Roofing Projects in North Jersey

This East Rutherford roof was replaced from the deck up. The first photos show older plank decking beside new plywood, then open roof framing with new plywood sheets going down. By the time the crew is photographed along the ridge, the roof is decked in plywood.

Synthetic underlayment and shingles follow, laid slope by slope. The ridge cap photos show cap shingles being installed and then the finished ridge, with the crew cleaning the roof with a blower.

In the finished photos, white metal flashing runs along the wall where the roof meets the upper level, and the shingles are fitted up to it. Vent pipes come through the roof with flashing boots at the surface.

This is a separate Leonia project from the roof above. It ends as a finished tan shingle roof with a white stucco chimney, a box vent and a vent pipe set in flashing, but most of the photos are about the work underneath: older shingles, a stained plywood deck and new underlayment rolled out across the roof.

One close-up shows the older roof before the new one went on: weathered shingles with scattered broken pieces, and a nail gun, a tool belt and an air compressor set out on the section below. Another looks straight down at the bare plywood deck beside the white stucco chimney. The wood is dark and streaked, nail heads stand up through it, and strips of old black underlayment and gritty residue are still stuck to it.

A deck in this condition is the reason old roofing is stripped completely instead of covered over. Stuck-on residue has to be cleared, nail heads need to be set or pulled so they do not push through the new layers, and the wood is checked panel by panel: stained wood that is still solid can stay, while wood that is soft, swollen or flaking is replaced. The next photo shows what goes on once the deck is ready: synthetic underlayment rolled out, shingle bundles set along the roof and a vent pipe standing through it.

Stains like these build up over time, so they point to past moisture rather than proving a leak today. That is why a roof like this is usually a planned replacement, not a same-day emergency. The urgent signs are different: water coming through a ceiling, shingles missing after a storm, or daylight showing in the attic. Anything on that list should be looked at promptly.

This Little Falls roof was replaced from the old roofing down to the finished ridge. The photos follow it from the tear-off to the end of the job: the roof stripped to bare wood beside a brick chimney, a crew scraping the last of the old material off a plywood deck, and a dark gray shingle roof with a clean ridge cap, vent pipes and a box vent.

Two close-ups show the condition of the deck. In one, plank decking runs up to the ridge and several boards there are split and cracked, with black roofing material covering the slope next to it. In the other, the plywood deck is bare except for patches of old black underlayment still stuck to the wood. A third photo shows the brick chimney with stepped metal flashing at its base while the deck around it is exposed. The finished photos show a brick chimney with stepped metal flashing as well.

Photos like these explain why a roof is taken down to the deck instead of covered over. Boards that are split at a ridge are a poor base for fasteners and for a ridge cap, and old material stuck to the wood is cleared so the new layers can lie flat. With the deck exposed, the crew can see which boards and panels are sound before anything new is fastened to them.

Whether a roof like this is an emergency depends on whether water is getting in. Cracked decking and worn roofing can let water through before a stain shows on a ceiling. Daylight in the attic, a wet ceiling or missing shingles are reasons to call promptly. If the roof is simply old, a planned replacement gives you time to compare estimates and choose a dry window.