Roofing crew repairing a Long Island roof after storm damage

Wind takes a Northport 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 Northport

Northport floods from the harbour before anything else happens. The Village's Main Street runs downhill to the water at the head of Northport Harbor, and the harbour-front — the park, the dock, the bottom of Main Street — takes water in a northeast blow on a high tide in an ordinary storm; in a hurricane the water is in the buildings at the foot of the hill. The residential village climbs the hills on both sides in older frame houses under big street trees, and up there the storm is wind and limbs: shingles lifted at the eave on the Sound-facing slopes, the old maples and oaks down across porches and service drops. The Village of Northport runs its own building department for the village; East Northport and the surrounding hamlets file with the Town of Huntington.

North-Facing Roofs Off the Sound

Up the hill the wind comes off the Sound onto the north-facing roofs and gable ends, and it takes shingles from the ridge down and siding from the corners out. Flashing at chimneys on those older colonials pulls loose. The village building departments here look closely at exterior repairs on the older houses, and we file accordingly.

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 Northport

The Village of Northport runs its own building department at 224 Main Street, (631) 261-7502, separate from the Town of Huntington. 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 Northport. 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

Our Northport house is up the hill from the harbour. What does a hurricane actually do to it?

Wind and trees, not water. Above the harbour-front the surge is not the problem; the wind off the Sound hits the north-facing roof planes and gable ends directly, and the mature street trees over the older frame houses drop limbs onto porch roofs and through slate and shingle. The recurring damage we find is at the eave — the first courses lifted, the drip edge gone, and rain driven back under into the soffit and the top of the wall — and it is documented and repaired as a homeowners claim.

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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