Siding installation & repair in Edgewater, NJ
Most of the siding in Edgewater is on the hillside streets under the Palisades: frame houses, capes and small colonials on narrow lots, many of them re-sided in vinyl or aluminum over their original wood, some looking straight out over the Hudson. We install fiber cement, vinyl, wood clapboard and cedar shingle from an office on Vreeland Terrace, in the borough, and this year we clad a new house on the river in fiber cement board-and-batten.
A new house on the Hudson, clad in fiber cement.
The custom home we are building on the river is sided in James Hardie board-and-batten, in a color called Evening Blue, with black trim matched to the windows and brown PVC soffits. It is the borough’s newer kind of house: tall, on a lot that steps down toward the water, with a finished lower level opening onto the yard.
Up the hill, we repainted an older Edgewater house from dark brown to Benjamin Moore Sweatshirt Gray and rebuilt its deck in Trex. Sound siding with tired paint does not need replacing, and when a wall is in that state we say so before we price a re-side.
The build is on our new construction page; the repaint, with before-and-after photographs, is on the Edgewater project page.
The hillside house and the wall that faces the river.
Edgewater squeezes old houses and open water into one narrow borough, and a wall can have both problems at once.
The hillside houses
Frame houses, capes and small colonials from roughly the 1900s to the 1940s, built for the people who worked in the waterfront factories, on the steep streets climbing toward Cliffside Park and Fort Lee.
- Often a layer of vinyl or aluminum over the original wood, and sometimes more than one.
- Built before housewrap existed, with building paper at best behind the old boards.
- Side walls close to the house next door, reached through a narrow side yard.
- Ground rising on the uphill side, so the lowest course sits near the soil.
Every wall’s tear-off and repairs listed on the estimate.
The river side
Any wall facing east over the Hudson, on the waterfront or high on the hillside, has three and a half miles of open water in front of it.
- Nailing to the manufacturer’s schedule for an exposed wall, not the sheltered one.
- Corners, J-channel and trim fastened so wind cannot get behind the cladding.
- Fasteners and flashing chosen for salt-influenced air, with copper and aluminum kept apart.
- Stainless nails under cedar, which stains and fails early on plain steel.
The stucco and panel walls of the River Road towers are not siding work, and we say so.
What a tear-off finds on a hillside house.
When vinyl or aluminum went onto these houses, it usually went straight over the original wood, and nobody has looked at that wood since. Taking the outer layer off answers three questions at once: whether the old boards are sound or soft, whether the sheathing behind them is solid, and how water has been finding its way in around the windows.
So the estimate starts with a small opening where the wall looks worst, and rotten sheathing is priced on its own line, charged only where the tear-off finds it. Then the wall gets what it was built without: a housewrap lapped so it drains, flashing tape around every window and door lapped into that wrap, and a head flashing over each opening.
An intact outer layer over a dry wall can be left where it is. The estimate will say which case your house is, and the full assembly is on our siding page.
What we install, and where each one suits an Edgewater house.
| Cladding | Where it suits in Edgewater |
|---|---|
| Fiber cement | Lap or board-and-batten. It will not rot and lies flat on a tall wall in the wind, which is why the new house on the river is clad in it. |
| Vinyl | The usual re-side on the hillside: no painting, and light enough to carry up a steep side yard. It is hung loose so it can move with heat, and on an exposed wall the profile and trim are chosen for the wind. |
| Wood clapboard | For an older house whose original exposure and corner boards are worth keeping. Primed on every face, painted, and held up off the ground. |
| Cedar shingle | Warm against the gray of the river, set on stainless nails over a gap that lets it dry. It asks for more upkeep than the other three. |
Engineered composite is a fifth option where a homeowner wants the look of wood without the painting; the estimate compares it with the others for your walls.
How a re-side runs between close-set houses.
On the hillside streets, much of the work happens within a few feet of somebody else’s house.
Walk the lot first
Where ladders and staging can stand, where a dumpster can sit on a steep street, and which walls face the neighbors.
Talk to next door
If a side wall can only be reached from the next lot, you clear access with your neighbor before we start, and their side is protected like yours.
Open only what closes
We strip no more wall in a day than we can wrap and flash before we leave, and anything open when the weather turns gets covered.
Walk round with you
Trim, cladding and cleanup, then a last walk around the house with you, the neighbor’s side included.
Where the work needs a permit, the estimate says so and we file it.
The roof, gutters and openings around the wall.
Edgewater
The waterfront, the hillside, and the rest of our work in 07020.
The borough →Gutters
Runoff off the cliff carried away from the walls and the foundation.
Edgewater →Roof replacement
The flashing where roof meets wall, set once for both trades.
Edgewater →Siding, county-wide
The wall layer by layer, and every cladding compared.
Siding →Windows & doors flashed in while the wall is open → · Decks →
Do you install siding in Edgewater?
Yes, on every street in 07020, and our office is in the borough, on Vreeland Terrace. We install fiber cement, vinyl, wood clapboard, cedar shingle and engineered composite, with the housewrap, flashing and trim behind and around them. The estimate is written and free. It names the cladding, the profile and the color, and prices any rotten sheathing as a separate line, billed only if the tear-off finds it.
Our house has vinyl over the original wood siding. Should both come off?
Not necessarily. If the vinyl is intact and the wall behind it is dry, it can stay, and we will tell you so. When it is replaced, we take it and whatever is under it down to the sheathing, so the wall can be inspected and repaired, then wrap and flash it before the new siding goes on. On a house that old, that may be the first housewrap it has ever had.
Does the wind off the Hudson change how siding goes on?
On walls that face the river, yes. The siding is nailed to its manufacturer’s schedule for an exposed wall, corners and trim are fastened so wind cannot get behind them, and vinyl is chosen in a profile meant for the wind it will see. Fasteners and flashing are picked for salt-influenced air, and copper and aluminum are kept from touching. A sheltered wall on the hillside needs less of this, and the estimate shows the difference.
Our side wall is only a few feet from the neighbor’s house. Can you still re-side it?
Yes. Narrow side yards are common on the hillside streets, and we plan the ladders and staging for them at the estimate. If the wall can only be reached from the lot next door, we ask you to arrange access with your neighbor before the job starts, and we protect their house, plantings and walkway while we work.
Do I need a permit to replace siding in Edgewater?
It depends on the cladding and the house. Under New Jersey’s construction code, replacing wood, vinyl or aluminum siding on a detached one- or two-family house is ordinary maintenance and needs no permit. Stucco, stone, brick and polypropylene cladding do need one, and so does structural repair to the wall behind. If your job needs a permit, the estimate says so and we file it.
Siding detailed for a house under the Palisades.
The cladding, profile and color named, every opening flashed and listed, and sheathing charged only where the tear-off finds it, in writing, from a contractor based in the borough.