Roofing in Franklin Borough
Franklin grew up around a hole in the ground. The zinc under this valley made the town, and the New Jersey Zinc Company built a good share of the houses to go with it, starting a worker-housing program in 1912 with a pair of double houses on Fowler Street. As the mine pulled men in, the population climbed from a few hundred to a few thousand inside two decades, and street after street filled with modest frame homes built to a handful of repeating plans. Many of those houses are still standing, still lived in, and wearing roofs that have been re-covered once or twice since the ore played out in the 1950s.
These are plain gable roofs for the most part, and up here at five or six hundred feet on the western edge of the Highlands, a plain gable roof earns its keep in winter. Snow sits for weeks at a stretch. When the sun warms the upper slope while the eaves stay frozen, the melt runs down and re-freezes at the overhang, and the ice pushes in under the bottom courses of shingle, where usually only a layer of felt is holding it back. The answer on a house like this is ice-and-water shield run well past the inside wall line and carried up into the valleys, so the water that always finds the cold edge has nowhere to get behind.
The rest of what we watch on these older homes comes down to details the original builders kept simple. Where two roof planes meet, an open valley lined with membrane sheds snowmelt and grit far better than shingles laced across the seam. North-facing slopes that never catch winter sun stay damp and grow moss, which lifts and rots shingle edges over the years. And many of these lots sit tight to mature oak and pine, so needle and leaf litter packs the valleys and gutters and holds water against the roof long after a rain — clearing those channels and keeping the flashing sound is half of what keeps an older roof up here alive.
What a century-old frame house needs up here
The houses the zinc company put up for its workers were built to be sound and affordable — frame construction, straightforward gable roofs, laid out along the grid streets near the old mine. That plainness helps at reroofing time, since there are few odd angles or dormers to complicate the work. Age is the catch. A frame house that has stood since the mine's heyday may still carry board sheathing underneath, and boards that have cupped, split, or gone soft at the eaves will not hold a fastener the way a shingle warranty assumes. We check the decking before anything else goes down, because new shingles are worth little over sheathing that can no longer grip a nail.
Two other spots earn a close look on these homes. Nearly all of them were heated by masonry chimneys that still rise through the roof, and the joint around a chimney is where many of these roofs first let water in; it wants step flashing interleaved with the shingle courses and a counter flashing set into the mortar, both kept clean and intact. The additions, porches, and mudrooms tacked on over the decades bring the other common trouble, since they often carry a low-slope roof tying into the steeper main slope — a spot that needs a proper membrane and a clean tie-in, because a shallow pitch that traps snow and ice is usually where a leak begins on a house like this.
Sussex County Weather & Wear
Sussex routinely gets the deepest snow in the state. Roof loads, ice damming, and proper attic ventilation matter more here than anywhere else in NJ.
Services for Franklin Borough Homes
Every Tri-State service is available to Franklin Borough homeowners. Click any service for the full scope and pricing details.
Roof Inspection
Comprehensive multi-point inspections that catch problems early.
Roof Repairs
Fast, lasting fixes for leaks, missing shingles, and storm damage.
Roof Replacement
Full tear-off replacements with architectural shingles and a written warranty.
Gutter Cleaning & Installation
Keep water moving away from your home with clean, well-pitched gutters.
Chimney Repair & Servicing
Crown repair, tuckpointing, flashing, and chimney rebuilds.
Concrete Slab Foundations
Poured slab foundations for additions, garages, and outbuildings.
Vinyl Siding Installation
Modern, low-maintenance siding that boosts curb appeal and value.
Metal Roofing Installation & Repair
Standing-seam and metal roofing built to outlast asphalt by decades.
Slate Roofing Installation & Repair
Natural and synthetic slate — the longest-lasting roof you can buy.
Tile Roofing Installation & Repair
Clay and concrete tile roofing with a 50+ year lifespan.
Flat Roof Repair & Replacement
TPO, EPDM, and modified bitumen for flat and low-slope roofs.
Skylight Installation & Repair
Leak-free skylight installation, replacement, and re-flashing.
Foundation Repair & Waterproofing
Crack repair, basement waterproofing, drainage, and structural fixes.
Masonry, Brick & Concrete
Brick & stone repointing, steps, walkways, concrete repair, and restoration.
Retaining Walls & Hardscaping
Engineered retaining walls, paver patios, walkways, and drainage.
Roofing Materials We Install in Franklin Borough
Different Franklin Borough homes need different roof systems. Here are the material tiers we install most often in this part of Sussex County — picked based on the housing stock, climate exposure, and the kind of work Franklin Borough homeowners actually ask us for.
Architectural Asphalt Shingle
Best value for most NJ homes
Designer / Luxury Asphalt
Upgraded curb appeal + longer warranty
Cedar Shake & Shingle
Natural look for historic homes
Standing-Seam Metal
Lifetime roof for steep pitches
Slate & Synthetic Slate
Premium, lifetime, often required
How Your Franklin Borough Roof Project Runs
Every job follows the same five steps, from the first call to the final magnetic nail sweep:
- 1Free on-site inspection
- 2Written estimate with photos
- 3Material delivery and crew dispatch
- 4Tear-off, deck inspection, and install
- 5Final walkthrough and warranty registration
Common Franklin Borough Roof Problems We Fix
Patterns we see again and again on Franklin Borough roofs — most driven by the local housing stock and Sussex County climate. If any of these sound familiar, give us a call for a free on-site assessment.
- Perched around 500 to 600 feet on the western rim of the Highlands, Franklin holds snow for weeks, so eaves and valleys need ice-and-water shield carried well past the wall line to keep ice dams from driving water under the shingles.
- Many homes are century-old frame houses the New Jersey Zinc Company built for mine workers, and some still have original board sheathing that has cupped or split and no longer grips a nail — it has to be checked before new shingles are laid.
- The old worker houses were heated by masonry chimneys still standing today; the step-and-counter flashing at those chimneys is a frequent leak point and needs to be let into the mortar, not surface-caulked.
- North-facing slopes get little winter sun here, so they stay damp and grow moss that lifts and rots shingle edges well ahead of the sunnier sides of the same roof.
- Lots sit close to mature oak and pine, and the needle and leaf litter that clogs valleys and gutters traps water against the roof at exactly the spots that already work the hardest.
Coverage in Franklin Borough
We schedule extended-area projects in batches so we can keep response times reasonable. Free estimates and full installs are our regular pattern here.
Call (201) 779-3961 and we'll confirm exactly when we can be at your Franklin Borough property.
Nearby Sussex County Cities
We cover Sussex County on a planned schedule, batching nearby projects together. It's the same crew and the same written workmanship warranty in every town on this list.
Every NJ County We Serve
We cover every county in New Jersey from our Garfield headquarters. Open a county for response times, town coverage, and the roof issues we see most in that part of the state.