Water damage restoration in Westchester County, NY.
Houses that were old before air conditioning existed, full basements holding the boiler and everything else, pipes splitting in a hard freeze, and ice dams pushing meltwater back under the slate. Tell us the ZIP code and the request goes to a Westchester crew.
- Yonkers, White Plains, New Rochelle and the river towns
- Free to use. Restoration companies pay us, property owners never do
- One local crew, not a panel of firms racing to your phone
Westchester has some of the oldest housing on this site. Whole neighbourhoods went up before the Second World War, and a great deal of that housing is still running plumbing and heating that has been repaired around rather than replaced.
Put that stock through a genuine Northeast winter, with full basements underneath and nor easters coming up the coast, and most of this market's water ends up below ground.
Why Westchester County properties take water damage
Six failures account for most of what crews attend across this market.
Frozen and burst pipes
Lines in exterior walls, unheated porches and old additions split during a cold snap. In a house of this age the run that failed is often somewhere nobody would install a pipe today.
Ice dams
Snow on a roof with heat escaping into the attic produces meltwater that refreezes at the eave and pushes back under the covering. Older roofs with retrofitted insulation are the usual candidates.
Original supply lines
Galvanized steel from the 1920s and 1930s corrodes closed and then splits, with very little warning. If one section has gone, the rest of the run is the same age.
Basement water and sump failure
Full basements hold the boiler, the electrical panel and usually a great deal else. A sump failure or a power cut during a storm puts all of it in water.
Nor easters and tropical remnants
Systems coming up the coast bring sustained rain and wind together, which finds older roofs and blocked gutters at the same time.
Sewer and drain backups
Municipal lines as old as the houses surcharge during heavy rain and push back through basement fixtures.
The basement holds the expensive things
In a lot of markets a basement is storage. In Westchester it is where the heating system, the electrical panel, the water heater and frequently a finished room all live.
That changes the order of a loss. Before anyone thinks about drying, somebody has to establish whether the boiler and the panel are safe, because a house that cannot be heated in February is a house that cannot be dried either.
It also raises the stakes on the sump. A pump failure during a nor easter is not an inconvenience here, it is a mechanical room underwater, and a battery backup costs a fraction of what that repair does.
Get the heating checked before anything else
A flooded boiler in winter is a safety question first and a drying question second. Say on the first call whether the heat is still working.
Old plumbing fails in runs, not in spots
If a section of galvanized has split, the rest of that line is the same age and condition. Repairing one joint is buying time rather than fixing it.
What to do first
Safety, then documentation, then drying.
Shut the water off
The main is usually near the street side of the property. Stopping the supply also stops the meter, which is how a suspected hidden leak gets confirmed.
Check whether the heating and panel are underwater
In a Westchester basement that is the first safety question, and it decides whether anyone can work in the building at all.
Check the mechanical room first
In an older house the boiler, the panel and the water heater are usually in the basement together. If they are in water, that is a safety question before anything else.
Shut the water at the main
On original plumbing the isolating valves frequently no longer work, so the main is the reliable one. Know where it is before you need it.
Photograph everything
Wide shots, the source, and the run of pipe that failed if you can reach it. In a house of this age the run matters as much as the split.
Report it the same day
Record the claim number and who you spoke to, and ask what they want documented before any material is removed.
Ask about the rest of that run
If one section of original plumbing has gone, the rest of it is the same age. That is a conversation worth having while the wall is already open.
How New York insurance treats it
The question that decides most claims is whether the water arrived suddenly or built up over time.
Usually covered
- A pipe that froze and burst in a heated, maintained property
- Ice dam damage, which most policies treat as a covered sudden loss
- A supply line, water heater or boiler failing suddenly
- Sewer and drain backup, where you carry the endorsement
Usually excluded
- Flooding and surface water, which needs separate flood cover
- Groundwater seeping through a basement wall
- A freeze burst in an unheated, unattended property
- The attic work that stops ice dams recurring
Backup cover and older municipal lines
Sewer and drain backup is normally an endorsement rather than part of a base policy. In county neighbourhoods where the municipal lines are as old as the housing, it is the most relevant cover a homeowner can carry.
Check the declarations page for it before the winter rather than after. Nothing here is a coverage determination on your policy.
Areas we cover
One request covers the whole market, which spans 74 ZIP codes and roughly 967,000 residents across Westchester.
Every ZIP listed here routes to the company working that area rather than to a panel of firms.
Westchester County questions
My pipes froze while I was away. Am I covered?
Is ice dam damage covered?
My boiler is in the flooded basement. What happens now?
The plumbing in my house is original. Should I be worried?
Which areas does this cover?
Often needed after a water loss here
Mold removal
Where water sat before anyone found it, remediation usually follows the dry out. Mold removal and remediation
Sewage and biohazard
Backups and contaminated water run under containment rules. Biohazard and trauma cleanup