Water Damage Restoration in West Islip, NY
West Islip has about 1.7 square miles of water inside its borders: the bay, three creeks and a chain of lakes. That's a big part of what makes it a nice place to live, and a big part of why we get calls here.
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- Based in East Islip, NY 11730
- Documentation built for your insurance claim
- Restoration and rebuild under one company
- Serving all of Nassau & Suffolk County, 24/7
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For an active leak, call. For everything else, send this and we'll get back to you.
Water in the house now? Call (631) 292-7611A South Shore hamlet built around water
West Islip has about 27,000 residents and covers roughly 7.8 square miles, of which about 1.7 square miles is water. The Great South Bay is to the south. Sampawams Creek, Hawley's Lake and the Guggenheim Lakes form its western edge, and Trues Creek and Willetts Creek run down to the bay. It's a straight run west from our East Islip shop along Montauk Highway.
In the August 2014 storm, an observer in West Islip recorded 11.50 inches of rain, one of the highest totals on the South Shore. Local residents have also pressed the town for a long-term fix to recurring street flooding, which the Islip Bulletin has covered.
If water is coming in right now
- Plumbing leak: shut the main valve, then call.
- Outside water: don't walk through it near outlets or appliances, and don't start pumping a basement before you know the water outside has gone down.
- Photograph the water line on walls and furniture before anything moves.
How West Islip homes take on water
Creekside and bayfront streets
Homes near the bay and along the creeks are closest to storm surge and high tides during nor'easters. That water is brackish and treated as contaminated.
Street flooding
When rain outpaces the drains, low streets hold water. Driveways that slope toward the house and below-grade garages are where it gets in.
Inside the house
Supply lines, water heaters, washing machines and frozen pipes don't care how close you are to the bay. These are still the most common calls.
Pumping too early can crack a basement wall
If a basement filled during a storm and the ground outside is still saturated, pumping it out all at once can leave the walls holding back water pressure from the outside with nothing pushing back. Let the outside water go down first, then remove water in stages. It's one of the reasons it helps to talk to someone before you start.
What comes out and what stays
For outside flood water, porous materials it touched (drywall, insulation, carpet and pad, particleboard) usually come out, cut well above the water line. Concrete, solid lumber and metal can usually be cleaned, treated and dried in place. For a clean-water pipe leak caught early, a lot more can be saved. We classify the water before we recommend anything. See the flood cleanup guide.
Mold timing
The EPA advises drying wet building materials within 24 to 48 hours to help prevent mold growth. After a big storm, when every crew on the South Shore is busy, the homes that end up as mold jobs are usually the ones where water sat. Getting standing water out and air moving early matters more than anything else. See mold remediation.
West Islip water damage questions
Should I pump my flooded basement myself?
Wait until the water outside has gone down. Pumping a basement while the surrounding soil is saturated can put pressure on the walls. If the water might be sewage or floodwater, treat it as contaminated.
Is street flooding that came into my garage covered?
Usually that's surface water, which standard homeowners policies typically exclude; flood insurance is what normally covers it. Check your policy, and photograph the water line before cleanup.
Do you work on homes along the creeks and lakes?
Yes. Creekside and bayfront homes get the same process, with extra attention to whether the water was outside water (contaminated) or from inside the house.
Sources: National Weather Service, Historic Long Island Flash Flooding, Aug. 12-13, 2014, Wikipedia, West Islip, New York, Islip Bulletin, West Islip residents plead for long-term solution to ongoing flooding, EPA, Mold Cleanup in Your Home
Water damage in West Islip?
Call for extraction, drying and documentation.