Roofing, Chimney, Siding and Masonry Repair in Lodi, New Jersey

Where the Saddle River Actually Goes

The Saddle River runs the length of the borough, and the gauge here, number 01391500, puts flood stage at six feet.

Since 1924 that gauge has logged 99 separate flood events. The record crest is 13.94 feet, set on 17 September 1999.

Irene reached 13.5 feet on 28 August 2011. Ida peaked at 12.6 feet at three in the afternoon on 2 September 2021, fourth on that list.

Ida is the storm this borough remembers anyway. Its damage reads like a street map: the Boys and Girls Club car park on Passaic Avenue, Memorial Drive by the ShopRite, Vreeland Street, Voto Tedesco Park under water.

Main Street closed between Church and Union and again from Avenue E to Central. Water reached the funeral home at Main and Sidney and got into Washington Elementary.

What a River Storm Does to a Roof

In January 2024 the river reached around ten feet, Main Street flooded from Sydney to Kennedy, and residents reported roof leaks in the same hours. An inspection here covers both ends of that storm.

• Flashing at every wall, valley, skylight and chimney junction

• Fasteners backing out and lifted tabs on the windward slope

• Gutter capacity, hanger spacing and where the downspouts discharge

• Grade, splash zones and standing water against the foundation wall

Those leaks were not river water. They were the rainfall that lifted the river, landing on roofs already near the end of a service life.

So we look at ground level and thirty feet above it on the same visit, and the report covers both.

Reroofing in a Borough That Gets Wet

A roof in Lodi rarely fails from age alone. It fails at the detail that was already marginal when the heavy rain arrived.

The median build year is 1958 and the 1950s were the busiest decade here, accounting for 23.7% of everything standing.

Then the long tail. Around 13% of the borough went up in the 1970s, split-levels and small multifamily now well into a second or third roof.

We repair when the field of the roof is sound and replace when it is not. That call gets made on the roof, with photographs.

When the Storm Has Already Happened

Storm calls here are rarely one house. A front big enough to crest the river hits several streets at once, and the phone shows it.

The first priority is stopping water. Tarp it, seal it, secure whatever has lifted, and get the interior drying before a ceiling comes down.

We photograph everything before we touch it. An adjuster wants to see what the storm did, not what the roof looked like after a repair.

Then we separate causes. Wind-lifted shingles, impact damage, gutters that backed up and plain end-of-life failure look different up close and get written up differently.

The permanent repair follows once the weather clears. We would rather tarp twice than bed new shingles into a deck that is still wet.

 

Down to the Deck, and What Goes Back On

On a full replacement the covering comes off and the deck gets walked end to end. In a town this wet that is not a formality.

Soft sheathing is cut out and replaced. That is structural work, outside the ordinary maintenance exemption, and we tell you before the first bundle is opened.

Ice and water membrane goes at the eaves, in the valleys and around every penetration, because those places stay wet longest after a storm.

Underlayment covers the rest. Flashings get replaced rather than reused, since a reused flashing is the cheapest item on the roof and the most common leak.

Ventilation gets checked at the same time. A roof that cannot breathe holds moisture pushed up from inside the house through every damp week.

​

A Stack That Is Already Damp

Masonry holds water. On a chimney that has taken decades of storms, the damp is inside the brick long before anyone sees a ceiling stain.

Our work on damp chimney stacks starts with where water is entering, not with the section of stack that looks worst from the ground.

A saturated stack spalls in winter. Water sitting inside the face freezes, the face pops off, and the wall loses another layer every cold season.

On a two-family the stack often serves two appliances, which changes what a repair has to achieve before anything gets closed back up.

 

Crown, Repointing, Rebuild or Reline

A cracked crown is the cheapest repair on the list and the one that prevents the most damage when caught in the first season.

Repointing replaces failed mortar joint by joint. It is right when the brick itself is sound and the damage is confined to the mortar.

Above the roofline a rebuild often beats repeated repointing, because that section takes weather from every direction with no shelter from the roof.

Relining is separate. A liquid-applied liner counts as ordinary maintenance under the state rule, so no construction permit is needed for that part.

 

One Entry Point, Two Ceilings Below It

Most leaks are not where the stain is. Water runs along rafters and decking and shows itself several feet from the point where it entered.

So we trace it. Wet the roof in sections, watch from inside, and work down the slope until the same drip repeats on demand.

