Clifton Elite Roofing brings more than 20 years of experience to roofing in North Arlington, and we start every job here from one plain fact: most houses in the borough are not on their first roof, or their second. On a house of that age, what sits under the shingles decides the price far more than the shingle you pick, so we look there first.
That means an estimate built from the attic as well as the roof surface. We count the layers already on the house, look at the deck boards from below, and check how the chimney has been flashed before we write a single number down. If the honest answer is that a repair will carry the roof for years, you hear that before anyone mentions a replacement.
Every scope we hand over breaks the job into tear-off, decking, underlayment, flashing and ventilation as separate lines. You can lay it next to another contractor’s estimate and compare the two line by line instead of guessing what a single total covers.
Bergen County’s Southern Tip, Next to Kearny’s Arlington
North Arlington is the southernmost municipality in Bergen County. It borders Lyndhurst, faces Belleville in Essex County across the Passaic River, and meets Kearny in Hudson County, and the borough takes its name from the Arlington section of Kearny on the other side of Route 7. Three counties come together within a short drive, which matters more to a roofing job than it sounds.
Why the address frames the job
The street a house sits on decides which municipal office handles any paperwork and whose published rules apply. A house that feels like part of the same neighborhood may be in North Arlington, in Kearny’s Arlington section, or across the bridge in Belleville. We confirm the municipality from the property itself before we talk about scheduling, so the job is framed by the right town from the first conversation.
We only describe the rules we have actually read. For a North Arlington address, that is the borough’s own Construction Department page and the state’s Uniform Construction Code. For a house on the Kearny or Belleville side, we check that town’s office directly rather than assume its process matches the borough’s.
The Meadowlands side of the borough
North Arlington is also one of the 14 municipalities in the Hackensack Meadowlands District, and its District land lies on the Meadowlands side of town, around the former EnCap site. Inside the District, state rules call for a zoning certificate from the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority before remodeling or reconstruction, with an exception for maintenance and demolition. Whether a particular re-roof falls under that exception has not been confirmed with the agency, so if a property sits inside the District we raise it with the NJSEA zoning officer before the job is booked.
Looking for roofing closer to Maywood? See Maywood Roofing.
Houses From the 1940s and 1950s on Their Third Roof
Census figures put 49.3 percent of the borough’s housing units in the years 1940 through 1959, and another 19.8 percent before 1940. That is a postwar town, and at that age most of its houses have likely already worn out two roofs. A house from the late 1940s or the 1950s is typically on its third roof cycle or later.
What the age of the house tells us
A third roof is rarely a clean slate. Earlier crews may have left an old layer in place, patched the chimney with tar instead of new metal, or covered rotted boards with a fresh course of shingles. None of that shows from the driveway, which is why our inspection includes the attic and not just a walk across the shingles.
When a leak is the reason for the call, we follow the stain back to where the water really enters. On postwar houses that is often a chimney, a plumbing vent or a valley rather than the field of the roof. Tracing it first keeps the estimate tied to the actual problem.
Repair first, replacement only when it is earned
Plenty of 1950s roofs still have years left in them once a failed boot or a loose run of flashing is fixed. We tell you plainly when a repair is the right call. When the roof is truly at the end, we explain why, and we explain whether a second layer is even an option before we price anything.
New Jersey’s rehabilitation subcode requires a full tear-off when a roof already carries two or more layers, or when slate, wood shake or tile is underneath. On a house that has been re-roofed twice, an overlay is often off the table, and you should know that before you see the estimate rather than after.
What a Tear-Off Finds: Layers, Boards and Chimney Flashing
The real scope of a postwar roof becomes visible the morning the old material comes off. We plan for that day in the contract instead of leaving it to a phone call from the roof.
Stacked layers and the deck beneath them
Many houses of this era were built with board sheathing rather than plywood, and decades of layered shingles can hide split or soft boards. Once the deck is exposed, any damaged boards are photographed and shown to you before they are replaced. The per-sheet price for that replacement is written into the contract ahead of time, so a bad section of deck does not turn into an open-ended charge.
