Roof Replacement in Burlington County, New Jersey

Assessing whether the roof is genuinely finished

The first job is to decide honestly whether replacement is warranted. Age alone does not condemn a roof, and a well-ventilated shingle roof in good condition at twenty years may have life left while a poorly ventilated one at fifteen may not.

What matters is the pattern of deterioration. Local damage is a repair. General deterioration — granule loss across every slope, brittle shingles that crack when lifted, seals that have released widely, multiple leak points appearing in different places over a couple of seasons — is a roof that has reached the end of its service life.

Tear-off, and why it matters

Roofing over an existing layer is permitted in some circumstances and is cheaper on the day. It also hides the deck, adds weight, traps heat against the new shingles and makes the next replacement more expensive. Most importantly, it means nobody has seen the sheathing.

A full tear-off removes every existing layer down to bare deck. The nails come out, the debris goes into a covered container, and the structure underneath becomes visible for the first time in decades. That inspection is the single most useful thing a replacement provides.

Decking

With the deck exposed, damaged sheathing is identified and replaced. Plywood that has delaminated from repeated wetting, plank sheathing that has rotted at the joints, and areas around old chimneys and long-standing leaks are the usual candidates.

Older Burlington County houses — the 18th and 19th century stock in Burlington City, Mount Holly, Bordentown and Riverton in particular — often have plank sheathing with gaps between boards rather than a continuous plywood deck. That is not a fault, but it changes fastener choice and sometimes calls for overlay, and it is worth knowing about before the job rather than during it.

• Replacement of delaminated, rotted or split sheathing
• Re-nailing loose decking to the rafters
• Assessment of plank sheathing on older houses
• Identification of structural issues that are a carpenter's job, not a roofer's

Ice-and-water protection, underlayment and drip edge

A self-adhering ice-and-water membrane goes down first at the vulnerable areas: along the eaves, in the valleys, and around penetrations and walls. It seals around fasteners and gives a secondary barrier exactly where water is most likely to back up. In this climate, eave protection matters — freeze-and-thaw cycling through a South Jersey winter is milder than further north, but ice dams still form on poorly ventilated roofs.

The remaining field is covered in underlayment, and metal drip edge is installed at eaves and rakes. Drip edge is a small component that does a lot: it carries water off the deck edge into the gutter rather than behind it, and it protects the fascia from the run-off that would otherwise wick back underneath.

• Ice-and-water membrane at eaves, valleys, walls and penetrations
• Synthetic underlayment across the remaining field
• Drip edge at the eaves, under the underlayment at the rake
• Valley treatment appropriate to the roof geometry

Flashing: rebuilt, not reused

Existing flashing is frequently reused on a replacement because it is quicker and it does not show. It is also where the new roof will leak first, since the metal is typically the same age as the covering that has just been condemned.

Chimney flashing is the clearest case. A chimney needs a base, step flashing woven into each shingle course, counter-flashing let into the masonry, and on a wide chimney a cricket behind it to divert water around rather than letting it pile against the back face. Rebuilding that assembly is part of the job, not an extra.

Starter course, field shingles and ridge

The starter course at the eaves and rakes provides the adhesive bond for the first row of shingles and closes the joints in the course above. Getting it right is what stops the bottom edge of a roof from lifting in wind.

The field is then laid to the manufacturer's offset and fastening pattern — nail placement and count matter more than almost anything else for wind performance — and the job closes with hip and ridge cap over the ridge ventilation.

Ventilation

A roof assembly needs to breathe. Intake at the soffit and exhaust at the ridge let the attic air change, which carries away the moisture that rises from the living space and reduces the heat that cooks shingles from underneath in July.

The most common fault is exhaust without intake: a ridge vent installed over blocked or insulated-over soffits, which cannot draw. The second most common is mixing exhaust types on the same attic space, so one short-circuits the other. Replacement is the natural moment to correct both.

Cleanup and final review

A tear-off produces a great deal of debris and a very large number of nails. Ground protection during the work, a covered container, and magnetic sweeps of driveways, lawns and beds afterwards are part of doing the job properly — particularly on properties with children, animals or gravel drives.

A final walk of the property and a review of what was found during tear-off closes the job out, including anything discovered that falls outside roofing work.