Roofing & exteriors in River Edge, NJ
A small, flat, fully built-out borough on the Hackensack River, with Kinderkamack Road as its spine and two Pascack Valley Line stations. Most of the houses went up after the war on former farmland: capes, split-levels and colonials on modest lots, with an older commuter core near the stations and Dutch sandstone at New Bridge Landing.
River Edge is old ground with young houses. Dutch colonial families settled the low land along the Hackensack in the 1680s, and Washington's army crossed the river at New Bridge Landing in November 1776. The railroad arrived in 1870, commuter houses gathered around the two depots, and the borough incorporated in 1894 as Riverside, taking the River Edge name in 1930. The population doubled between 1930 and 1940, which is where the older houses near the stations come from.
The town you see from the street, though, is mostly postwar. After the war the remaining farmland went to subdivisions fast enough that Kinderkamack Road was widened and Cherry Hill School opened in 1949 to serve them. A typical River Edge house dates from the mid-1950s: a cape or expanded cape, a brick-front split-level, or a center-hall or Garrison colonial on a modest lot. The borough has almost no land left to build on.
For exterior work that is a specific set of problems. Simple gable and hip roofs in asphalt shingle, many on a second or third layer. Rear dormers and wings added later at lower pitches. Vinyl or aluminum hung over the original wood or asbestos-cement siding, and five-inch gutters under roofs that grew when the dormers went on. Toward the river the ground is low, and on a flat lot drainage is the whole game. We replace and repair roofs, reside, replace windows and doors, hang gutters and build decks across the borough. Start with roofing or call (201) 446-5941.
What we check first on a River Edge house
How many roofs are up there
On a 1950s cape or split, what looks like one shingle field is often two, sometimes three. New Jersey allows at most two layers, so a third means tear-off to the deck. We probe at the eave and put the count in writing; it changes the price. Roof replacement →
The dormer and wing tie-ins
Expanded capes gained rear shed dormers; splits gained a room behind the garage. Those later roofs are lower-pitched than the main one, and the wall where they meet is where the leaks live: step flashing, a kick-out at the bottom, membrane or bare shingle on the shallow slope. Where roofs leak →
What is under the vinyl
Aluminum and vinyl were hung over original wood or asbestos-cement siding across the borough. We look for rot at sills and window heads and for any housewrap, and where the substrate is asbestos-cement we plan for it to stay undisturbed or be removed by a licensed abatement contractor first. Siding →
Where the water goes on flat ground
River Edge is flat and its west side runs down to the Hackensack. A downspout dumping at grade on a level lot puts water against the foundation. We run extensions to daylight or a dry well, and go to six-inch gutters where a dormer or wing added roof area above them. Gutters →
What we install on River Edge houses
Architectural shingle roofing, to the deck
Full tear-off, sheathing repair, synthetic underlayment, ice-and-water membrane at eaves, valleys and every dormer wall, and a ridge vent balanced with soffit intake, which many capes never had. Cedar shake or standing seam on the older houses where it fits. Lifespans are in our New Jersey roof guide.
Low-slope membrane on dormers and wings
Between 2:12 and 4:12 shingle needs doubled underlayment or full membrane beneath it; below 2:12 it gets a fully adhered membrane, lapped into the shingle field above. We measure each plane on the estimate visit. Low-slope roofing →
Siding and windows & doors
Fiber cement or insulated vinyl over a stripped, wrapped and flashed wall, head flashing at every opening, kick-outs where roof meets wall. Window replacement that fills the original opening instead of shrinking it; entry and storm doors in a flashed rough opening. Costs are in this article.
Flat river towns where the water has nowhere to go.
The central Bergen towns along the Hackensack are flat, dense and mostly postwar. Lots are small, roofs are simple, and one street can carry a prewar colonial beside a brick-front split. Roof water and ground water both drain slowly here, so gutters, downspouts and grading do as much for a house as the shingles do.
Neighborhoods and streets we work in River Edge
ZIP code served: 07661.
- Kinderkamack Road (County Route 503) and the streets off it — the borough's spine, with the commercial strip near the stations and the small apartment complexes along it.
- Around River Edge station — the 1900s–1930s commuter houses that followed the railroad, wood-sided under a later coat of aluminum.
- New Bridge Landing, at Kinderkamack Road and Grand Avenue — the historic district on the low ground at the river's narrows, the Steuben House and Campbell-Christie House among its Dutch sandstone.
- Cherry Hill — the section named for the original 1870 station, built out around Cherry Hill School after 1949: capes, expanded capes and split-levels.
- North Hackensack — the section around the station that carried its name until it became New Bridge Landing; commuter-era houses beside postwar streets.
- The west side toward the Hackensack River — the low ground, where downspout discharge and grading matter most.
River Edge response, anywhere in 07661. Call (201) 446-5941 or request a free written estimate online.
Adjacent Bergen towns
Does Johannemann & Sons serve River Edge, NJ?
Yes — all of River Edge, ZIP 07661, from the commuter-era houses around the two Pascack Valley Line stations to the postwar capes and split-levels of Cherry Hill and the low ground along the Hackensack River. We replace and repair roofs, reside, replace and restore windows and doors, hang gutters sized to the roof, and build decks on the borough's capes, splits and colonials. Every estimate is written, with photographs and named materials.
My River Edge cape has a rear dormer that leaks where it meets the main roof. Is that a roofing problem or a siding problem?
Usually both, which is why it keeps coming back. A shed dormer added to a 1950s cape puts a low-pitched roof against a vertical wall. That joint depends on step flashing under the siding and a kick-out at the bottom to throw water into the gutter. When the dormer was later wrapped in aluminum or vinyl, the flashing was often buried, bent or left out. We open the junction, re-flash it as part of the roof and close the wall so the two layers overlap the right way.
There is asbestos-cement siding under the vinyl on my River Edge house. Can you still reside it?
Yes, and it is common on postwar houses here, where aluminum and later vinyl were hung straight over the original cladding. Asbestos-cement shingles are stable as long as they are not cut, drilled or broken. We inspect what is under the old vinyl before we quote; if the substrate is sound and flat it can often stay in place beneath housewrap and new cladding. Where it has to come off, a licensed abatement contractor removes it first, as a separate line in the written estimate.
Roofing for the homes of River Edge, NJ.
A free written estimate with photographs and named materials, from a Bergen County exterior crew working out of Edgewater.