Roof Repair for Raritan homes and buildings
Raritan roofs are generally simpler than those in the hill towns, but the way the houses were built and modified creates predictable trouble spots. Gable-front homes and two-family houses typically have a front porch roof meeting the main wall, a rear addition or enclosed porch with a low-slope roof, and a brick chimney at the ridge or side wall. Decades of siding replacements have often covered or cut back the flashing at those walls.
Narrow lots add a practical complication: a leak on one side of the roof may be next to a neighbor only a few feet away, and gutters and downspouts may discharge toward the next house. Asset Roofing & Chimney repairs flashing, valleys, porch and addition roofs, pipe boots and storm damage, and repairs flat roofs on downtown and highway commercial buildings.
Raritan housing
Raritan's older neighborhoods are made up largely of early-1900s two-story frame houses, gable-front homes and two-family houses on narrow lots, many with front porches and a single brick chimney. Mid-century capes and ranches fill in other streets, and newer townhouses and apartments have been added. The downtown and the highway corridors carry small commercial buildings and larger flat-roofed commercial and industrial buildings. Steep roofs are almost all asphalt shingle.
Weather & exposure
The borough sits in the Raritan River valley, where the air is humid and low ground near the river has flooded in major storms. Houses close together shade each other's roofs and limit airflow, so roofs and siding dry slowly. Winters are colder than eastern Bergen County, with ice dams on homes with little attic insulation, and summer thunderstorms bring heavy rain that tests gutters and flat-roof drainage.
Repair or replace? What we tell Raritan homeowners
On a typical Raritan house, we trace the leak from inside and inspect the flashing above it, removing siding where needed to install step flashing and a kick-out correctly. Pipe boots, nail pops and worn valleys are repaired as part of the same visit. If the shingles across the roof are brittle, we will tell you that further repairs are buying limited time.
Where houses are close together we plan ladder placement and debris protection with the neighboring property in mind. On commercial flat roofs we start at the drains and parapets, then check seams and penetrations, and provide a written report for the owner.
