Roofing & exteriors in Palisades Park, NJ
Palisades Park sits on top of the Palisades ridge, about 112 feet up, and fits 7,668 homes into 1.24 square miles. From the 1990s on, most of its old single-family lots have been rebuilt as side-by-side duplexes: tall, narrow, low-pitched, stucco or vinyl, a few feet from the next one. Between them stand the pre-war and mid-century colonials, capes and split-levels it was first built with.
Palisades Park was cut out of Ridgefield Township in 1899 and named for the ridge it stands on. It borders Fort Lee, Leonia, Ridgefield and Ridgefield Park, with the George Washington Bridge just to the north, and its roughly 20,300 people live at the third-highest density in Bergen County. Broad Avenue is the commercial heart, the Koreatown that gives the borough the largest Korean-American share of any US municipality.
The houses tell the same story. The borough's first zoning ordinance, in 1939, allowed one- and two-family houses on 5,000 square foot lots across nearly the whole residential area, with no single-family-only zone. Through the 1990s and 2000s the older houses came down and side-by-side duplexes went up, until by 2018 roughly 55 percent of the small-house stock was two-unit.
Two kinds of roof, then, and they fail differently. The duplexes typically carry flat or low-pitch roofs that live or die on membrane seams, parapet caps and drains. The colonials, capes and split-levels between them carry gable and hip roofs with shingle at the end of its life, aluminum over the original wood, and 5-inch gutters. We work on both: low-slope membrane and shingle roofing, siding, windows and doors, and gutters routed for a tight lot.
Two houses on every lot, on top of a ridge
Since the adoption of its first zoning ordinance in 1939, Palisades Park has allowed one- and two-unit homes to be built on 5,000 square-foot lots.
AEI Housing Center, report on Palisades ParkLow-slope roofs on most new houses. A duplex roof here is usually a membrane field behind a parapet with one or two outlets. Its weak points are the seams, the parapet flashing and drains that clog. We inspect from the outlets outward, re-flash the parapet in metal, and fasten the membrane at the perimeter, where wind gets under it first.
A few feet to the next wall. Two tall houses on a 5,000 square foot lot leave no side yard to stage from and nowhere for water to go. Every job starts with a plan for protecting the neighbor's siding and walkway, and every gutter or scupper is routed to the front or rear of the lot, not next door.
Wind and freeze-thaw at 112 feet. With the Hudson to the east and the Overpeck lowlands to the west, wind reaches a roof here with little in front of it. Shingle roofs get high-wind nailing and a proper drip edge; parapet caps and exposed metal are factory-finished aluminum or copper, fastened for uplift.
The older houses in between. The colonials, capes and split-levels are often the last of their block, shaded by a taller neighbor. They need shingle replaced before it opens up, attic ventilation that moves air, and the rot behind the aluminum found before new siding covers it.
What this housing stock actually needs
Low-slope membrane roofing on the duplexes
A membrane roof, tapered insulation where the deck ponds, metal parapet caps, and outlets placed so the roof actually drains. The perimeter detail matters more than the field.
Architectural shingle on the colonials, capes and splits
A heavyweight architectural shingle with ice-and-water membrane at eaves and valleys, balanced soffit and ridge ventilation, and metal flashing at every wall. Where the complaint is a leak, we find the source before we quote a replacement.
Gutters and leaders planned for the lot
Six-inch gutters on the larger roof planes, leaders carried to the street or the rear of the lot, and underground extensions where the grade allows. On a duplex, both halves need to agree on where the water goes.
Siding, windows and doors on both kinds of house
Stucco repair at the roof line on the duplexes; on the older houses, the aluminum comes off, sheathing and sills are repaired, and a weather barrier goes on before new cladding. Windows and doors and decks follow the same rule: substrate first, then finish.
On the ridge, the weather comes up from the Hudson.
Fort Lee, Palisades Park, Leonia, Cliffside Park, Edgewater and Fairview sit on or just behind the Palisades and share one exposure. Wind comes off the river, damp air sits on every east-facing wall, and freeze-thaw works fasteners and flashing harder than inland. The lots are small and the houses close, so drainage and staging come first.
Neighborhoods and streets we work in Palisades Park
ZIP code served: 07650.
- Broad Avenue — the Koreatown business district; storefront blocks with low-slope roofs, duplex-lined side streets off it
- Grand Avenue — the parallel commercial corridor, storefronts with two-family houses behind
- The northern blocks toward Fort Lee and Route 46 — the blocks nearest the bridge approaches, where Route 46 crosses the borough
- Morsemere — the neighborhood straddling the southern border with Ridgefield
- The western edge toward Ridgefield Park and Leonia — where the ridge drops to the Overpeck lowlands and downspout routing matters most
Palisades Park response, anywhere in 07650. Call (201) 446-5941 or request a free written estimate online.
Adjacent Bergen towns
Does Johannemann & Sons serve Palisades Park, NJ?
Yes — every street in 07650, from the blocks off Broad Avenue and Grand Avenue to the northern edge toward Fort Lee and Route 46 and the southern edge at Morsemere. We replace and repair the low-slope roofs on the side-by-side duplexes built from the 1990s on, and the gable and hip shingle roofs on the older colonials, capes and split-levels. Siding, windows, doors, gutters and decks on both kinds of house are ours as well. Our base is in Edgewater, a short way down the same ridge.
The flat roof on my duplex holds puddles for a day or two after rain. Is that a problem?
Some water on a low-slope roof is normal for a few hours; water that is still there two days later is not. Ponding means the roof is not draining to its scuppers or drains, and standing water ages a membrane faster, finds every weak seam and adds weight the framing was not asked to carry. We check the drains and scuppers first, then the slope. The fix ranges from clearing a blocked outlet to adding tapered insulation under a new membrane so the roof finally sheds toward its outlets.
My neighbor's downspout drains onto my side yard, and mine probably does the same to them. What can be done on a lot this small?
On a 5,000 square foot lot with two tall houses, there are only a few feet between walls, so a downspout that ends at grade puts its water against someone's foundation. We route discharge to the front or rear of the lot, extend it underground where the grade allows, and size the gutter to the roof so it does not overshoot in heavy rain. Where a low-slope roof drains through a scupper, we make sure the leader carries the water down rather than dumping it partway.
Do I need a permit in Palisades Park to replace a roof or siding on a two-family house?
It depends on the scope, and the borough's construction office makes the call. Under New Jersey's Uniform Construction Code, like-for-like replacement of roofing or siding on a one- or two-family house is generally treated as ordinary maintenance. Structural work needs a permit and inspections: replacing roof sheathing, changing the framing, enlarging a window opening, or building or rebuilding a deck. We state in the written estimate which category your job falls in and file the permit when one is required.
Roofing for the homes of Palisades Park, NJ.
A free written estimate with photographs and named materials, from a Bergen County exterior crew based down the same ridge in Edgewater.