Kittatinny Roofing

Roofing contractors in the Lehigh Valley

Most of the difference between two roofing quotes is not the shingle. It is what happens underneath it, and what happens if the decking turns out to be soft.

Five lines that make two quotes comparable here

  • The sheathing. Solid, or boards laid with gaps? Pre-war housing here is usually the second, and a modern covering needs a continuous surface. Ask the per-sheet rate before the roof is opened.
  • The rear roof. Behind almost every steep front slope sits a much shallower section. It is a separate roof with separate materials, and it is where the leaks usually are.
  • The party wall. On a row or a twin, that junction rises through a plane two households share. Rebuilt metal outlives the covering; sealant is a maintenance item.
  • The existing metal. On houses of a certain age the valleys are copper and still sound. Removing them by default is a decision, and it should be stated as one.
  • Access. Narrow street, hillside lot, no side yard. Where the container goes and how the crew reaches the back decides real hours, and it belongs in the price rather than in the surprise.
A roof here rarely gives out in the field. On old housing it gives out where two centuries meet. Six places, numbered. Only one of them is the covering you can see from the street.
Garage Point 1: the ridge 1 Point 2: the field of the covering 2 Point 3: the valleys 3 Point 4: flashing at a shared wall 4 Point 5: a penetration 5 Point 6: the overhang 6
  1. 1 The ridge. The highest course, and on slate the one most often reset by hand.
  2. 2 The field. Slate on the older stock, shingle on the rest. Two very different clocks.
  3. 3 Valleys. Where leaf litter settles, and where a slate roof usually ends its life.
  4. 4 Wall flashing. The party wall of a row or twin, rising through a roof two houses share.
  5. 5 Penetrations. Holes cut on purpose. When access is awkward they get sealed instead of rebuilt.
  6. 6 The overhang. Where meltwater from a warm attic reaches cold framing and stops.

The work

Why roofs fail in this region

A winter that crosses the freezing point dozens of times rather than settling below it. Post-war Capes and split-levels with rooms built into the attic, so there is no ordinary space left to ventilate. A second layer of shingles that the state tolerated for years and a great many houses accepted. Skylights and dormers added in the 1980s and 1990s, each one a hole surrounded by flashing. And a roof edge that takes every drop of water the roof sheds. Most of what gets reported here traces back to one of those.

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