Mill Basin does not look like Brooklyn and it does not roof like Brooklyn. Detached houses on wide lots, driveways, garages, and a lot of homes that were extended at some point. That last part is the whole story here. Most of the leaks we get called to in Mill Basin are not on the main roof at all. They are at the seam where a pitched roof meets a low slope section over a garage, a sunroom or a rear extension. Two different roofing systems have to meet at that line, and whoever built the addition often treated it as an afterthought.
The other factor is the water. Sitting on the basin off Jamaica Bay means marine air year round, and marine air eats metal. Flashing, fasteners, gutter hangers and skylight frames give out here well before the shingles do. On the waterfront streets it is worse again, because there is nothing between the house and the open water to slow the wind down.
The building stock splits into two. Post war ranches and split levels from the 1950s and 1960s, simple rooflines now well past their second roof, and the larger custom homes built from the 1990s onward with complicated rooflines, multiple valleys, dormers and skylight banks. The custom homes cost more to roof for one reason: every valley, every dormer and every skylight is another place that has to be flashed correctly. We work National Drive, Basset, Strickland, Mill Avenue and the East 60s and 70s.
What we actually see in 11234: failed transitions where a low slope addition meets the pitched main roof, corroded flashing and fasteners from marine air off the basin, skylight curbs leaking on the 1990s custom homes, and post Sandy rooftop equipment adding penetrations nobody flashed properly.
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Q: My leak is over the garage, not the main roof. Why?
A: Because that is where two different roofing systems meet. A pitched shingle roof and a low slope section over a garage or an extension need a proper transition detail, with the low slope membrane run up under the shingles and flashed. A lot of additions around here got a bead of sealant instead. It holds for a few winters and then it does not. That transition is the single most common leak point in Mill Basin.
Q: Why does my flashing rust out so fast here?
A: Marine air off the basin. Salt reaches everything on the roof and it attacks metal long before it affects the shingles. Standard fasteners, drip edge and gutter hangers corrode here noticeably faster than they do a few miles inland. We specify corrosion resistant metal on Mill Basin jobs as standard, not as an upgrade.
Q: Our house was built in the nineties and has a complicated roof. Does that cost more?
A: Yes, and the reason is worth understanding. You are not paying for square footage, you are paying for detail. Every valley, dormer, skylight and roof to wall junction is a place that has to be flashed correctly, and those take time. A large custom home here typically runs about $22,000 to $45,000 for a full architectural shingle roof, depending on how many of those details are on it.
Q: Our ranch has never been reroofed. What should we expect?
A: On a 1950s or 1960s ranch that is still on its original or first replacement roof, expect a full tear off rather than a layover, and expect to find some deck repair once it is open. The good news is that these rooflines are simple, which keeps the labour down. A typical Mill Basin ranch usually falls in the range of about $13,000 to $24,000.
Q: We raised the mechanicals after Sandy. Does that affect the roof?
A: It does. Anything that moved up to the roof sits on a curb, and every curb is a penetration. If your leak shows up near an air handler or a condenser rather than out in the open field, that flashing is the first thing we check.
Q: Do you handle the gutters too?
A: Yes, and on a detached Mill Basin house they matter more than people expect. A large roof with several slopes feeds a lot of water into the system quickly, and gutters sized for a row house will overflow behind the fascia every heavy rain. We size the gutters and the leaders to the roof area rather than to whatever was there before.
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