Roof Replacement for North Arlington homes and buildings
A full roof replacement on a North Arlington house typically covers both the pitched main roof and the low-slope rear section. The main roof is torn off to the deck, the board sheathing is repaired, and ice-and-water barrier, synthetic underlayment, new flashing and architectural shingles are installed with fastening and ridge details suited to the exposure on the ridge. The rear section gets a new low-slope membrane properly tied into the main roof and the walls.
On two-families and mixed-use buildings with full flat roofs, replacement means removing the old layers, repairing the deck, improving drainage where possible and installing a new membrane with new parapet flashing and coping work. Narrow lots and close neighbors mean staging and debris removal need careful planning. Permits are typically required for a full replacement; check with the borough building department, and we can advise on what is usually needed.
North Arlington housing
North Arlington is densely built with single-family and two-family homes on narrow lots, much of it dating from the 1920s through the 1950s. Houses are a mix of brick and frame, many with pitched asphalt shingle roofs over the main house and low-slope roofs over rear sections, porches and some two-families. Mixed-use buildings with storefronts below and apartments above line Ridge Road, along with some small apartment buildings.
Weather & exposure
The borough's residential core sits on a ridge between the Passaic River valley and the open Meadowlands, so houses on the higher streets catch wind from both directions, and nor'easters drive rain hard against east-facing walls and chimneys. The large open cemetery grounds also leave nearby streets with less shelter than a solid grid of houses would. Freeze-thaw cycles work on the many old brick chimneys, parapets and brick facades.
When replacement is the right call in North Arlington
A North Arlington roof is ready for replacement when shingles are brittle and wind damage recurs, when a flat roof ponds and has multiple layers, or when leaks appear in several places. If only the rear low-slope section is failing, it can often be replaced on its own.
Architectural shingles are the standard choice for pitched roofs, and single-ply or modified bitumen membranes for flat sections. We explain the options in plain terms.
