Roofing crew repairing a Long Island roof after storm damage

Wind takes a St. James 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 St. James

St. James is the old estate country of the Town of Smithtown — big trees, big lots, old houses — and a nor'easter here is what the oaks and tulip trees do to roofs. The hamlet centre along Lake Avenue and the streets off Moriches Road are 1900s to 1930s houses with the trees planted alongside them now a century old, and 1960s and 70s colonials on the streets south toward Route 25 under oaks that were saved when the lots were cut. The ground is high and drains, so water in a house is rain through the roof the wind or a tree opened. The harbour flooding at Stony Brook and the Nissequogue stops short of the hamlet; the villages on its north edge take that.

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 St. James

St. James files with the Town of Smithtown at Town Hall on Main Street in Smithtown; the Village of Head of the Harbor on its north side and the Village of Nissequogue run their own building departments. 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 St. James. 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

A hundred-year-old tree came down on my St. James house. Is it covered?

A tree that falls on a covered structure is the classic covered peril under a standard homeowners policy, whatever its age, and most policies pay something toward removing it, up to a limit that varies. What matters is that it is photographed where it lies before anyone cuts it, and that it comes off in an order that does not drop the roof. Big old trees on old houses are a shoring job before they are a cutting job.

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.

Related Guides

Also Serving St James

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

No cost, no obligation. We reply the same day.