Roofing Contractor in Rockaway, NJ

Two Rockaways, eight ZIP codes

Rockaway is two separate towns. Rockaway Township was incorporated in 1844 and covers about 46 square miles of northern Morris County, from the I-80 corridor up through Green Pond. Rockaway Borough broke off from the township in 1894 and is a compact, roughly two-square-mile town of its own along the Rockaway River.

The confusing part is the mail. The borough has ZIP 07866. The township has no ZIP code of its own, so its homes are addressed through eight different ones: 07005 (Boonton), 07405 (Butler), 07435 (Newfoundland), 07438 (Oak Ridge), 07801 (Dover), 07842 (Hibernia), 07866 (Rockaway) and 07885 (Wharton). A house with a Wharton or Oak Ridge mailing address can sit entirely inside Rockaway Township.

None of that changes how we work. Whether your house is a few blocks off Main Street in the borough or up a lake road in White Meadow Lake, it gets the same crew and the same process. When you call, just give us the street address and we will take it from there.

The township boom and what it means for your roof now

Rockaway Township grew faster between 1950 and 1970 than at any other point in its history. The Census counted 4,418 residents in 1950, 10,356 in 1960 and 18,955 by 1970. That is more than a fourfold jump in twenty years, and a large share of the township's houses went up in that window.

A house built in the late 1950s or 1960s is now well past sixty years old. Most of them are on their second or third roof, which means the wood deck underneath has been through two or three tear-offs, two or three full sets of nails and decades of attic heat and moisture. That deck is what every new shingle is nailed into, and it is the part of the roof you cannot see from the ground.

Older houses in Rockaway Borough, some of which predate the township boom by decades, add another variable. Homes from before plywood sheathing became standard were often decked with solid wood boards instead of panels. Boards can be perfectly sound, but they have to be checked for gaps, splits and rot before new shingles go on them. We cover what to look for in our guide to roof decking and when it needs replacing.

What this Rockaway tear-off shows

The photo at the top of this page was taken mid-job on a Rockaway roof. The old shingles have been stripped, and the plywood deck is exposed. A few things worth noticing:

• The plywood sheets are staggered. Seams in one row do not line up with seams in the next, which is how a deck is supposed to be laid so the panels support each other across the rafters.
• The old black underlayment is still on the upper section. The tear-off works in stages. The old felt comes off along with the shingles so the wood under it can be seen, not covered over.
• The plumbing vent is uncovered. With the shingles off, the old flashing around every pipe comes off too, and each penetration is re-flashed with the new roof.
• The crew is on the deck, not on top of old shingles. A tear-off is the only time anyone can walk the bare wood, feel for soft spots and see rot, delamination or old leak stains.

This is the moment that separates a roof that lasts from one that fails early. New shingles can only hold as well as the wood they are nailed into. Any sheet that is soft, rotted or delaminated gets cut out and replaced before the new underlayment goes down, and new shingles are never nailed over a deck that cannot hold a nail.

Lake communities, wooded lots and steep driveways

Much of Rockaway Township is built around lakes and wooded hills: White Meadow Lake, Lake Telemark, Green Pond and the ridges around Mount Hope and Hibernia. That shapes the work in practical ways.

• Access and protection. Narrow lake roads, sloped lots and tight driveways change where the dumpster and material delivery can go. We plan that before day one so lawns, beds and septic areas are protected.
• Shade and debris. Roofs under heavy tree cover stay damp longer and collect debris in valleys and behind chimneys, which are the places leaks start.
• Snow and ice. North Morris County winters bring ice at the eaves. Every replacement includes self-adhering ice and water barrier at the edges and in valleys.

Roofing and chimney work we do in Rockaway

• Full roof replacement with complete tear-off, deck inspection and repair, ice and water barrier, synthetic underlayment, new flashing and new shingles.
• Roof leak repair around chimneys, skylights, valleys, walls and pipe boots.
• Chimney repair including flashing, crowns and masonry work.
• Gutters replaced or re-hung with the new roof.

See every service on our services page, or read what a full replacement looks like start to finish in how long a roof replacement takes.

Rockaway roofing questions