Pemberton Township · Burlington County, NJ

Roofing Contractors in Pemberton Township, NJ

Roof repair, replacement and inspection across Pemberton Township's lake communities and pine country.

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Browns Mills Junction in Pemberton Township, New Jersey.
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Woodland setting

Properties and roofs in Pemberton Township

Pemberton Township covers sixty-two square miles, which makes it one of the largest municipalities in Burlington County and one of the most varied. Browns Mills is its population centre, and the lake communities — Country Lake Estates, Presidential Lakes Estates — together with Pemberton Heights account for a large share of its housing.

Much of that housing is modest, older, and built in circumstances quite different from the county's affluent western suburbs. A good deal of it began as seasonal or lakeside cottage building that was later occupied year-round, and the roofs reflect that history: small, simple, frequently extended, and often carrying several coverings.

Where it is: The township stretches across pine country in the centre-east of the county, wrapping entirely around the independent borough of Pemberton. Browns Mills, Country Lake Estates, Presidential Lakes Estates and Pemberton Heights are its main census-designated places; New Lisbon, Whitesbog, Birmingham, Hanover Furnace, Mount Misery and Ong's Hat are among its many localities. Part of the township lies within the state-designated Pinelands Area, and part of the Fort Dix census area falls within its boundaries — a matter of geography alone.
What is built here: The housing is predominantly modest and detached: small post-war and mid-century homes, former seasonal cottages around the lake communities now in year-round use, ranches and Capes, and scattered newer building. Roofs are generally small and simple in geometry, but a great many carry additions, enclosed porches and converted spaces that were added later — and each of those created a junction.

Tree cover and organic debris

Pine needles dominate through the wooded parts of the township. They fall continuously, mat into a water-shedding layer, pass through most gutter guards, and lodge in flashing joints and under shingle edges. On the small, simple roofs common here there are fewer valleys to block, but the gutters block quickly and the roof surface holds needles against the covering.

Inspection

Look at the roof before it tells you

Properties here are often set back and seldom seen up close, so problems tend to be older by the time they are found. An annual look, plus one after any storm that brought branches down, catches most of it early.

What an inspection covers

Roof repair

Typical repairs in Pemberton Township

Leaks where a later addition or enclosed porch meets the original house
Shingled low-slope roofs over additions working water back under the laps
Needle-blocked gutters backing water onto the roof edge
Condensation in attics of former seasonal cottages now used year-round
Several existing layers found on small older roofs

Replacement

When the covering has run its course

Replacement means taking the roof down to the deck, repairing sheathing, and rebuilding the water barriers, flashing and ventilation. On long or remote drives, where the container and deliveries go needs agreeing first.

Roof replacement step by step

Ventilation

Letting the attic dry

Roofs that stay damp outside need attics that can dry inside. Soffit intake blocked by insulation, and bathroom fans venting into the attic, are the usual culprits behind condensation mistaken for leaks.

Ventilation and attic moisture

Gutters and drainage

Keeping water moving

On a small roof the gutter is the whole drainage system, so when it blocks there is no margin. With continuous needle fall that happens fast, and the water then backs onto the roof edge and the fascia. Around the lake communities the ground is often damp already, so where downspouts discharge matters more than the modest scale of these houses suggests.

Storm preparation

Weather here, and getting ready for it

Pine country weather: summer thunderstorms with limb fall as much as wind damage, sustained autumn rain, and freeze-and-thaw winters. Around the lakes, humidity keeps roofs damp longer, and that is where moss establishes on the shaded slopes.

Multiple coverings on small older roofs, with deck condition unknown
Additions and enclosed porches creating roof-to-wall junctions after the fact
Low-slope sections over those additions, frequently shingled when they should not be
Constant pine needle fall through the wooded and Pinelands parts of the township
Former seasonal cottages with insulation and ventilation never designed for year-round use
Shaded, slow-drying slopes around the lake communities

Services

Roofing services in Pemberton Township

Roofing services throughout Pemberton Township, from Browns Mills to the lake communities and pine country.

All roofing services

Questions

Roofing questions from Pemberton Township

My house started as a summer cottage. Does that affect the roof?

It often does, and it shows up as attic moisture rather than leaks. A building designed for seasonal use was not insulated or ventilated for a household living in it through a New Jersey winter, so vapour from cooking, washing and breathing ends up condensing on the cold underside of the roof deck. It is a fixable problem, but it is a ventilation and air-sealing job rather than a roofing repair.

The leak is where the extension joins the house. Why there?

Because that junction was created after the original roof was built, and it needs step flashing woven into the courses with something covering the top of it. Where an addition was built quickly, or where the flashing was sealed rather than layered, that junction becomes the weak point — usually showing itself in wind-driven rain first.

Is Pemberton Township the same as Pemberton Borough?

No. The borough is a separate, much smaller municipality sitting entirely inside the township, and effectively all of it lies within a listed historic district. The township around it is one of the largest in the county, with very different housing.

How often do gutters need clearing around the lake communities?

More often than most owners expect — two or three times a year where there are pines. Needles fall throughout the year rather than in an autumn burst, and on a small roof there is no spare capacity once the gutter is part-blocked.

Do you work on the base?

No. This is a private roofing website for homes and businesses in Burlington County. Part of the Fort Dix census area falls inside the township's boundaries, which is a geographic fact and nothing more — no relationship, access, contract or endorsement is claimed or implied.

Nearby

Service areas near Pemberton Township

How Roof Ventilation Helps Control Moisture

Most attic ventilation faults are not missing vents. They are vents that cannot draw, because nothing is feeding them.

Pine woodland along Tabernacle-Chatsworth Road in Tabernacle Township, Burlington County, New Jersey

6 min read

What Tree Debris Can Do to an Asphalt Shingle Roof

Debris on a roof is treated as untidiness. It is closer to a slow chemical and mechanical attack on the covering underneath it.

Poorly formed flashing where a chimney passes through a shingle roof