Water Damage Restoration in Queens

Overview

Water damage across the city's most varied housing

Queens has the most varied housing in the city: single-family and attached homes, two- and three-family houses, co-ops and apartment buildings, and the high-rises of Long Island City and Flushing. Burst pipes, water-heater failures, appliance leaks, and frozen pipes happen across all of them, the same as anywhere. What sets Queens apart is the range: a burst pipe in a Bayside single-family is a different job from a flooded basement apartment in Jackson Heights or a leak that runs down a Long Island City tower, and the Rockaways and South Queens add coastal flooding on top.

Basement apartments and flash flooding

A lot of Queens homes have a basement apartment, and heavy rain is the biggest threat to them. When a downpour overwhelms the sewers in low-lying parts of the borough, water comes in through floor drains, window wells and basement doors faster than most people expect.

If water is rising in a basement apartment during a storm, get out and get to higher ground. Don't wait for it to stop, and don't go back down while it's still coming in. Once the storm passes and it's safe, we pump it out, take out what the water ruined, and dry the space. Rain that came in from outside is treated as dirty water, so carpet, drywall and insulation it touched usually have to go. See storm and flood damage. Wondering how long drying takes? For a typical basement it is three to five days with the right equipment.

Attached homes and shared walls

Attached two-families and row houses share walls and sometimes foundations with the house next door. A leak in one house can run along the shared wall into the next, and a flooded basement on one side often means a damp basement on the other. We check both sides when we can, and document where the water started, because with two houses there are usually two insurance companies involved.

Condo and apartment towers

In the newer towers in Long Island City and Flushing, a leak can travel down several floors before anyone finds the source. Management will usually want a certificate of insurance and has rules about work hours and elevator use. We work within those rules, dry every affected unit, and keep one record for the building. In a condo, the building's policy and each owner's own unit policy often split the damage, so clear documentation of what's wet in each unit matters.

First Hour

The first hour in a flooded basement apartment

In a flooded basement apartment, the first hour is about power, people and sewage, in that order. Start once the storm has passed and the water has stopped rising. After that, we take over the water extraction and the drying.

• Check the panel. If the electrical panel is in the flooded space, leave it alone and have the utility or an electrician cut the power.
• People first. Tenants, tell the landlord right away, in writing if you can. Owners, check on the people downstairs before the property.
• Sewage from a drain. If water came up through a floor drain or toilet, call 311. There is more on that in the questions below. Water that came up a drain is sewage, so carpet, drywall and other porous materials it soaked get removed, not dried.
• Move what matters. Put documents, medicine and anything you can't replace in a bag and take it upstairs.
• Call us. 646-543-2242. We're usually there 30 minutes to an hour and a half from your call, depending on the hour and traffic.

Our first-hour basement flood guide covers the rest. Once the space reads dry, our own crew rebuilds the apartment, from new drywall and flooring to the doors and trim, so the unit can be lived in again.