Chimneys take more blame than they deserve. The counterflashing where a stack meets the roof fails far more often than the masonry above it. These are the places we open first.

• Step and counterflashing where a roof plane meets a wall

• Valleys where two planes send their water into one channel

• Skylight curbs, plumbing vent boots and rusted flashing collars

• Nail heads left exposed by somebody’s earlier quick repair

Gutters belong in the same conversation. Water that cannot leave the roof edge backs up under the first course of shingles and sits there.

Once we find the entry point you get a photograph of it and a price for fixing that, not for replacing everything around it.

 

Siding and Rain That Arrives Sideways

Rain here does not always fall straight down. In the storms that matter it arrives at the wall, and the wall has to shed it.

Vinyl, fiber cement and wood all manage that, but only when the corners, the J-channel and the window heads were detailed properly.

Where they were not, water gets behind the cladding and stays there. That is a slower and more expensive failure than a leaking roof.

 

Under the Siding on a 1958 Two-Family

Cladding sheds rain; it is not a seal. The layer behind it is what keeps the sheathing dry once water works its way past the face.

On houses of this age that layer is often felt that has torn, slipped, or been cut around a window opening and never patched afterward.

We open a section before quoting a full re-side, so you learn what the wall behind the siding looks like before committing to a number.

Housewrap goes back on with taped seams and flashing at every opening, lapped so that water is always sent out and down rather than in.

Then the cladding. Matching an existing run matters on a two-family, because a half-replaced elevation reads from the street and stays that way for years.

 

Steps, Walls and Where the Water Collects

Ground water is a masonry problem before it is a roofing one. Our masonry and retaining wall work covers what the river reaches first.

Steps and stoops fail at the joints. Water gets in, freezes, and lifts each tread a fraction more every winter until the rise is uneven.

Retaining walls fail from behind. With nowhere for water to go, saturated soil leans on a wall that was built to hold back dry weight.

So we build in weep holes and drainage stone, and set steps and walkways on a base that drains rather than one that holds water.

Repointing an outside wall is the same work as a chimney done at ground level, and it is the cheapest way to stop water entering brick.

Where the downspout lands is part of every masonry price we give. A discharge aimed at a wall will undo that wall.

 

Chapter 204 Says Reroofing Out Loud

Most towns license contractors in general terms. Lodi’s Chapter 204 names the work itself: constructing, altering, repairing, restoring, reroofing, re-siding, moving or demolishing residential premises.

Roofing and siding contractor is a dedicated licence class here, and working without one is not a paperwork problem. Penalties run to $2,000, 90 days imprisonment and 90 days community service, each day a separate offence.

The dates catch people out. Licences expire on 31 December every year, and one allowed to lapse past 31 January means a wholly new application rather than a renewal. Four things are worth asking first.

• Ask to see the borough licence before you ask for a price

• Check the expiry date, because every licence runs to 31 December

• Confirm the class covers roofing and siding, not general building

• Ask for the state HIC number and a current certificate of insurance

 

Licensed in Trenton and Licensed in Lodi

We hold New Jersey home improvement contractor registration 13VH13359900 and carry insurance, and both documents come to you before we quote anything.

In this borough that is only half of it. Lodi licenses the trade itself, and we keep that licence current.

Ask any contractor for both. A state registration on its own does not satisfy Chapter 204 for work carried out inside the borough line.

Twenty-five years across Bergen County means we worked the storms this town actually remembers, rather than reading about them afterward in a claim file.

Being local also means being reachable in the week when the river is up and everyone is calling the same handful of numbers.

You get the same crew from tear-off through cleanup, and a name and a number that still answers once the invoice has been paid.

 

Free Estimates and Ways to Pay for It

Estimates are free and they are written. Line items, quantities, photographs of what we found, and a plain statement of what is excluded.

We do not price from an aerial image. Somebody walks the roof, opens what needs opening, and reports what is under it rather than guessing.

Financing is available when the work is larger than one month allows, which happens often when a storm rather than a budget sets the timetable.

And if a repair will hold for a few more seasons we will say so. You hear that before you hear a replacement number.

 

Along the Saddle River From Lodi

Ida did not single this borough out. The same water came through Garfield to the south and Elmwood Park to the west, and we plan drainage identically in all three. Hackensack is the other end of the same river valley, where the work turns commercial and flat.