Roofing crew repairing a Long Island roof after storm damage

Wind takes a Commack roof apart from the edges — the eaves, the ridge, the gable ends, the flashing — and takes siding off the face that took the gusts, and then the rain that follows goes into the sheathing and the wall behind. Alec's Construction tarps and boards the same day where we can reach you, finds the wet sheathing that a cosmetic patch would cover up, and rebuilds the roof, the siding and the gutters on one scope with the interior, working out of the yard on Barton Avenue in East Patchogue.

What a Storm Does in Commack

Commack is inland on the high ground between Huntington and Smithtown, with no tidal water and some of the biggest residential oaks in western Suffolk. The hamlet was built out in the 1960s and 70s with colonials, splits and ranches on generous lots, and the oaks that were saplings or saved trees then are now standing directly over two-storey roofs. A hurricane in Commack is those oaks: whole crowns and major limbs onto roofs, garages and cars, and across the overhead service drops that run through them. The houses take wind at the gable ends and along the ridge, and the two-storey colonials with their long, straight roof planes lose shingles in sheets from the windward side. Commack straddles the Town of Huntington and the Town of Smithtown, which matters for the permit that follows.

Two-Storey Roofs Under the Oaks

Colonials and splits under mature oaks take the wind and the tree at once: limbs punch through the roof, the ridge lifts, and the siding on the windward gable end peels from the top. Second-floor ceilings and the attic insulation take the rain until the tarp is on, and the roof repair and the interior go on one scope.

What Wind Does to a Roof Here

Shingles lift at the eaves and the ridge first, where the wind gets under them. Once a course goes, the ones above it follow, and the rain that comes after the wind goes through the exposed underlayment into the sheathing, the attic insulation and the ceilings below. Flashing at chimneys and sidewalls pulls loose. Gutters and fascia peel off the eaves and take the drip edge with them. A roof that "just lost a few shingles" is usually wet under a wider area than the missing shingles show.

What Wind Does to Siding

Vinyl unlocks and sails off in panels from the windward face and from the corners. The housewrap behind it tears, and the sheathing behind that takes rain until the panels are back. Cedar and clapboard split at the fasteners. The repair is not the panels; it is the wrap and the sheathing behind them, dried and checked before anything goes back on.

The Order of Work

Photographs as found. Tarp and board the same day where we can reach you. Wet insulation and sheetrock out from under the leak. Sheathing opened where it is wet and replaced where it has to be. Then the roof, the flashing, the siding, the gutters and the interior on one scope, the cause corrected so the new work stays dry.

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

The Claim

Wind damage to a roof or siding is a homeowners claim. Storm damage is separated from wear on the scope — the carrier pays for what the wind did, not for a roof that was at the end of its life — and where a roof is more storm than wear, the scope says so with the photographs to show it. We meet the adjuster at the house. Many coastal New York policies carry a separate deductible for named storms; the figure is on your declarations page.

Building Department in Commack

Commack straddles the Town of Huntington and the Town of Smithtown, and the two do not file the same way. Huntington requires plans sealed by a licensed architect or professional engineer for alterations over ten thousand dollars; Smithtown does not have the same threshold. 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 Commack. 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

Commack is split between Huntington and Smithtown. Does that change the storm repair?

It changes the paperwork for the permanent repair, not the emergency work. The Town of Huntington requires plans sealed by a licensed architect or professional engineer for alterations over ten thousand dollars, and a structural repair after a tree strike often crosses that line; the Town of Smithtown does not have the same threshold. We identify the town from the address first and build the schedule around whichever process applies.

Can you tarp the roof today?

Where we can reach you safely and the roof can be walked, yes, that is what the first visit is for. A tarp is a temporary measure to stop the water while the damage is documented and the permanent repair is scoped.

Will insurance pay to replace the whole roof or just the missing shingles?

It depends on what the wind did and what the adjuster sees. Where the damage is scattered across the roof, or the shingles that are left cannot be matched or will not seal, a full replacement is often the right scope and often the approved one. Where the damage is one section, it is a section. We write the scope from the photographs and meet the adjuster at the house.

The siding is gone on one side. Can you match it?

Sometimes, and when we can we do. Vinyl profiles and colours go out of production, and a house that lost a full face often gets that face re-sided in the closest match rather than patched with panels that do not match. What is behind the panels matters more: the wrap and the sheathing get dried and checked before anything goes back on.

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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.

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