What a full Morris County year asks of a Madison roof
People underestimate how much weather a single roof absorbs in twelve months around here. The freeze-thaw cycle alone works mortar loose, opens hairline gaps at flashing, and lets water creep under shingle edges where it can sit and refreeze. By the time the symptom shows up on a ceiling, the cause has usually been quietly at work for a season or two.
Madison's tree cover, which makes the borough so pleasant to live in, is also hard on roofs. Falling limbs scuff and crack shingles, shade keeps the north slopes damp enough to grow moss and algae, and the steady drop of leaves clogs gutters until water backs up under the first course. We factor all of that into what we look for, because a roof in a wooded Madison neighborhood ages differently than the same roof in an open subdivision.