Edison went from about 16,000 residents in 1950 to nearly 45,000 by 1960, and you can still see that boom on side streets all over this corner of Middlesex County: Cape Cods, ranches and split-levels on modest lots. Census estimates put roughly seven in ten of the township's homes between the 1950s and the 1980s. Plenty of them are on a second roof now, some on a third. If you're comparing roofers in Edison, NJ, the first thing to pin down is how many layers are already up there, because that one fact shapes the whole job.
New Jersey builds to the International Residential Code, and it doesn't allow a new layer of shingles over a roof that already has two or more. That holds even on jobs that need no permit. On a house that was overlaid twenty or thirty years ago, everything comes off and the crew works from bare sheathing. That's not a bad thing. On an older Cape it's the one chance to see the boards, replace soft spots around dormers and vents, and run ice-and-water shield along the eaves before the new roof replacement goes on.
On paperwork: replacing the roof covering on a detached one- or two-family house is ordinary maintenance under the state construction code, so no permit is needed. Townhouses and other attached homes, buildings with three or more units, and any structural work such as new rafters are different, and those go through Edison's Division of Construction Code Enforcement at the Municipal Building. Gutters here are often as old as the roof, so replacing both at once usually makes sense. With big trees overhead, ask about gutter guards. Call (877) 298-2340.
Around Edison
We regularly work near:
- 📍Menlo Park Mall
- 📍Thomas Edison Center
- 📍Roosevelt Park
Roofing Company in Edison — Local Notes
- •Capes with finished second floors usually have tight knee-wall and slope cavities with little room for insulation or airflow. Heat escaping there melts snow on the upper roof, and it refreezes at the cold eaves. Ventilation and insulation address that; ice-and-water shield keeps meltwater out while it happens.
- •Split-levels have roof planes meeting walls at different heights. The step flashing at those joints is the most common leak point and should be replaced during a tear-off, not bent back and reused.
- •Back porches and ranch additions are often close to flat. Shingles aren't meant for very low slopes, so make sure any quote treats those sections separately.
- •Detached one- and two-family homes need no construction permit for a roof covering replacement. Townhouses, condos, 3+ unit buildings and structural work do, through Edison's Division of Construction Code Enforcement.
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