Plainfield's older houses were built by people who liked rooflines. Walk the city's historic districts and you'll find Italianate and Second Empire houses with mansard roofs, Queen Anne towers, Shingle-style gables and Tudor Revival half-timbering, much of it from the 1870s through the 1920s, when the city's population more than doubled. Replacing a roof on one of these Union County homes is a different job from a ranch. For anyone weighing roofers in Plainfield, NJ, ask how they'll handle the valleys, dormer walls and porch tie-ins, because that's where these roofs leak first.
Pitch is the other issue. Many of these roofs are too steep to walk, so the crew works from roof jacks and staging, and the tear-off goes in sections rather than all at once. Mansard slopes and towers need their own approach. Under the old shingles there's usually board sheathing rather than plywood, and it needs checking plank by plank. Tall walls also mean high, long gutter runs carrying water off a very large roof, so sizing and pitch matter as much as the gutter itself.
Plainfield has ten local historic districts, including Van Wyck Brooks, Crescent Area, Netherwood Heights and Putnam Watchung, overseen by the Historic Preservation Commission. If your house is in one, check with the commission before choosing materials; the city's Building & Construction Division notes that historic approvals can come before a permit. A detached one- or two-family house otherwise needs no construction permit for a roof covering. Our core work is roof replacement and new roofs, along with gutters and guards. Call (877) 298-2340.
Around Plainfield
We regularly work near:
- 📍Plainfield Public Library
- 📍Green Brook Park
- 📍Drake House Museum
Roofing Company in Plainfield — Local Notes
- •Valleys, dormer sidewalls and the joints where porch roofs meet the house are the usual leak points on Plainfield's older homes. Flashing there should be replaced, not reused.
- •Homes built before the 1940s often have plank sheathing with gaps between boards. It needs inspecting after tear-off, and sometimes new decking before shingles go down.
- •The city's historic districts are Broadway, Cedar Brook Park, Civic, Crescent Area, Green Brook Park, Hillside Avenue, Netherwood Heights, North Avenue, Putnam Watchung and Van Wyck Brooks. Check with the Historic Preservation Commission before exterior changes there.
- •Three-story walls mean high gutters and long downspout runs. On a big roof, undersized gutters overflow in heavy rain, so sizing matters as much as guards do.