Roofing & exteriors in Waldwick, NJ
Waldwick is a compact two-square-mile borough that grew up around an 1886 Erie Railroad depot. Older frame houses near the station and Franklin Turnpike sit beside the capes, splits and ranches that filled the outer blocks later, on rolling ground the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook drains southward. That mix means layered roofs, cladding over original wood, five-inch gutters and drainage that decides whether a basement stays dry.
Waldwick is a railroad borough. The Erie built the station at West Prospect Street and Hewson Avenue in 1886, added the rail yard at its north end, and the town grew around the depot until it incorporated in 1919. NJ Transit's Main and Bergen County lines still stop here. Route 17 runs along the east side, Franklin Turnpike crosses the borough, and the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook flows southward through the middle.
The housing follows the railroad. About 3,700 homes on two square miles is suburban density, nearly all of it single-family. In a station town the oldest frame houses and colonials stand within a few blocks of the depot and Franklin Turnpike; capes, split-levels and ranches took the outer blocks once Route 17 made the drive to work practical. Each era fails in its own way. The station-era frames carry a second shingle layer on plank decking and aluminum nailed over the original wood. The post-war houses have attics that were never vented, gutters that were never sized, and cladding at the end of its life.
Our work in Waldwick covers the whole envelope: roof replacement, leak repair and inspection, new siding on the older frames and the post-war capes, windows and doors, gutters and downspouts routed for the lot, and decks.
A brook down the middle, a rail yard at the top
The Ho-Ho-Kus Brook flows through the center of the borough in a roughly southward direction.
Wikipedia, Waldwick, New JerseyLow ground beside the brook. The lots along the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook sit at the bottom of the borough's rolling ground, so street runoff arrives on top of whatever the roof sheds. Where a downspout ends decides whether that water reaches the brook or the basement. On these houses we route every downspout before we hang a gutter: to daylight downhill where the grade allows, to a buried line where it does not, and never to a splash block aimed back at the wall. A leak traced on a low lot often begins at a blocked outlet rather than a shingle.
Station-era frames with a century of layers. The houses nearest the depot and Franklin Turnpike have been re-roofed and re-sided more than once, usually over what was already there. We find two layers of shingle on plank decking, aluminum over clapboard, and window openings with the original flashing long gone. We open these walls expecting rot at the sills and eaves, and put the assembly back in the right order.
Route 17 on the east side. Houses along the highway edge collect road film on siding and glass that the blocks behind them never see, and a loose sash lets the traffic in. On that side we specify smooth claddings a hose can rinse and windows with a tested air-leakage rating, and we seal the frames to the wall properly.
What the houses of Waldwick need
Shingle roofs with the attic vented
On the capes and splits, most winter leaks are ice dams: heat escapes through an unvented attic, melts the snow, and it refreezes at the cold eave and backs up under the shingles. When we replace one of these roofs we add continuous soffit intake and a ridge vent, run ice-and-water membrane from the eave to well past the interior wall line, and lay an architectural shingle over it. On the station-era frames we check the plank decking first; boards with wide gaps or rot are replaced with plywood before anything goes on. See our roof lifespan guide.
Downspouts routed to the right place
On Waldwick's rolling ground the question is less the width of the gutter than where the downspouts let go. On a lot that falls toward the brook, an extension to daylight downhill carries the water off. On one that falls toward the house, a buried line or a drywell does the job a splash block cannot. Each run is pitched to its outlet, with a larger outlet where the roof area needs it and, under the trees, guards you can still clean; see our gutter guard guide.
Siding and windows on two kinds of wall
The station-era frames get stripped to the sheathing, because a third layer over aluminum over clapboard traps whatever moisture the wall holds. Rotted sheathing and sill plates are replaced, then housewrap lapped shingle-fashion, then fiber-cement or vinyl. On a split-level the trouble spot is where the lower roof dies into the upper wall; we add a kick-out at the bottom of that run so water goes into the gutter instead of behind the cladding. Windows in rotted original frames are replaced full-frame while the wall is open; sound post-war frames take inserts. Costs are in our window replacement guide.
Decks on footings that suit the ground
Beside the brook the soil is wetter, so footings go below frost depth on undisturbed ground and the inspector sees them before we pour. The frame is bolted through the house rim joist with that connection flashed so water cannot reach the framing, and the surface is composite or pressure-treated. Every new deck we build is permit work; we file it and attend the inspections.
Rail-line boroughs where the trees set the maintenance schedule.
North-west Bergen is a string of commuter boroughs along the old Erie lines, an older core near each station and post-war streets beyond, most of it under mature landscaping. Leaf load in the gutters, moss on north slopes, ice dams over unventilated eaves and the occasional limb on the roof are the region's routine, and we plan for them.
Neighborhoods and streets we work in Waldwick
ZIP code served: 07463.
- The station blocks at Prospect Street and Hewson Avenue — the oldest frame houses in the borough, around the 1886 depot.
- Franklin Turnpike — the County Route 507 spine through town, older houses close to the road.
- Wyckoff Avenue — west toward Wyckoff past the 1750 Albert Smith House, houses of every later era.
- The Ho-Ho-Kus Brook corridor — the low lots through the center of the borough, where drainage comes first.
- The Route 17 edge — the east side, where siding and windows take more road film and noise.
- The blocks around Crescent School, Traphagen School and Waldwick High School — post-war capes, splits and ranches, most of the housing.
Waldwick response, anywhere in 07463. Call (201) 446-5941 or request a free written estimate online.
Adjacent Bergen towns
Does Johannemann & Sons serve Waldwick, NJ?
Yes — all of Waldwick, ZIP 07463, from the older frame houses around the station at Prospect Street and Hewson Avenue to the blocks along the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook and off Franklin Turnpike and Wyckoff Avenue. We work across Bergen County from our Edgewater base. In Waldwick that means shingle roofing and leak repair, six-inch gutters, siding over older frame walls, window and door replacement, and decks.
My house is near the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook. What does that mean for the roof and gutters?
The brook runs southward through the center of the borough, so the lots beside it sit low in a stream corridor and take water from the streets above as well as their own roofs. On those houses we size gutters to the roof area, pitch every run to its outlet, and extend downspouts well clear of the foundation, ideally to daylight downhill. A gutter that overflows at one corner in a heavy rain is a wet basement on low ground, and it is the first thing we check.
Do I need a borough permit to replace a roof or build a deck in Waldwick?
New Jersey's construction code treats a like-for-like replacement of the roof covering on a one- or two-family house as ordinary maintenance, and the same goes for same-size window replacement. Structural repairs, replacing roof sheathing, enlarged window openings and every new or rebuilt deck need a permit from the Waldwick building department. A deck is inspected at footings, framing and completion. We prepare the drawings, file the application and meet the inspector.
Roofing for the homes of Waldwick, NJ.
A written estimate at no charge, with photographs of what we found and every material named by product, from an exterior crew working all of Bergen County out of Edgewater.