Kittatinny Roofing

Roofing contractors in the Lehigh Valley

Slate came out of quarries a short drive from here, and a good deal of it is still up there. Whether it goes back on is the first fork in any conversation about the roof.

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.
Slate does not fail the way shingle fails. 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. Quarry slate on the old houses, asphalt on everything since. 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

Two materials this valley produced itself, quarry slate and cement shingle, are reaching the end together across whole streets, and that is the story behind half the causes on this site. The rest is what sits around them: the shallow rear roof behind the steep one, the copper worth salvaging, the overhang where the melt stops, and the row house where access decides the price before the material does.

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