Long Island City is two places at once. Along the East River at Hunters Point and Queens West, glass towers of condos and rentals look across at Manhattan. Inland, around Court Square, Queens Plaza and Dutch Kills, older row houses and walk-ups sit between converted industrial buildings, with Newtown Creek on the southern edge. Water damage restoration in Long Island City is different in each: in a tower, the water often comes from another unit or a building system; in a row house, it is more often the basement.
Queens Water Damage Restoration is an independent referral service, not a restoration company. When you send the form, your details go to an independent local restoration provider serving Queens, who can contact you, inspect and quote any work directly. You decide whether to hire them.
Water damage in a tower
In a high-rise, water travels down. A burst supply line, an overflowing tub, a failed dishwasher hose or a sprinkler pipe on one floor can reach several units below, running through ceilings, along slab edges and into wall cavities. The first job is to stop the source, and in a tower you often cannot reach it: tell the concierge, the super or the managing agent at once, so the riser or the unit above can be shut off.
Then record your own unit before anything is cleaned: photographs and video of ceilings, walls, floors and every damaged item, and a note of when the water started. In condos, the building and the unit owner may each carry insurance for different parts. This site cannot tell you what yours covers; check your own policy or ask your agent, and ask the managing agent for the building’s process.
The drying still has to happen fast. The EPA’s guidance is to dry water-damaged areas and items within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold growth. If the building’s own contractor is handling common areas, ask who is drying the inside of your unit and when.
Water damage in a row house
In Long Island City’s older row houses, water arrives the other way: up from below or in from the street. DEP names four kinds of flooding in the city, and low-lying blocks near the creek and the river can see more than one: street flooding when catch basins clog, groundwater through foundation cracks, sewer backups in heavy rain, and coastal flooding when high tide and surge send water back into the sewers. During Ida, rain fell at up to 3.5 inches an hour in some areas against a sewer capacity of 1.75 inches an hour, and basements across the city filled.
If the water came up through a floor drain, treat it as sewage: the S500 standard counts sewage as Category 3 water. See sewage cleanup in Queens. Shoreline flooding from seawater is also Category 3; see flood cleanup in Queens.
Mold in Long Island City buildings
New towers are not immune to mold. A leak that sits behind a finished wall or under flooring can grow mold if it is not dried; the EPA’s window is 24 to 48 hours. In buildings with 10 or more apartments, mold covering more than 10 square feet must be assessed and removed by workers holding a New York State Department of Labor mold license, and New York State law does not allow the same worker to assess and remediate the same property. Local Law 55 requires owners of buildings with three or more apartments to keep units free of mold and to fix the leaks behind it. See mold remediation in Queens.
First steps in an LIC apartment
- Tell building staff or the managing agent, so the source can be shut off.
- Keep out from under a sagging ceiling, and switch off that circuit from the panel only if you can reach it from a dry place.
- Move valuables and electronics away from the water.
- Photograph everything, including the ceiling above and the source if you can see it.
- Write to the building, the unit owner or the landlord so there is a dated record.
- Send the request here with Long Island City as the neighborhood.
Tenants who see a leak or mold should notify the landlord first; if it is not fixed, or the repair is unsafe, HPD says to file a complaint online or call 311.
Near Long Island City
Nearby pages: Astoria to the north and Woodside to the east. More are on the Queens neighborhoods page.
Water damage in a Long Island City apartment or house? Send the form and an independent local restoration provider can contact you.
Questions people ask
Who pays for water damage from the unit above in a condo?
It depends on the source, the building’s rules and each party’s policy. Photograph everything, tell the managing agent in writing, and check your own policy or ask your agent.
Can mold grow in a new building?
Yes. Mold follows moisture, and the EPA says water-damaged areas should be dried within 24 to 48 hours to prevent it, whatever the age of the building.
Is this site a restoration company in Long Island City?
No. Queens Water Damage Restoration is an independent referral service, not a restoration company. When you send the form, your details go to an independent local restoration provider serving Queens, who can contact you, inspect and quote any work directly. You decide whether to hire them.
Water damage in Queens? Tell us your neighborhood and what happened.