Roofing & exteriors in Montvale, NJ
Montvale sits at the northern tip of Bergen County on the New York line. Its 4.03 square miles of larger-than-average lots filled with colonials, ranches and split-levels in the postwar decades, joined since by newer custom houses beside a scattering of pre-1940 homes. That means roofs on their second or third shingle cycle, aluminum or vinyl over original siding, and 5-inch gutters under mature trees.
Montvale calls itself "The Pride of the Pascack Valley." It is one of the 26 Bergen boroughs created in the 1894 "Boroughitis" wave, cut from Orvil and Washington Townships, and still growing: 8,436 people in 2020, up 7.5 percent in a decade. The borough sits at about 338 feet and takes its name from the terrain; Pearl River and Chestnut Ridge in Rockland County lie across the state line.
It grew the way most of the valley did: first as a stop on the Pascack Valley Line, then, once the Garden State Parkway arrived with exits at 171 and 172, as a commuter suburb. A real-estate profile puts the median construction year around 1968 and the pre-1940 share near 12 percent, with about 63 percent of some 3,280 homes detached single-family. Those are the 1950s to 1970s colonials, ranches and split-levels, on lots that run larger than in the neighboring Pascack Valley towns.
Montvale is also a corporate town: A&P kept its world headquarters here until 2015, Mercedes-Benz USA left for Atlanta the same year, and KPMG, Sharp, Benjamin Moore, Ingersoll Rand and Pentax have had major operations. The former Mercedes and DePiero's Farm sites are now The Shoppes at DePiero's Farm and newer townhome communities, a growing second segment beside the single-family stock. In practice, most houses here carry a postwar shingle roof on its second or third cycle, with siding and gutters to match. Start with the roofing page, or read how long a roof actually lasts in New Jersey.
Four Montvale conditions that decide the scope
Ranches and split-levels with long, low roof planes
The 1950s to 1970s house here is wide and low, with garage wings and rear sections pitched far more gently than the main roof. Shingle on a shallow pitch depends on what is under it, so we run ice-and-water membrane across the whole low-slope area. Below shingle's rated pitch we switch to standing seam metal or a membrane.
Large lots, more trees, more on the gutters
Bigger lots at the county's northern edge usually mean mature trees within reach of the roof: leaves in the 5-inch gutters by November, moss on shaded north slopes, ice dams at the eaves. We size gutters to the roof, fit guards where the trees warrant them, and correct the attic ventilation that actually stops the ice.
Aluminum and vinyl over the original wood
Many postwar houses were re-clad decades ago with aluminum or early vinyl nailed over the original wood. Behind it, expect no housewrap, unflashed window trim and soft sills. When we re-side, everything comes off to the sheathing and the wall gets a drainage plane and flashing at every opening first.
Newer custom houses and townhomes
The larger houses of recent decades carry complex roofs, many valleys and dormers, so the risk is in the flashing rather than the field. The townhomes on the redeveloped corporate and farm land share roof planes and siding across a party wall, so materials must match and the association must approve.
Not sure which applies? Request a free written estimate.
What Montvale's housing stock actually needs
Roofing, specified to the pitch
High-wind architectural shingle over synthetic underlayment, ice-and-water membrane at eaves, valleys and every low-slope section, new flashing, and ridge ventilation balanced against soffit intake. Standing seam metal where a wing is too shallow for shingle; slate and cedar restored on the pre-1940 houses built for them.
Siding, taken back to the sheathing
Fiber-cement or premium vinyl over a proper drainage plane, with the old aluminum stripped rather than covered again. With the wall open, window and trim flashing go in the same job, so the house is weathered in once.
Windows and doors, sized to the openings
Original 1960s units in a colonial or split-level have usually reached the end of their seals and hardware. We fit insulated units in the existing openings, flashed into the drainage plane, with grille patterns matched to the house.
Gutters sized to the roof, decks built to code
Seamless aluminum in 5- or 6-inch profiles, sized from roof area, pitch and the trees overhead, downspouts run clear of the foundation. We also build composite and wood decks on a flashed, through-bolted ledger, the connection that fails first.
Commuter towns along one rail line, due for new roofs together.
From Emerson to the New York line, the Pascack Valley grew the same way: a station, then the Parkway, then streets of single-family houses built within a few decades of one another. The trees have grown up over them since, and whole neighborhoods reach the end of a roof or a siding job at once, which calls for a contractor who prices the full envelope honestly.
Neighborhoods and streets we work in Montvale
ZIP code served: 07645.
- Kinderkamack Road and the station blocks. The county route and the older streets around the rail station.
- Grand Avenue. The other main thoroughfare and its side streets.
- Chestnut Ridge Road. The corridor toward the state line, past the Chestnut Ridge Shopping Center.
- The Donnybrook section. A residential section that local real-estate profiles single out, on the borough's larger lots.
- The Parkway side. Streets near exits 171 and 172, The Shoppes at DePiero's Farm and the townhomes around them.
- The school streets. Around Memorial Elementary, Fieldstone Middle School and Pascack Hills High School, the Memorial Drive Field Complex and Huff Park.
Montvale response, anywhere in 07645. Call (201) 446-5941 or request a free written estimate online.
Adjacent Bergen towns
Does Johannemann & Sons serve Montvale, NJ?
Yes — all of Montvale, ZIP 07645, from the station blocks on Kinderkamack Road to the streets along the New York line, and the newer townhomes near the Parkway exits at 171 and 172. We work across the county from our Edgewater base and handle the full exterior: roof repair and replacement, siding, windows and doors, gutters and decks. Every estimate is written, photographed and priced by named material.
My Montvale split-level leaks where the low garage roof meets the upper wall. What is going wrong?
Almost always the flashing, not the shingles. Where a low-slope wing meets a taller wall, water runs down the siding and behind the roof unless step flashing is woven into every course and finished with a kick-out at the bottom. Split-levels from the 1960s were often built without the kick-out, and a later re-roof frequently reused the old flashing. We open that joint, install new step and counter-flashing, run ice-and-water membrane up the wall, and on the shallowest pitches use a membrane or standing seam metal rather than shingle.
We live in one of the newer Montvale townhomes. Can you replace our roof or siding, and what about the association?
Yes. On a townhome the roof plane and the siding usually continue across the party wall, so the association sets the materials and colors and approves the work before it starts. We provide the specification and product data the board asks for, match the existing profile and color, and detail the party-wall line so your section drains and vents on its own. Where the borough's construction office requires a permit, for a deck or a structural change rather than in-kind re-roofing, we file it and schedule the inspections.
Roofing for the homes of Montvale, NJ.
A free written estimate with photographs and every material named, from a Bergen County exterior crew based in Edgewater.