West Islip is a post-war town. The median house here went up around 1960, and better than nine in ten are detached single-family homes. That gives the place an unusually consistent housing stock, and it means the repair list is fairly predictable once you have worked on enough of them.
The signature West Islip house is the hi-ranch. There are thousands of them, and they age in a specific way.
What hi-ranches and 1960s homes need
The split entry takes more abuse than any other door on Long Island. Every person who enters the house stops on a small landing between two staircases, and the door swings into that congested space. Sixty years of that loosens hinges, wears the strike, and racks the frame. The fix is usually reinforcing the jamb and resetting the hardware, not hanging a new door.
The lower level is half below grade. That is the whole point of a hi-ranch, and it is also why the bottom eighteen inches of drywall down there is the first thing to go. Moisture wicks up, the paper face softens, and the baseboard traps it. Cutting out the damaged band and replacing it works, but only once the source is dealt with.
Original interior doors are hollow-core and sixty years old. Most are past adjusting. Replacing them is cheap and it is one of the highest-impact things you can do to a hi-ranch, because there are usually eight or nine of them and they are visible from everywhere.
Canal-side houses lose their hardware first. A large number of West Islip homes back onto canals or the Great South Bay. Salt air destroys anything zinc-plated. Hinges seize, storm door closers fail, exterior light fixtures corrode from the inside, and screws rust into the wood so they cannot be backed out. Stainless or properly coated hardware costs slightly more and lasts several times longer, and on a canal house it is not optional.
What we do in West Islip
What we will not do
No in-wall electrical or plumbing, no gas appliances, no permit work, and nothing above two storeys. We also do not do full fence installation or pressure washing.
If your job needs a licensed trade we will say so on the phone, before you have booked and before we have charged you for a visit.
Questions from West Islip homeowners
Our hi-ranch entry door has dropped and catches on the landing. Is that a new door?
Usually not. On a hi-ranch the frame itself has normally racked slightly, so a new door hung in the same opening will do the same thing within a couple of years. Reinforcing the jamb and resetting the hinges and strike addresses the actual cause and costs less.
The bottom of the drywall in our lower level is soft. Can you replace just that section?
Yes, and that is the sensible way to do it. We cut a clean horizontal band above the damage, replace it, and tape it so the seam does not show. Worth saying plainly though: if there is an active moisture source, the new drywall will do the same thing. We will tell you what we see.
We back onto a canal and everything metal corrodes. Is there anything that lasts?
Stainless steel hardware and marine-grade or powder-coated fixtures. It is a real difference, not a marketing one. When we replace hardware on a canal-side house we specify for the environment rather than fitting whatever the big box store had.
Is it worth replacing all the interior doors at once?
On a hi-ranch, generally yes. There are usually eight or nine, they are all the same age and condition, and doing them together is considerably cheaper per door than doing them one at a time over three years.
Got a list?
Most of our West Islip customers did not call about one thing. They called about six. Call (631) 910-6240 or request a free quote, and new customers get 20% off the first service.
Nearby towns we serve
We cover the South Shore from Babylon east to Islip. If you are between two of these, call and ask.