Roof replacement in Edgewater, NJ
A new roof in Edgewater is usually one of two jobs: a pitched roof on one of the older houses on the hillside streets under the Palisades, or the membrane roof of a building on the River Road waterfront. We do both from our own office in the borough, and we specify both for a roof that looks straight out over open water.
The staging plan comes before the roof.
The older houses in Edgewater were built for the workforce of the waterfront factories in the first decades of the last century, on narrow lots cut into the slope below the cliff. They sit close together on side streets that climb toward Cliffside Park and Fort Lee, and that shapes a re-roof before anyone touches a shingle.
Where does the container stand on a street that steep? How does the old roof come down without landing in the next yard? How do the bundles get up the slope to the eave? We walk the property before we price it and put the answers in the written estimate, so nothing about access is being improvised on the morning the crew arrives.
If the borough requires a permit to put a container on the street, arranging it is our job, not yours.
The same roof, fastened for a river exposure.
The borough has three and a half miles of open Hudson to the east and nothing in between to slow the wind. A roof here is not a different product from a roof a few towns inland, but several of its details are specified differently, and an estimate should say which.
| Detail | The common specification | What we specify in Edgewater |
|---|---|---|
| Shingle fastening | Four nails a shingle, the minimum most manufacturers accept | The manufacturer’s high-wind pattern, usually six nails, set in the nailing zone and never over-driven |
| Eaves and rakes | A starter course along the eaves only | Starter strip with its sealant line along the eaves and up both rakes, where wind gets under a roof first |
| Ridge | Whichever ridge vent is on the truck | An externally baffled ridge vent rated for wind-driven rain, fastened at the manufacturer’s spacing |
| Edge metal | Light drip edge, nailed far apart | Heavier drip edge and rake metal, fastened close, formed so water leaves clear of the fascia |
| Flashing and fasteners | Galvanized steel | Aluminum, copper or stainless, with dissimilar metals kept apart so they do not corrode one another in salt-influenced air |
None of it costs much on the day. It is the difference between a ridge that lets go in its first hard winter off the river and one that does not.
What the deck of an older house looks like.
Houses of that age were not sheathed in plywood. Under the roofing is a deck of individual boards, and over a century it has often been re-roofed, patched and re-nailed several times. Once the old roofing is off we check it board by board: boards that have split, boards nailed so often they no longer hold, and gaps that have opened as the wood has moved.
If the house once wore wood shingles, the boards may be spaced apart, the way a wood roof wants them. Asphalt shingle needs a continuous, sound surface underneath, so spaced or badly damaged boards are sheathed over in plywood before anything else goes down. It is the line on an older-house estimate that homeowners least expect, which is why it is priced by the sheet, in writing, before we start.
If there is more than one roof up there, all of it comes off. A second layer is how a failing deck stays hidden for years — more on that, and on what goes back on, under roof replacement and architectural asphalt shingle.
Re-roofing a building starts with a survey.
The condominium and rental buildings along River Road are a different job altogether: a low-slope membrane roof, owned by an association, over people who are living under it. The decision that drives the cost — whether a new membrane can go over the old one or the roof has to be stripped to the deck — turns on whether the insulation underneath is dry, and nobody can see that from the surface. We find out before we price it.
The survey, the recover-or-replace decision and the report a board can vote on are set out on flat roofs in Edgewater.
The rest of the outside, service by service.
Roof repair
Leaks traced before they are priced, on shingle, slate and membrane.
Edgewater →Flat roofs
Repair, recover or replace on the waterfront buildings.
Edgewater →Gutters
Sized for hillside runoff and fastened for the river.
Edgewater →Edgewater
The borough, its two housing stocks and everything we do there.
The borough →How do I know whether my Edgewater roof needs replacing or just repairing?
One leak at a chimney or a dormer is a repair. Replacement is the answer when the problem is the whole field rather than one detail: shingles that have shed most of their granules, gone brittle or started to curl across entire slopes, leaks appearing in places that have nothing to do with each other, or a deck that gives underfoot. We photograph what we find and show you, and if a repair will buy the roof real time, we say so.
Can you re-roof a house on a narrow hillside lot without damaging the house next door?
Yes, and on the older streets under the Palisades that is most of the planning. Before we price the job we work out where the container can stand, how the old roof comes down without landing in the next yard, and how new material gets up the slope. Neighboring walls, windows and planting are covered, and both properties are swept for nails at the end of every day.
What roofing material suits an older house in Edgewater?
On the frame houses, colonials and capes built on the hillside streets in the first half of the last century, architectural asphalt shingle is usually the right answer: it suits the scale of the houses and it is light enough for framing of that age. Standing seam metal is worth considering on a porch or a low-pitched rear roof. Where a house still has slate, we price keeping it before we price replacing it.
Do you replace the membrane roofs on condominium buildings along River Road?
Yes. A building roof starts with a survey rather than a price, because whether the insulation under the membrane is dry decides between laying a new roof over the old one and stripping it to the deck, and that is a large difference in cost. The board gets a written report with photographs, a scope phased around occupied units, and certificates of insurance naming the association.
Is the manufacturer warranty registered for me?
Yes. The warranty on the roofing system is registered in the homeowner's or the association's name before we close the job out, and the paperwork comes to you with photographs of the finished roof, rather than staying in our files.
A new roof for an Edgewater house.
Itemized, photographed and specified for a river exposure, from a crew whose office is in the borough.