fixes, and we tell you which is which before you file.

Building Department in Huntington

The Town of Huntington requires plans sealed by a licensed architect or professional engineer for alterations costing more than ten thousand dollars, and the filing package runs to notarised applications, surveys, drawing sets and a workers compensation certificate. Emergency repairs to make a house safe do not wait for a permit, but the rebuild that follows is permitted work like any other — structural repairs, roofing, electrical — and we file it.

Free walkthrough in Huntington, and if it is an emergency, call rather than fill in the form.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do older Huntington houses have particular winter claim problems?

Yes — chimneys and pipes. Old Huntington chimneys with roof-cement flashing leak in wind-driven rain, and the damage shows up on a ceiling a room away from the chimney. Old plumbing routed through exterior walls or under unheated floors freezes when a cold snap follows a power cut. Both are claims when documented properly. The chimney flashing and the pipe insulation are the fixes, and we do those alongside the restoration so the claim does not repeat next winter.

Is ice dam damage covered by homeowners insurance?

The water damage usually is — the ceiling, the wall, the wet insulation — because it is sudden and accidental water intrusion. What is not covered is the cause, which is the attic, and the carrier will expect it to be corrected so the claim does not repeat. We restore the damage as the claim and correct the attic as the fix.

Are burst pipes a claim?

The water damage from a burst pipe is generally covered under a standard policy, provided the house was heated — carriers exclude freeze damage in a house left unheated without the water shut off. The pipe repair itself is usually the plumber's small job; the damage it did to the floor, the wall and the ceiling is the restoration and the claim.

Do you work with the adjuster?

Yes. We write the scope the way the adjuster reads one, line by line with the photographs attached, and we meet them at the house if it helps. We do not adjust the claim — that is your carrier's job or a public adjuster's — but a scope that matches what the adjuster sees is what gets a claim settled without a second visit.

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Work With Alec's Construction

This guide is written by the crew that does the work. See Alec's Storm Damage & Insurance Restoration service — emergency tarping, documentation and the claim itself. 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 Siding.

Get a Free Estimate from Alec's Construction

Working across Suffolk County since 2018, one crew from start to finish. 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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