Siding Installation & Repair in Elmwood Park, NJ

The Siding on Elmwood Park Houses Today

More than half of Elmwood Park’s homes (56.7 percent) were built before 1960, according to the American Community Survey (2020–2024), and most of those went up in the 1940s and 1950s. Their exteriors have changed several times since. Here is what we typically find when we pull a test piece.

Aluminum over the original

Aluminum siding was the upgrade of choice for many postwar houses. Decades later it is chalky, faded, dented by hail, baseballs and ladders, and often loose at the corners. It can be repainted, but dents and loose panels do not go away.

Mineral-fiber shingles

Many houses built through the 1950s were finished in mineral-fiber shingles, some of which contain asbestos-cement. Intact, they are stable and harmless. Cutting, breaking or sanding them is a different matter, so if we suspect that material we recommend testing before any removal and explain the option of covering it in place.

Early vinyl

Vinyl from the 1980s and 1990s is often thin and brittle by now, with cracks near the ground, buckling on sunny walls and colors that no longer match available panels.

Siding Choices for Elmwood Park Homes

Vinyl

Vinyl suits most Elmwood Park homes: no painting, good color range, and easy panel-by-panel repairs. Insulated vinyl adds a foam backer that stiffens the wall and straightens out uneven older walls. More on our vinyl siding page.

Fiber cement

Fiber cement looks like painted wood, resists impact and fire, and holds paint for many years. It is heavier and costs more to install, but owners planning to stay in their Elmwood Park house long term often choose it.

Engineered wood

Engineered wood has a deep wood-grain look with factory paint, lighter weight than fiber cement and good impact resistance, a strong choice on a ranch or Cape where the front wall carries the house’s character.

Aluminum

We still install and repair aluminum siding, which is useful when you want to match an existing wall or prefer a metal finish.

Brick-front houses

Many postwar homes combine a brick or stone front with siding on the sides and gables. On those, the joint between masonry and siding needs proper flashing and trim, or water gets behind the new panels.

Soffit, Fascia and Weather Details

The roof edge is where siding jobs succeed or fail. Wood fascia boards behind gutters on older Elmwood Park houses are often rotted from years of overflow, and original soffits may be solid plywood with no ventilation at all. We replace rotted wood, wrap fascia in aluminum and install vented soffit, which also helps the attic breathe. Our soffit and fascia repair page has more detail.

Around windows and doors we add flashing at the heads and proper trim, and we seal around meters, dryer vents and hose bibs. Behind the siding, a weather-resistant barrier sheds any water that gets past the panels. These steps take extra time but keep water out of walls for decades.

Re-siding is also the easiest time to add insulation to an older wall from the outside. Insulated vinyl or a foam layer under fiber cement can make a noticeable difference in rooms that run cold on 1940s and 1950s houses built with little or no wall insulation.

Siding Rules That Apply in Elmwood Park

New Jersey’s construction code (N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.7) treats repair or replacement of existing siding on one- and two-family dwellings as ordinary maintenance, with no construction permit required. That holds whether the house is detached or attached, which covers the large majority of homes in the borough. Polypropylene siding is the exception and is not covered.

Siding Questions from Elmwood Park Homeowners

More Siding Help in Elmwood Park

Siding is part of our roofing contractor services in Elmwood Park and across Bergen County. Visit our main New Jersey siding page for every material we install, or siding repair if you only need damaged sections fixed.

Siding pairs well with a new roof in Elmwood Park, Elmwood Park roof repair or new gutters in Elmwood Park.

Nearby, we also handle siding in Clifton, siding in Paterson, siding in Garfield and siding in Lodi.