Roof repair & replacement in Morris County, NJ

Second roofs on 1970s to 1990s homes

A center-hall colonial or a contemporary from those decades usually has several roof planes, dormers, valleys, a sidewall where a garage meets the second floor, and often a skylight or two. Every one of those joints is a place where water can get in. If an earlier replacement was laid over the old shingles or reused the original flashing, those joints are usually where the leaks start. Stains on a bedroom ceiling below a dormer, or on the garage ceiling below a sidewall, almost always point to flashing rather than to the shingles themselves.

Plywood and OSB decks from that era are usually sound, but not around old leaks. Soft or delaminated sheets show up around skylights, chimneys and at the bottom of valleys, and we replace them sheet by sheet so you pay for what is actually damaged. If a skylight is as old as the roof, we will tell you so: putting new shingles around a skylight that is near the end of its life means opening the roof again later. On a home like this, a full replacement from us includes:

• Tear-off to the deck and replacement of any soft or delaminated sheets
• New step flashing along every sidewall and new counter flashing at the chimney
• Ice & water shield in every valley and along the eaves
• New pipe boots, and skylights reflashed or replaced
• Ridge venting balanced with intake at the eaves

Colder winters in the northwest of the county

Much of Morris County lies in the New Jersey Highlands, the region of ridges, forests and lakes that the state’s Highlands Council covers in parts of seven northern counties. Rutgers’ Office of the New Jersey State Climatologist describes the state’s northern climate zone, the highlands and valleys of the north, as colder than the rest of the state, with annual snowfall averaging 40 to 50 inches. The county stretches from the older suburbs in the east to that higher, wooded country in the northwest, so two Morris County houses can see quite different winters.

More snow and colder nights mean more ice dams, especially on the higher, wooded ground around towns such as Jefferson, Roxbury and Mount Arlington. Every roof we replace gets ice & water shield along the eaves and in the valleys, and we balance intake vents at the eaves with ridge venting so the roof deck stays cold. A cold deck is what keeps snow from melting at the top and refreezing at the gutter. We also check that bathroom and kitchen fans vent outside rather than into the attic, because that warm, wet air feeds both ice dams and mold on the underside of the deck.

Lake Hopatcong and lake homes

Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey’s largest lake, sits on the border of Morris and Sussex counties, with Mount Arlington, Jefferson and Roxbury on the Morris side. The state’s Division of Fish and Wildlife notes that it was once a summer vacation destination and now serves as a year-round home for thousands of residents. If your lake house started as a seasonal cottage, it may have shallow-pitched roofs, low-slope porch roofs and additions built at different times. Shingles do not belong on very low slopes, so we install a flat-roof membrane such as EPDM there and tie it into the shingle roof. Cottages built for summer use also tend to have small rafters and little or no attic space, which leaves almost no room for air to move under the deck. On those roofs we choose vents that fit the framing and tell you plainly how much ventilation the house can take.

Lake lots bring their own logistics: narrow roads, steep driveways and little room for a dumpster. We look at access during the estimate and plan where materials and debris will go, so the job does not end up damaging a lawn, a retaining wall or a neighbor’s driveway. Where a full-size dumpster cannot fit, the debris goes out in smaller loads, and we tell you that in the estimate rather than on the morning of the job.

Older town centers and permits

About 14% of Morris County homes were built before 1940, mostly in the older town centers. On those houses we often find board sheathing instead of plywood, more than one layer of old shingles, and slate on some roofs. Board decks are checked section by section during a tear-off and replaced or overlaid where they will not hold nails, and slate roofs that are still sound are repaired slate by slate rather than replaced. New Jersey building rules limit how many layers a roof can carry, and a second layer hides rot in the deck, so we quote a tear-off.

Each Morris County town has its own construction office, and that office decides what work needs a permit. When your job needs one, we file it and arrange the inspection as part of the job, so you do not have to deal with the paperwork or wait at home for the inspector without knowing when they will come.