Roof Repair & Replacement in Branchburg, NJ

Hillsborough Roofing repairs and replaces roofs across Branchburg, a township roughly eleven miles long and about two miles wide at its broadest, wrapped by three rivers. The housing runs from old farmhouses on the original road frontage to recent subdivisions, sometimes within a mile of each other. We quote the house, not the zip code.

Farmhouses and subdivisions, side by side in Branchburg

The old houses were built in pieces: a main block, a kitchen wing, an enclosed porch, a garage, each with its own pitch and its own tie-in to the wall beside it. Every tie-in is a joint, and joints are where roofs leak. Plank decking is common here, and plank moves differently than plywood, which shows up as nail pops and wavy courses.

The subdivision work in North Branch and out toward the college is more uniform: plywood or OSB decking, one or two pitches, closed-cut valleys, builder shingles well into their second half. On the older places we are often repairing one wing. On the newer ones we are looking at the whole plane.

Three rivers, trout streams, and what the water does to a house

The Lamington River runs the northern boundary and the North and South Branches of the Raritan form the eastern and southeastern lines. Low ground along those branches takes water in a long soaking rain, and Neshanic Station by the truss bridge over the South Branch is the clearest example.

That matters less for the roof plane than for everything below it. Persistent damp keeps siding and trim from drying between rains, so fascia rots at the joints, siding wicks along the bottom course, and algae takes hold on north slopes. Near the water we read the eave line and lower wall as carefully as the shingles, and the answer often involves gutters, soffit, and fascia as much as roofing.

Rot in fascia and rake boards

Wood fascia behind an old gutter is where we find the worst of it. Water backs up over a gutter with no apron behind it, runs down the back face of the board, and sits. By the time paint peels the board is often gone at the nail line. We replace the rotted lengths, set a gutter apron, and rehang so water lands in the trough.

Moss and algae on shaded slopes

Between river humidity and the tree cover along the branches, north-facing planes grow moss that lifts shingle edges and holds water. Pressure washing destroys an asphalt roof. We remove it by hand and fit zinc or copper strip at the ridge so runoff keeps it from returning.

Siding that wicked at the bottom course

On low ground the bottom courses take splash-back and ground moisture year round. Vinyl gets brittle and cracks at the nail hem, wood cups, and the housewrap behind either may never have been lapped over the foundation. We open a section to see what is behind it before quoting the wall.

Wind off the Route 22 and Route 202 corridor

Branchburg is open ground for much of its length, with farm fields and the Route 22 and 202 corridor across it and Interstate 78 just north. Thunderstorms and winter nor’easters move through with real wind and little to break it before an exposed rake or ridge.

Wind damage is often invisible from the ground. A tab lifted and set back down looks fine and is no longer sealed, and the crease across the mat shows itself in the next driving rain. After a storm we walk the roof, check rakes and ridge first since that is where uplift starts, and photograph what we find. Repair is frequently the right answer on a storm hit. We call for replacement only when the field has been beaten past sealing again.

What a Branchburg roof visit covers

• Every addition tie-in and change of pitch on an older house
• Decking type, since plank behaves differently than plywood under new fasteners
• Rakes and ridge first after wind, because uplift starts at the edges
• Valley condition where leaf litter collects along the river tree line
• Fascia, gutter apron, and downspout drainage at the eave
• North-slope moss and algae, and whether the shingle mat survived it
• Lower siding courses and housewrap on low ground near the branches

Roofing and siding work we do in Branchburg

• Roof Repair
• Roof Replacement
• Roof Leak Repair
• Emergency Roof Repair
• Storm & Hail Damage Repair
• Solar Panel Removal & Reinstall
• Skylight Replacement
• Roof Inspection
• Gutters, Soffit & Fascia
• Flat Roof Repair
• Siding Installation
• Vinyl Siding
• James Hardie Siding
• Siding Repair

Nearby towns

Bridgewater, Somerville, Montgomery, Manville, Belle Mead, Neshanic Station, Raritan, and Hillsborough itself.