Water Damage in Brooklyn Rowhouses, Walk-Ups and Basements

If you have water in your Brooklyn home right now, our water damage restoration in Brooklyn page has what to do first and how to reach us 24/7.

Water damage restoration in Brooklyn starts the way it does anywhere: stop the water, find every place it went, and dry it before mold can start. The EPA says that in most cases mold will not grow if wet items are dried within 24 to 48 hours. What changes in Brooklyn is the building, because water can cross shared rowhouse walls, settle into garden floors and cellars, and run down walk-up risers into the apartments below.

GlobePro Restoration is a 24/7 restoration company based in Brooklyn. You can call (929) 969-2534 at any hour.

Technician in a protective suit and respirator treating a gutted bathroom, with a drying fan and plastic sheeting sealing off the room

A GlobePro Restoration technician setting up containment and drying in a water-damaged bathroom.

How water damage restoration works in a Brooklyn building

The basic order of work is the same whether the water came from a burst pipe, a leak or heavy rain. GlobePro Restoration finds every place the water got in and dries out all the affected areas. Once everything is dry, the repairs begin.

The clock is the reason to move fast: that 24-to-48-hour window starts when the water does. A ceiling or the bottom of a wall can feel dry on the surface and still be wet inside, so don't paint over a stain because it looks finished.

We work with your insurance company to make the process as smooth as possible. If water is in your home or building now, our 24/7 water damage restoration covers Brooklyn and the rest of New York City.

Rowhouses and brownstones: when the water isn't only yours

A Brooklyn rowhouse, brownstone or not, is built against the houses next to it. That changes a water job in two ways.

First, the water may not have started in your house. A leak next door, or along a roofline you share, can show up as a stain on your side of the wall. Finding the source can mean talking to a neighbor before anything else.

Second, in a flood the lowest floor takes the most. A brownstone's garden floor sits partly below the sidewalk, and any cellar under it sits lower still. In city housing terms, a basement has at least half its height above curb level and a cellar has more than half below it. HPD says cellars in one- and two-family homes can never be lawfully rented.

On September 1, 2021, the remnants of Hurricane Ida smashed the city's record for the most single-hour rainfall and killed 13 people in New York City. NBC New York reported that the Buildings Department confirmed five of the six buildings where people died had illegal basement or cellar conversions.

Brooklyn had 26.7% of the roughly 33,500 buildings Ida damaged across the city, according to the city's Ida recovery summary. One- and two-family homes are 52% of the city's buildings but made up 75% of the damaged ones, and most of the damage in small homes was flooding in basements and ground floors.

Walk-ups and risers: one leak, several apartments

In a walk-up or a larger apartment building, the kitchens and bathrooms are often stacked over each other on the same vertical pipes. A leak three floors up can come through your ceiling, and the apartments in between may be wet too. Heat season runs October 1 to May 31, according to HPD, so radiators and steam pipes are back in use as one more source of leaks.

The 311 guidance for a leak inside an apartment is to try your landlord, managing agent or super first. Co-op and condo residents start with management or the board, because their agreements can decide who handles which repair. If that doesn't get it fixed, a 311 complaint about a leak in an apartment goes to HPD. Call 911 if there is immediate danger.

Drying in a stacked building means checking every unit the water passed through, not only the one with the puddle.

Basements, sewers and storm floods in Brooklyn

Brooklyn floods from two directions: rain that the sewers can't carry, and storm surge off the harbor and the ocean.

Ida was the rain kind. The city says its sewers typically handle about 1.75 inches of rain an hour, and only 6.9% of the buildings Ida damaged were in the 100-year floodplain. Water came in through doors and windows, and through sewers backing up into homes through plumbing fixtures.

Superstorm Sandy, on October 29, 2012, was the surge kind. Forty-three people died in the city, and the city's recovery report names Red Hook and Coney Island alongside the Rockaways and Staten Island as hard-hit communities. National Weather Service storm reports, estimating from photos, put two to four feet of water in Coney Island.

Sewer water is a different job from a clean leak. Under the IICRC's S500 standard, sewage is one of the examples of Category 3, grossly contaminated water. The EPA says not to use fans until you have determined that the water is clean or sanitary. Report a sewer backup to 311: DEP says it will inspect within 6 hours of a complaint, though heavy rain or snowmelt can delay that. The city maintains the sewer main while the owner maintains the private line to the building.

In southern Brooklyn, FloodHelpNY lists a free backwater valve program for eligible building owners in the Southeast Brooklyn Waterfront, Gravesend and Bensonhurst, Gerritsen Beach and Sheepshead Bay, and the Southern Brooklyn Peninsula. Income limits apply and renters can't apply, so check the site for your address.

Brooklyn neighborhoods and ZIP codes GlobePro Restoration serves

Outside Brooklyn, we serve the rest of New York City and the surrounding areas.

Frequently asked questions

How long does water damage restoration take?

It depends on how much got wet and what it soaked into. The deadline that matters most is the first 24 to 48 hours: the EPA says mold usually won't grow if wet items are dried within that window.

Does GlobePro Restoration work with my insurance company?

Yes. GlobePro Restoration works with your insurance company to make the process as smooth as possible. New York's Department of Financial Services says to notify your insurer first, photograph the damage before cleaning anything up, and hold off on permanent repairs until the insurer has inspected.

My block isn't near the water. Can my basement still flood?

Yes. Only 6.9% of the buildings Ida damaged were in the 100-year floodplain; the rain overwhelmed sewers built for about 1.75 inches an hour. The city's Stormwater Flood Maps show where water could pool in heavy-rain scenarios.

What does water damage restoration cost in Brooklyn?

GlobePro Restoration quotes every water job individually, and there is no set price list. Call or send a request, tell us what got wet, and we will talk it through.

Who do I call when water comes through my ceiling from upstairs?

Your landlord, managing agent or super first, or your co-op or condo management. Then 311 if it isn't fixed, and 911 if there is immediate danger. For the drying, call us at (929) 969-2534.

Water in your Brooklyn home right now?

Call (929) 969-2534, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or send a request. Everything else we do is on the services page.

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