With the deck sound, the new system goes on in order: drip edge at the eaves and rakes, an underlayment such as ASTM D8257 synthetic or D226 felt, a starter strip, and architectural shingles such as GAF Timberline HDZ, Owens Corning Duration or CertainTeed Landmark. Hip and ridge cap shingles finish the top.
Chimney flashing gets replaced, not reused
Chimneys on 1940s and 1950s houses have usually seen several rounds of patching. We do not slide new shingles against old metal. Step flashing, counter flashing and the chimney flashing itself are replaced with the roof, with counter flashing set into a cut reglet in the masonry where the chimney allows it. A wide chimney may need a cricket behind it so water is steered around instead of pooling.
The same rule covers pipe boots and the apron and kick-out flashing where a roof meets a wall. These small pieces are where older roofs leak most, and they cost little to replace while the roof is open.
Ventilation on an attic built before anyone planned for it
Postwar attics were often vented with a pair of gable louvers and nothing else. On every replacement we check the balance between intake at the soffit and exhaust at the ridge, and we adjust it when the numbers do not work. A roof that breathes properly holds up longer and keeps the attic drier through the winter.
One- to Four-Family Roofs Off Ridge Road
The borough’s housing is mixed. Census figures show 35.6 percent of units are single detached houses, 26.6 percent are in two-unit buildings, and 12.6 percent are in three- and four-unit buildings, with 55.6 percent of households renting. Along the side streets off Ridge Road and toward the Belleville Turnpike, a two-family house with an owner downstairs and a tenant upstairs is a common sight.
Scheduling around the tenant upstairs
A re-roof on a two-family house affects two households. We plan with both floors in mind, so the tenant upstairs knows which days the crew will arrive and where we may need access, whether that is the attic hatch, a back porch or a driveway shared with a neighbor. Telling the tenant ahead of time is easier for everyone than explaining a ladder at the window.
On a three- or four-family building we also plan around more parked cars and more people coming and going. The tear-off and dry-in are sequenced so no unit is left exposed overnight.
Clean sites on tight lots
Houses here sit close together, and a tear-off on a narrow lot puts debris near a neighbor’s fence and car. At the end of every work day we clean the yard, driveway and gutters, and we run a magnet sweep for loose roofing nails. You should not find the job in a tire the week after we leave.
Our contracts follow New Jersey’s home improvement rules, including the written notice of your right to cancel within three business days. If storm damage is behind the call, we photograph it and write it up for your own claim, and we will meet your insurance adjuster on the roof if you ask us to.
When the Borough Construction Office Is Involved
The Borough of North Arlington Construction Department, at 214 Ridge Road, is the local office that enforces the state construction code. Its web page lists the kinds of work that call for a construction permit, and ‘Replacing a Roof’ appears on that list alongside new siding and renovations. Fees are not printed; the page says they depend on several variables and to call or stop in.
What the state rule says
New Jersey’s Uniform Construction Code treats replacing the roof covering on a detached one- or two-family house as ordinary maintenance under N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.7. That state rule is the one we work from for single and two-family houses, and it conflicts with the borough page’s wording. For three- and four-family buildings the picture is different, and a permit or minor-work notice does apply, so we account for it in the schedule.
Booking around the inspection windows
When an inspection is part of the job, timing follows the borough’s posted hours. The Building Sub-Code Inspector is available Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., while the Construction Code Official keeps weekday hours from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. We build those windows into the job calendar so a crew is not waiting on an open roof for a slot later in the week.
If your house has solar panels, their removal and reinstall go into the same schedule from the start. Panels are planned around before tear-off day, never discovered on it.
Open land around the residential blocks
The borough’s large open parcels, from the 208 acres of Holy Cross Cemetery to Riverside County Park, break up the residential grid, and the old Schuyler copper mine is part of the town’s early history. Between them sit the blocks of postwar houses this page is about, each one a candidate for a careful look at what lies under its current roof.
- 20+ Years on North Jersey Roofs
- Itemized Written Scopes
- Attic-to-Ridge Leak Tracing
