Roofing for a borough with water on both sides
Paragon Exteriors LLC is a family-run, licensed roofing and exteriors contractor (NJ HIC #13VH13814500) serving Bay Head, NJ — cedar shake, architectural shingle, siding, and gutter work specced for a barrier-peninsula town with the Atlantic on one side and Barnegat Bay on the other. Most Bay Head asphalt roof replacements run $12,000–$25,000 and are finished in a single day; cedar projects are quoted individually. Call 848-633-6440 for a free itemized estimate.
Bay Head is only a few blocks wide in most places, so salt air doesn’t hit your house from one direction — it wraps it. That’s what corrodes bargain fasteners, chalks cheap siding, and strips granules off builder-grade shingles years early. Everything we install here assumes it: 130 mph wind-rated shingles, six-nail fastening, stainless or hot-dipped hardware, sealed edge metal, and flashing details that treat wind-driven rain as a certainty. The full logic is in our guide to coastal roofing and nor’easter protection.
A resort town’s housing stock, roof by roof
Bay Head has been a summer colony since 1879, and much of the borough sits inside the Bay Head Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. That history sets the work apart from anywhere else we roof:
- Shingle-style cottages (1880s–1920s) in the historic core — steep gables, dormers, turrets, and porch roofs stacked into some of the most cut-up rooflines at the Shore. More valleys and flashing per square than any modern build, and no room for sloppy detail work.
- East Avenue oceanfront homes — big roofs taking direct Atlantic wind. This is where fastening spec and edge sealing earn their keep.
- Capes and colonials around Twilight Lake and the bay side — constant moisture exposure that shows up first in north-facing algae streaks and tired cedar.
- Post-Sandy elevated rebuilds — a raised house catches more wind than it did at grade, so the roof needs uplift resistance the original never had.
Keeping the Bay Head look
Weathered cedar is the borough’s signature, and we respect it — but you have options for how to get there:
| Roof | Cost vs. asphalt | Coastal lifespan | The honest take |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural cedar shake | 2.5–3× | 25–40 yrs with upkeep | The authentic Bay Head material; plan on periodic maintenance |
| Synthetic shake | ~2× | 40–50 yrs | The gray-cedar look with near-zero upkeep and better wind ratings |
| Shake-profile architectural asphalt | baseline | 18–25 yrs | Best value; modern profiles read convincingly from the street |
Weighing shingle brands too? Start with the best shingles for the Jersey Shore.
The 1882 seawall, and what it teaches
When Superstorm Sandy came ashore, a forgotten stone seawall — built in 1882 and buried for decades under Bay Head’s dunes — blunted the wave attack that leveled whole oceanfront blocks in Mantoloking next door. The lesson applies one story up: the protection that matters is the part you can’t see. On a roof that means ice & water shield, underlayment, deck condition, and nail count — the layers under the shingles. If a storm does get through, we document the damage and work the insurance claim with you.
What Bay Head homeowners hire us for
- Roof replacement in Bay Head — full tear-off, coastal spec, borough permit handled, most homes done in a day
- Roof repair — wind-lifted shingles, chimney and dormer flashing, cedar patch-ins
- Siding that keeps the shake character without the rot, plus gutters sized for nor’easter rain
One more thing that matters in a town where many owners summer here and winter elsewhere: we shoot drone documentation of every project, so you can inspect your finished roof from wherever you actually are in February.
Up and down Route 35
The trains end at Bay Head, but our routes don’t. We work daily in neighboring Point Pleasant and Mantoloking, across the bay in Brick, and down the peninsula in Lavallette — usually the same week you call.
