Roofing in Matawan NJ: Monmouth County, and the Furthest We Go

Everything else A&J covers sits in Middlesex, Union or Somerset County. Matawan is in Monmouth, and it is on this list for one reason: there is real work here. It is the furthest out we go, and we would rather say that plainly than pretend the whole state is a local call.

Matawan Borough carries the 07747 ZIP code, which also covers much of Aberdeen Township wrapped around it. Old Bridge is west, across the line back into Middlesex County. Keyport and Hazlet are east, toward the water. Marlboro is south.

The Matawan station on New Jersey Transit's North Jersey Coast Line is why a lot of the newer housing here exists at all, and it is a useful landmark for how the town is laid out: an old centre, and a great deal of later building around it.

We do three things to the outside of a house: the roof, the siding and the gutters. Doing them together means one crew, one schedule and one company answerable for the whole exterior instead of three companies blaming each other.

Our yard is at 1163 Inman Ave in Edison. Matawan is roughly fifteen miles from it in a straight line, and normally about half an hour of driving, down the Garden State Parkway or Route 9 depending on the hour.

That is further than every other town on this site, so we are straight about what it means. Coming back for a second look is a planned trip rather than a ten minute run, which is why we would rather get the inspection right the first time: somebody gets on the roof, writes down what is up there, and you get the price in writing before anything starts. What it does not mean is a different price. The price is the same everywhere we work.

Matawan is old. The borough centre around Main Street holds nineteenth century houses, and the streets around it hold a lot of what came next.

The old houses are steep, and complicated. Steep pitch, dormers, multiple valleys, sometimes a porch roof tied into the main run, sometimes original slate or cedar somewhere underneath. Complexity is where the cost is on these, and it is also where a fast quote goes wrong: valleys and flashing take the time, not the open field of the roof.

The post-war and later subdivisions are the opposite. Simpler shapes, gentler pitches, straightforward asphalt shingle work, and the usual ventilation question for anything built before attic airflow was standard.

They are different jobs. A quote that treats them the same is a quote that has not been up on the roof.

Matawan sits a few miles inland of Raritan Bay, with Matawan Creek running through it. That is close enough to matter: a nor'easter that comes up the bay arrives here as a wind event, not only a wet one.

Wind does not lift a roof out of the middle. It gets under the edges, at the eave, the rake and the ridge, and works from there. Those are exactly the details a cheap install rushes: starter course at the eave, proper nailing pattern, ridge cap that is fastened rather than laid on. If you have lost shingles in a storm here before, that is where to look, and it is what we check first.

Under New Jersey's construction code, replacing the roof covering on a detached one or two family home is treated as ordinary maintenance, which means no construction permit is required. That changes the moment sheathing, rafters or anything structural gets replaced. Then it is no longer ordinary maintenance and a permit is required.

Matawan Borough has its own construction office, and Aberdeen Township has its own, so which one applies depends on which side of the line your address is on. That office is the authority on your job, not the county and not us. We pull the permit when one is needed. Rules and fees change.

Matawan is in Monmouth County. Do you really come out this far?

Yes. Matawan is the one town on this site outside Middlesex, Union and Somerset, and we list it because A&J has real work here, not because we would drive anywhere. From our Edison yard it is about fifteen miles in a straight line and normally around half an hour down the Garden State Parkway or Route 9.

Which ZIP code does this cover?

07747, which is Matawan Borough and a good deal of Aberdeen Township around it. Aberdeen wraps most of the way around the borough, Old Bridge is over the Middlesex County line to the west, and Keyport and Hazlet are east toward the bay.

Does being near Raritan Bay change anything for my roof?

It changes the wind more than the rain. Matawan sits a few miles inland of Raritan Bay, close enough that a nor easter arriving off the water is a wind event here, not just a wet one. Wind takes shingles at the edges and the ridge first, which is exactly where a cheap install cuts corners.

My house is one of the old ones near Main Street. Is that a problem?

Not a problem, a different job. Steep pitch, dormers and several valleys take more time than a straightforward gable roof, and the flashing details are where the work really is. We would rather look at it and tell you what is involved than quote a square footage number over the phone.

Matawan is the eastern edge of what we cover. Edison, where the yard is, has its own page, and every town we work in is listed in one place.

Book an estimate and somebody comes out, gets on the roof, and writes down what is actually up there. You get the price in writing before you decide anything, and the visit costs you nothing either way.

A&J Professional Services, 1163 Inman Ave Ste 101, Edison NJ 08820. Call (908) 432-7081.