Shingle roofing
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.
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
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.
Begin
Let's talk about your roof
A consultation with a project director is complimentary and without obligation. We'll walk the property, survey the roof by drone and tell you honestly what it needs.