After a storm: a roof checklist for Hudson County homes

Roofer Jersey City is an independent referral service, not a roofing company. When you call or send the form, an independent local roofer can contact you about your job; that roofer gives any quote and does any work.

First, stay safe

• Stay off the roof. A wet, icy or storm-damaged roof is no place for a homeowner, and neither is a ladder in the wind
• Keep clear of anything hanging from the cornice, gutters or the roof edge over the sidewalk
• If a ceiling is sagging with water, keep people out of the room below
• If water is near light fixtures or outlets, keep away from them and get help

Check from inside

Start at the top floor and work down. Look at ceilings and the top of every exterior wall for new stains, damp patches or bubbling paint. Check under the stair skylight and the roof hatch. If you have an attic or crawl space, look for wet wood or insulation with a flashlight, without stepping onto anything that is not a floor.

Check from the ground and the windows

From the sidewalk, the yard and any window that looks onto the roof, look for:

• Pieces of coping, flashing or cornice that look loose, bent or missing
• Shingles or slates on the ground, or gaps on a pitched slope
• Gutters pulled away or leaders knocked loose
• Branches or debris on the roof, especially near drains and scuppers
• Water standing on a flat roof well after the rain has stopped
• Lifted edges on a flat-roof membrane

Record everything

Before you clean up or move anything, take photos and short videos: the stains, the drips, anything on the ground, and the roof as far as you can see it safely. Write down the date, the time the water appeared and what the storm was like. Keep any receipts for buckets, tarps or other things you buy.

Protect the inside

Move furniture, electronics and stored things away from any drip. Put a bucket under it with a towel inside, and plastic under the bucket. If a roofer comes out, ask whether temporary protection, such as a tarp or a patch, makes sense until a proper repair can be done, and ask what that temporary work includes.

When someone knocks after a storm

After a storm, roofers may go door to door. Some are fine; you still owe it to yourself to run the same checks you would on anyone:

1. Ask for the New Jersey contractor registration number and look it up with the Division of Consumer Affairs
2. Do not sign on the spot. Read any contract first
3. For any job of $500 or more, get a written contract with the contractor’s legal name, business address, registration number, start and completion dates, a description of the work and the total price
4. Remember you can cancel a signed contract for any reason before midnight of the third business day after you receive your copy
5. Ask for a copy of the liability insurance policy and call the insurer to confirm it is valid
6. Hold back part of the payment: the state says it is customary not to pay for the entire project in advance

The page on roofing contractors in Jersey City NJ turns these checks into a table you can keep by the door.

Weather to expect

Storms are part of the year here. The nearest long-term weather station, Newark Liberty International Airport, records about 46.60 inches of precipitation and 31.5 inches of snow in a normal year. After a heavy snow, the checks are the same, plus one: watch for ice in gutters and at drains, which can push meltwater back under the roof edge.

Next steps

If water is coming in, read roof leak repair in Jersey City for how a roofer traces it. If the storm showed that the roof is worn everywhere, read roof replacement in Jersey City. For flat roofs behind parapets, the flat roofs page explains drains and ponding.