Roofers for Montclair's older homes

A neighbor, not a drive

Montclair is just north of the City of Orange, about four miles from our office on Cary Street, so it is one of the easiest towns for us to get to. It is also one of the most interesting to work in. Much of Montclair was built between the 1880s and the 1930s: Victorians, Colonial Revivals, Tudors and Arts and Crafts houses, many of them large, most with porches, and nearly all of them carrying a century of roof and siding work layered on top of each other.

What makes a Montclair roof different

• Complex rooflines. Steep main roofs, cross gables, dormers, turrets and bay roofs mean many valleys and many walls to flash. On a house like this, most of the labor is in the details.
• Porch roofs. A wraparound porch roof is low-pitched and ties into the house wall along its whole length. It is one of the most common leak sources on older Montclair houses, and it is often best done as a low-slope membrane rather than shingles.
• Layers from past jobs. Old houses often have two layers of shingles, or patched boards underneath. We tear off to the deck so we can see and repair what is there.
• Big trees. Montclair's mature street trees drop leaves and branches on roofs and gutters every fall.

Historic districts

Montclair has local historic districts and individually listed landmarks. If your house is one of them, exterior changes can require review by the township's Historic Preservation Commission before work starts. Check with the township first, and we will plan the materials and the schedule around what they approve.

What Montclair homeowners call us for

Full roof replacements on large older houses, repairs to porch roofs, dormers and chimneys, and roof inspections for people buying one of these houses. Many owners also replace windows in older houses one side or one floor at a time.

Montclair is part of our home county; see Essex County for the other towns around it. Just north, we also work in Clifton.

Common questions