Window & Door Repair in Short Hills, NJ

The Township’s historic ordinance asks for a Certificate of Appropriateness, the commission’s written approval, before work starts in the district. It applies whether or not a construction permit is needed. The Township’s 2023 preservation plan lists outside repairs and replacements of windows and doors among the work that needs one.

The ordinance also names work that does not need a certificate. Changes inside the house are one. Repainting a surface that was already painted is another. So is work that cannot be seen from a public right-of-way, other than moving or demolishing a building.

Then there is ordinary maintenance. The Township’s 2023 plan puts it as upkeep that does not require replacing existing materials. Under the ordinance the Township posts, dated 2016, the commission’s Minor Work Review Committee or its preservation consultant decides whether a job qualifies. So a repair that puts new wood into an old sash is one to ask about before it starts.

Under that same posted ordinance, a window or door request that would not much change the house’s character can be handled as minor work. It says the committee can approve minor work without a public hearing. That judgment is theirs to make. To ask how, reach the commission’s secretary at (973) 564-1986.

Roughly four in ten houses in Short Hills are 1950s or 1960s houses. The district’s roughly 268 properties are a small part of the whole. For a house outside it, start with the building permit question.

Millburn Township says a building permit is required for everything that is not ordinary repair or maintenance. New Jersey’s construction code counts new glass in a window or door as ordinary maintenance. Its condition is that the glass meets the code’s minimum type and quality. Exterior painting is on the same list.

For your own house, phone the Building Department at 973-564-7055, weekdays 8:30 to 3:30. The Township’s website shows a temporary address for its offices right now. So phone before you drive over.