Water damage
8 servicesLeaks from pipes, fixtures, appliances, radiators and the unit upstairs.
Answering 24/7 from our West 100th Street office in Manhattan
Water, fire and smoke damage restoration for New York homes and buildings
Water through the ceiling, soot on every wall, or a basement that filled overnight? We stop the source, clean and dry to a measured standard and rebuild, in Manhattan, the other boroughs and nearby counties.
- Phones answered 24 hours, holidays included
- Water, fire, smoke and mold on one number
- Photos and moisture logs for your insurer
What we handle
The first few hours decide how much of your home has to come out
Most calls start with water where it should not be: a supply line under a sink, a stuck radiator vent, or a bathroom upstairs that finds your ceiling. The stain is the smaller part; water keeps soaking plaster until someone measures and dries it.
Fire is the reverse. Flames may stay in one room while soot reaches closets and ducts, and the hoses leave water behind. At Accurate WFR the person who answers at 3 a.m. asks what a technician would, so the first visit ends with equipment set, not a walk-through and a quote.
Short answer
Water damage in a New York apartment needs to be dried within 24 to 48 hours of the leak, before mold can take hold. We extract standing water, open wet cavities, set drying equipment and log moisture readings daily until walls and floors reach their dry standard. Fire jobs follow the same order: stop the damage, clean, rebuild.
Many water calls start with an appliance: a washer hose on a Whirlpool or LG, a Bosch dishwasher line, or a Rheem or Bradford White tank that gave out.
- Whirlpool
- GE Appliances
- LG
- Samsung
- Bosch
- Frigidaire
- Maytag
- Miele
- Rheem
- A. O. Smith
- Bradford White
- Kohler
- Moen
- Weil-McLain
Services
Every kind of water, fire and mold job, grouped the way the work happens
Drying and leak tracing
4 servicesEquipment and daily readings until walls read dry.
Flood, sewage and storm
5 servicesWater from outside or the sewer, plus board-up and tarping.
Fire and smoke
7 servicesSoot and smoke cleanup, battery fires and oil burner puff-backs.
Mold and odor
5 servicesGrowth after a leak, lasting odors and dirty ducts.
Rebuild, contents and buildings
9 servicesRebuilds, contents, claim paperwork, co-ops and commercial space.
First steps
Water or fire: what to do in the minutes before a crew arrives
Call first either way, and we walk you through it while the truck is on the way.
Water, before we get there
- Shut the water at the fixture or apartment valve, or call the super.
- Cut power to wet rooms at the panel, only from a dry spot.
- Photograph the damage before moving anything.
- Keep people out from under a bulging ceiling.
Fire and smoke, before we get there
- Stay out until the fire department releases the home.
- Do not wipe soot. It smears into porous finishes.
- Keep damaged items for the insurer.
- If an e-bike or scooter battery started it, tell us.
Warning signs
Signs the damage is bigger than the stain you can see
Paint bubbling on a ceiling
Water is sitting on the plaster, and the leak has run longer than it looks.
Floorboards lifting at the edges
Moisture is under the boards. Fast drying often flattens them.
A musty smell after a leak was fixed
The pipe is dry but the wall cavity is not. Mold often follows.
Rust stains under a radiator vent
A spitting steam vent wets the floor and the ceiling below.
Gray lines on walls after a fire
Smoke leaves shadow lines even in rooms the fire never reached.
Sewer smell from a floor drain after rain
A storm can push a combined sewer back up through the lowest drain.
Local conditions
Why water and fire damage work in New York is its own kind of job
Much of the housing here is prewar, with plaster on lath and one-pipe steam heat. Plaster holds water longer than drywall and hides it, so we check it with meters and a thermal camera.
In stacked apartments, water follows the plumbing chase down two or three floors, and the job involves the super, the managing agent and more than one insurer. Below ground, storms overload combined sewers and push water up through basement drains, as Ida and the Sept. 29, 2023 storm showed.
3.15 in
Rain on Central Park in one hour during Ida, Sept. 1, 2021.
Source: Queens Post60%
Share of city sewers that carry sewage and stormwater together.
Source: NYC DEP402
Water main breaks in fiscal year 2023.
Source: CBS New York277
Lithium-ion battery fires the FDNY counted in 2024.
Source: GothamistHow a job runs
From the phone call to the finished room, in six steps
Each step has a part for us and a smaller part for you.
You call and we triage
We ask where the water or smoke is and give you an arrival window.
What we doPlan what the crew brings.What helps on your sideShut the water if you can.We stop the damage
The crew isolates the source and protects floors and hallways.
What we doExtract water, board up openings.What helps on your sideShow us the shutoffs.We measure and document
Rooms are photographed and moisture is mapped first.
What we doBuild the photo and moisture record.What helps on your sideShare your adjuster details.We dry or clean the structure
Drying for water; soot removal for fire.
What we doTake readings daily until dry.What helps on your sideKeep the equipment running.We remove what cannot be saved
Materials that stayed wet too long come out, cut cleanly.
What we doHaul out debris inside containment.What helps on your sideDecide on personal items.We rebuild and hand the room back
Finishes are matched so the repair does not show.
What we doWalk the finished rooms with you.What helps on your sideSign off with your adjuster.
Most of our calls come in after dark
Leaks show up when people get home and fires start while people cook, charge or sleep. We keep the phone staffed all night for that reason.How we work
Four habits that keep a restoration job honest and on schedule
Photos and readings come first
A photo record and readings start every job, so the claim rests on numbers.
We dry to a number, not a date
Equipment stays until readings match a dry reference. Pulling it early is how mold starts.
Containment protects the rest of the home
Barriers and air scrubbers keep soot and spores out of hallways.
One job file from cleanup to rebuild
The same file follows the job from extraction to the last coat of paint.
Coverage
Where our crews work
Our service office sits on West 100th Street, so Manhattan is the core of the work. Crews also cover the brownstones of Brooklyn, the basements of Queens, the prewar buildings of the Bronx and storm work along the shore on Staten Island.
North of the city we work across Westchester County, including Yonkers, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon and White Plains, and to the east in Nassau County. The NYC area overview explains where coverage ends.
Articles
Short answers to the questions we hear most on the phone
Water Leaking From the Apartment Above: What to Do First
The first hour, who to call in the building and how to record the damage.
After an E-Bike Battery Fire: Cleanup and Safety
Why lithium battery fires leave a different residue, and what it takes to move back in.
Why NYC Sewers Back Up in Storms and How to Prepare
How combined sewers back up in heavy rain, and what a backwater valve does.
Questions
Questions people ask us on the first call
We answer around the clock and give you an arrival window on that call, based on where our crews are. If water is still running, we talk you through shutting it off.
Sudden water, like a burst supply line, is usually covered. Flood water and sewer backups often need their own coverage. Your policy decides it; we document the loss either way.
It depends on where the leak started; often several policies each cover part. We record the source and path so each adjuster can settle it.
For a clean leak in a room or two, most people stay. Sewage, heavy soot and mold containment are different, and we tell you plainly when to stay out.
All of it, since the jobs overlap. We handle mold remediation, smoke odor and the rebuild on the same job file.
Leave them in place; wiping drives soot deeper. Our contents pack-out team lists each item and sends cleanable pieces for contents cleaning.
One number for water, fire and mold
Water still running, or smoke still in the air? Call now.
We answer day and night across New York City and nearby counties.
Answering now, 24 hours a day(332) 220-0870Call now
Tell us where the water or smoke is now, and we will tell you what to do next.