Roofing & exteriors in Wood-Ridge, NJ
Wood-Ridge is 1.12 square miles on the upland just west of the Meadowlands. Its borough grid filled in around the Curtiss-Wright plant; from the 2010s on, a new-build district rose at Wesmont Station on the factory's old ground. Two housing generations, two sets of exterior problems — aging shingle, covered-over siding and undersized gutters on the old streets, first-cycle maintenance on the new.
Wood-Ridge sits at about 167 feet, with Hasbrouck Heights and Lodi to the north, Wallington to the west, Carlstadt to the south and Moonachie to the east. A rail depot opened here in 1861 and the borough incorporated in 1894; the older streets are the tight-lot single- and two-family blocks a town of that age produces. Route 17 cuts through the middle; its 1967 widening moved the Wood-Ridge station half a mile south, to Park Place East by the Moonachie Avenue interchange.
The event that shaped the housing is the Curtiss-Wright aircraft-engine plant: more than 150 acres, over a fifth of the borough, closed in the late 1970s. After a $15 million cleanup the site became Wesmont Station: roughly 1,500 townhomes, condos and apartments with their own NJ Transit station, opened in May 2016. So a roofer here meets two very different houses. One is on its second or third shingle cycle over a deck nobody has seen in decades; the other is still inside a manufacturer's warranty.
We treat both as one envelope and put the findings in writing, with photographs, before we price anything. Start with roofing or the full service list.
Two housing generations in one small borough
During World War II, the Curtiss-Wright manufacturing facility comprised over 150 acres, more than 20% of the Borough of Wood-Ridge's area, and employed more than 27,000 people.
Wesmont Station redevelopment profile, NJB MagazineRoofs on their second or third cycle. On the pre-Wesmont streets a roof replacement often means lifting two layers of shingle to find the original plank deck. We tear off, replace what is soft, add ice-and-water membrane at eaves and valleys and correct the attic ventilation these houses rarely had. A leak on a house this age usually starts at the chimney or a sidewall, not in the field.
Siding that covered the problem. Aluminum and vinyl went over a lot of original wood in the decades after the plant closed, and hid the sills. When we re-side, the old cladding comes off, sheathing and sills get repaired, and a real weather barrier and flashing go on before anything new is hung.
Small lots, nowhere for water to go. On a compact grid a downspout that ends at the corner of the house is discharging at the foundation, sometimes the neighbor's. We size gutters to the real roof area and route them to the street, a dry well or a drain on your own lot.
Wesmont Station, first-cycle work. The homes on the old plant site are modern assemblies with modern warranties. The job there is protecting that warranty, re-sealing joints before they open, and sorting out who owns a shared roof plane before anyone gets on it. Gutters and window and door flashing are where we look first.
What this housing stock actually needs
Architectural shingle, installed to the wind rating
For the borough's single- and two-family houses: a shingle with a published high-wind rating, six-nail fastening, sealed starter and ridge, and synthetic underlayment over a repaired deck. The Meadowlands to the east is open ground, and east-facing slopes see the weather first. Low-slope membrane on porch roofs and flat sections.
Siding over older frame walls
Fiber-cement or quality vinyl over a proper weather barrier, the original cladding removed rather than buried. Every opening flashed, every sill checked. On the older grid this is where hidden rot lives.
Windows & doors, matched to the house
Insert replacements where frames are sound, full-frame where they are not, storm windows kept where an original wood sash is worth saving. At Wesmont Station the work is usually flashing and sealant at the existing units. See what window replacement costs in Bergen County.
Gutters sized for the roof, routed for the lot
Six-inch seamless aluminum where a five-inch gutter overflows at the corners, downspouts added where the run is too long, outlets routed away from your foundation and your neighbor's. Guards only where canopy justifies them.
Open ground, tight lots, roofs that meet the weather first
South Bergen runs from the Hackensack's tidal lowlands up onto the ridges: rail-era boroughs, dense lots, two-families and capes beside highway corridors and old industrial ground. An exterior contractor here thinks about wind across open marsh, drainage where water has nowhere to go, and roofs that share a wall with the house next door.
Neighborhoods and streets we work in Wood-Ridge
ZIP code served: 07075.
- Wesmont Station — townhomes, condos and apartments built from the 2010s on the former Curtiss-Wright site; first-cycle exterior work.
- The older borough grid between Hasbrouck Heights and Carlstadt — small-lot single- and two-family streets that filled in around the plant.
- Around Wood-Ridge station at Park Place East, by the Route 17 and Moonachie Avenue interchange.
- The Route 17 corridor — highway-facing houses and low-slope commercial roofs.
- The blocks around the Brinkerhoff House, the borough's NRHP-listed library building.
Wood-Ridge response, anywhere in 07075. Call (201) 446-5941 or request a free written estimate online.
Adjacent Bergen towns
Does Johannemann & Sons serve Wood-Ridge, NJ?
Yes — all of 07075, from the older borough grid between Hasbrouck Heights and Carlstadt to the Wesmont Station townhomes and condos on the former Curtiss-Wright site. We work across the county from our Edgewater base and handle roofing, siding, windows and doors, gutters and decks in Wood-Ridge, with a free written estimate and photographs before any work is priced.
My Wesmont Station townhome is only a few years old. Is there anything to do to the exterior yet?
Less than on an older house, but not nothing. New construction relies on sealant joints, window and deck flashing and a registered manufacturer warranty. The first things to fail are usually caulk lines, a loose downspout strap or a shingle tab that never sealed. A short inspection every few years, before the warranty window closes, keeps small items from becoming claims — and on townhomes we check who is responsible for a shared roof plane before anyone touches it.
Do I need a permit to re-roof an older house in Wood-Ridge, and can the new shingles go over the old ones?
New Jersey generally treats like-for-like roof and siding replacement on a one- or two-family house as ordinary maintenance, so a permit is usually not required. Structural repairs, decks and changes to window openings are different, and we confirm with the borough construction office before starting. Code allows a second layer of asphalt shingle, but on the borough's older houses we recommend a full tear-off. It is the only way to see and repair the deck, and it keeps weight and heat off the roof.
Roofing for the homes of Wood-Ridge, NJ.
A free written estimate with photographs and named materials, from a Bergen County exterior crew working out of Edgewater.