Shingle Roofing in Toronto
The roof most Toronto houses actually need
Architectural asphalt shingle is the workhorse of this city, and roughly twenty years is what it honestly gives you here. What separates a twenty-year roof from a twelve-year one is never the shingle. It is the tear-off, the ice protection, the ventilation and the flashing underneath it.
Rated Excellent on Google
Overview
Twenty years, honestly stated
Manufacturers print fifty-year figures on the wrapper. Those are prorated material warranties, not a service life, and they assume a roof that never sees a Toronto February. In this climate, a properly installed architectural shingle roof gives you about twenty years of trouble-free service. We would rather tell you that up front than sell you a number you will remember in year fourteen.
What we can control is everything the shingle sits on. Every roof comes off to the deck so we can see the sheathing. Every eave, valley and penetration gets self-adhered ice-and-water membrane. Every attic gets its intake and exhaust measured and corrected. That is where a roof is won or lost.
Toronto fit
What shingles are up against here
Ice damming at the eaves
We run high-temperature ice-and-water membrane from the drip edge to at least 900 mm inside the warm wall, well past the code minimum, so meltwater backing up behind ice has nowhere to go.
Wind off the lake
Six nails per shingle, not four, hand-sealed starter and hip-and-ridge, and a manufacturer system rated well beyond the wind loads the Ontario Building Code asks for.
Summer heat and attic moisture
Dark shingles pass 70 °C on a July afternoon. Balanced ridge and soffit ventilation keeps the deck cool, protects the shingle and keeps your material warranty valid.
Scope
What a Ross the Roofer shingle roof includes
- Complete tear-off to the deck, with disposal; never a layover
- Deck inspection, and damaged sheathing replaced at a price agreed in advance
- Self-adhered ice-and-water membrane at eaves, valleys, sidewalls and every penetration
- Synthetic underlayment across the remaining field
- Architectural laminate shingles from a Canadian manufacturer, installed as a warranted system
- New metal drip edge, valley metal and step flashing; chimney flashing renewed, never re-caulked
- Ventilation measured and corrected to Ontario Building Code 9.19
- Plywood over walkways, netting over the beds and a magnet run over the property every evening
Replacement
When is it time to replace a shingle roof?
An architectural shingle roof in Toronto gives about twenty years of good service when it is installed and ventilated properly. The signs that yours is near the end are easy to spot from the ground or the attic: shingles curling at the edges, bald patches where the granules have washed off, cracked or missing tabs after windstorms, and dark staining on the underside of the deck.
If you are seeing several of those across whole slopes, a repair will only buy a little time. Our roof replacement page explains exactly what a full tear-off includes and how the work runs day by day.
Shingle roof cost in Toronto
Architectural asphalt shingles typically cost about $5 to $9 per square foot installed, with premium designer lines up to around $12. A typical Toronto house comes in around $13,000, depending on size, pitch, the number of layers to remove and how much of the deck needs replacing. You get a written, fixed price after a no-cost consultation.
Shingles or metal?
Shingles cost less upfront; standing-seam metal lasts much longer and sheds snow better. If you plan to stay in the house for decades, metal can be the cheaper roof over its lifetime. Our shingle vs metal comparison puts the numbers side by side.
Questions
Shingles, answered
Why do you say twenty years when the package says fifty?
Because the fifty is a prorated material warranty, not a service life, and it depreciates steeply after the first decade. In Toronto's freeze-thaw climate, twenty years of trouble-free service from an architectural shingle is a realistic, honest number. Anyone promising you far more is quoting the wrapper.
Can you shingle over the old roof?
We do not. A layover hides rotten sheathing, traps moisture between layers in our freeze-thaw cycle, voids most manufacturer warranties and shortens the new roof considerably. We tear off to the deck every time.
How long does the work take?
Most Toronto houses are stripped, dried in and finished without the roof ever being left open overnight. Your foreman will give you the plan before we start.
What about my gardens and driveway?
Plywood goes over walkways and stonework, netting over planting beds, and we run a magnet across the lawn and driveway every evening before we leave. Any damage is our responsibility and we photograph the property before we start.
Reviews
What Toronto Homeowners Are Saying
Real reviews from our customers on Google.
Begin
Let's talk about your roof
A consultation comes at no cost and without obligation. We'll walk the property, look properly at the roof and tell you honestly what it needs.