Roof Replacement The Valley, NJ | First Mountain Roofing

The Valley

Roof Replacement in The Valley: what actually fails

The part of West Orange where the first question is how many units the building contains. A detached one- or two-family dwelling is ordinary maintenance with no permit; three or more, or an attached building, is not. That is settled with the construction office, and it changes the paperwork rather than the roof.

An architectural asphalt roof in New Jersey runs $9,500 to $26,000, and most 2,000 square foot houses land at $12,000 to $18,000 installed. Architectural shingle is $5.50 to $8.00 per square foot against $4.50 to $6.50 for three-tab. On a house you intend to keep, the heavier product is worth the difference; on one you are selling next spring, it may not be, and a quote that does not ask which you are doing has not asked enough.

Unit count -- three or more is never ordinary maintenance
Whether the visible pitch is the whole roof, which it often is not
Party walls and shared abutments, before the scaffold
A sequence that never leaves a unit open overnight

Call (973) 576-8560

Roof Replacement in The Valley — new timber roof framing seen from below against the sky — **Replacement**This work, on a house like yours

Roof Replacement in The Valley — timber rafters and a roof window seen from inside an attic — **Where it goes wrong**The detail worth paying for

Roof Replacement in The Valley — two roofers on the roof of a blue wood-sided house — **The survey**Walked, photographed, then priced

What it costs

Roof replacement cost in The Valley

Those are New Jersey figures for an architectural asphalt roof, and most 2,000 square foot houses land at $12,000 to $18,000 installed. In West Orange the number moves most with which side of the mountain the house is on: a steep, broken up First Mountain roof is a different job from a post-war slope out towards Pleasantdale. Unit count comes before covering. One or two units in a detached building is ordinary maintenance; three or more, or an attached building, is not, and that changes the paperwork and the program. Low-slope roofs behind parapets are priced as their own area.

Typical$9,500 - $26,000

From$9,500

Priced$12,000-18,000 on a 2,000 sq ft house

Time on site2 - 4 days on site

What makes it cheaper

A simple roof shape, a driveway to work from, a deck that turns out sound, and a detached one- or two-family house -- which in most of this township means ordinary maintenance and no permit to wait on.

What makes it cost more

Pitch and geometry first: dormers, valleys and turrets add time per square that area alone never shows. Then a sloping wooded site that has to be staged, board sheathing that has to be made good, and a second covering that has to come off.

The line that decides the spread

How decking replacement is priced. It belongs in the scope as a rate per sheet, because nobody knows how much has softened until the covering is off, and a lump figure is a guess in one direction or the other.

Buildings in The Valley

Roofs in The Valley, and what that means for roof replacement

The one part of West Orange where the unit count is a real question before anything else. Ordinary maintenance covers a detached one- or two-family dwelling; three or more units or an attached building does not, and that is settled at the construction office rather than on the roof. Low-slope roofs behind parapets are common here and rare up the hill.

Establish how many units the building is before discussing the covering, because the answer changes the paperwork and not just the price.

All roofing work in The Valley

Before you book anything

Four checks that cost nothing and take about a minute

Three of them you can do standing in your own driveway, before anybody gets a ladder off a roof rack. Apply them here first.

Look at the van

N.J.A.C. 13:45A-17.11 requires the registration number on BOTH sides of a commercial vehicle used for home improvement work, with "HIC reg. #" in lettering an inch high. An unmarked van is not a matter of taste or opinion -- it is a vehicle that does not comply with the rule it is supposed to.

Ask for the contract before the ladder

Over $500, N.J.A.C. 13:45A-16.2 requires it in writing and signed by both parties, setting out the work and the materials and giving the contractor's legal name and business address. A first name and a mobile number is not a business address.

Check it gives you three days

That contract must carry a bold Notice to Consumer giving you three business days to cancel, running to midnight of the third business day after you receive your copy. Anyone telling you the price is only good today is describing something the law will not enforce for them.

Other roofing work in The Valley

All services

Roof Repair in The Valley

On two-family and semi-detached housing, a repair has to account for a party wall or an abutment that the neighbor also owns part of.

Storm Damage Roof Repair in The Valley

On a multi-family building, a storm repair has to keep every unit dry overnight, which constrains the sequence far more than the work itself does.

Slate Roof Replacement in The Valley

There is far less natural slate down here, and where it appears it is usually on an older two-family house rather than an estate property.

Flat Roofing in The Valley

This is the one part of West Orange with genuine low-slope roofing behind street parapets, on the older mixed-use and multi-family buildings along the main road.

Roof Inspection in The Valley

On a multi-family building the roof space may be divided, inaccessible or shared, so part of the inspection is establishing what can actually be seen and saying plainly what could not.

Nearby

Roof Replacement in neighboring cities

All areas

Roof Replacement in West Orange

One township, two trades. The mountain decides.

Roof Replacement in Llewellyn Park

An 1850s planned community. Real slate, real frames.

Roof Replacement in Pleasantdale

Post-war and simple. The layer count is the variable.

Roof Replacement in St. Cloud

High and exposed. Edges first, access second.

Roof Replacement in the Gregory section

Heavy canopy. Valleys, gutters and shaded slopes.

Roof Replacement in Livingston

Large, simple, accessible. Age is the question.

Roof Replacement in Verona

Inter-war stock. Board decking and narrow lots.

Questions

Before you book roof replacement

The questions this job turns on, answered up front.

Questions

What homeowners here ask

Do you replace the decking as well?

Only where it has actually softened, and as a rate per sheet in the written scope rather than a lump guess. On the older stock here the deck is frequently board sheathing rather than plywood, which holds a nail differently -- so it is established by lifting and looking before anything is specified on top of it.

Can I overlay instead of tearing off?

Only over one existing layer, on a sound deck. Two coverings is the practical ceiling, and an overlay buries the eaves detail -- so if there was never an ice barrier down there, an overlay guarantees there still is not. In this climate that is the wrong saving.

What is the average lifespan of a roof in New Jersey?

Architectural asphalt typically gives 20 to 30 years here and three-tab 15 to 20, with freeze and thaw at the eaves doing more to shorten both than sunlight does. Natural slate outlasts the rest by a wide margin -- often a century or more -- which is why so many slate roofs in this area need their nails, valleys and flashings attended to rather than the stone replaced.

What is the most expensive part of replacing a roof?

Labor, in most cases -- typically more than half the total, and the share rises with pitch and complexity because steep broken-up roofs take far longer per square foot than simple ones. The item that most often moves a final bill away from the quote is different: replacement decking, which nobody can measure until the old covering is off. That is why it belongs in the scope as a rate per sheet.

What are some signs a roofer is reputable?

In New Jersey four of them are checkable rather than a matter of impression. The registration number appears on both sides of the van in inch-high lettering and on every advertisement and document, under N.J.A.C. 13:45A-17.11. Any contract over $500 is in writing and signed by both parties, with the legal business name and a street address on it. And it carries a bold notice giving you three business days to cancel. A contractor who meets all four may still be wrong for the job, but one who fails them is not a judgment call.