Partner companies across Toronto

12 services · Toronto

Roofing Services in Toronto

What each job involves, how urgent it really is, and what to do before anyone arrives. The tag on each card is the honest answer on urgency — most of this can wait, and a couple of things cannot.

Every job, and how urgent it really is

Call today Emergency Roof Repair Water coming in now. The first job is to stop it entering, which is rarely the same job as fixing the roof properly. What to look for → Can wait Roof Repair A specific fault fixed, rather than the whole roof replaced. Worth asking for first, and worth a straight answer about when it stops being worth it. What to look for → This week Roof Replacement A full tear-off and re-roof. The single most expensive thing most houses have done, and the one where the written scope matters most. What to look for → Call today Ice Dam Removal The ridge of ice at the eaves that stops meltwater draining, so it backs up under the shingles and comes through the ceiling instead. What to look for → Can wait Flat Roof Repair EPDM, TPO and modified bitumen. Common on Toronto row houses, rear additions and low-rise commercial, and a different trade from shingles. What to look for → This week Roof Inspection Somebody up there looking properly, with photographs, and a written view of how long it has left. Cheap, and the thing most people should buy before they buy anything else. What to look for → This week Shingle Roofing Asphalt shingles, which is what most Toronto houses have and what most will go back to. The choices that matter are fewer than the brochures suggest. What to look for → This week Metal Roofing Standing seam and steel shingle. More expensive up front, and it sheds snow rather than holding it, which matters on some Toronto roofs more than others. What to look for → Call today Roof Snow Removal Taking load off a roof after a heavy fall, or clearing the eaves so meltwater has somewhere to go. Not something most roofs need, and worth being told when yours does not. What to look for → Can wait Skylight Repair and Installation Skylights leak at the flashing far more often than through the glass, which is why replacing the unit sometimes fixes nothing. What to look for → Can wait Chimney Flashing Repair Where the chimney meets the roof is the most common leak on a house with a chimney, and it is roof work rather than masonry work. What to look for → This week Attic Ventilation Intake at the eaves and exhaust at the ridge. Get it wrong and the roof ages early, the attic sweats, and ice dams form every winter. What to look for →

Start from what you have found

Each of these points at a different job, and getting it wrong wastes a visit.

Water coming in right now

Get something under it, stay clear of any bulge, then call. Stopping it is the first visit. Emergency Roof Repair →

A stain that appears only in heavy rain

Usually flashing rather than the covering. Note which wind direction brings it. Roof Repair →

Ice along the roof edge and a wet ceiling

An ice dam. Do not chip at it — it needs steaming off, and then the cause found. Ice Dam Removal →

Shingles gone after a windstorm

Photograph it from the ground for the insurer, then get it covered before the next rain. Emergency Roof Repair →

Water standing on a flat roof

The leak inside is rarely under the hole. It is a seam or a drain, and a different trade from shingles. Flat Roof Repair →

A stain near the chimney

Almost always the flashing where the chimney passes through the roof, not the brickwork. Chimney Flashing Repair →

A quote for a whole new roof and no second opinion

Buy an inspection first. It costs a fraction of the roof and it settles the question. Roof Inspection →

Frost on the underside of the roof boards

A ventilation problem, and usually the reason behind the ice dams as well. Attic Ventilation →

Why the parts you cannot see decide the roof

Most roofs in this city do not fail because the shingles wore out on schedule. They fail early at the joints — where the roof meets a chimney, a wall, a vent or a valley — and they fail early because the attic underneath was too warm and too damp. The covering gets blamed because it is the part you can see.

Freeze-thaw is what makes Toronto harder on a roof than a milder city. Water that gets into a small gap during a thaw freezes overnight and expands, and the gap is bigger in the morning. That is why a leak found in November and left until spring is a different repair by March, and why the same spot dams every single winter until somebody fixes the reason rather than the ice.

Ventilation is the quiet one. Intake at the soffits and exhaust at the ridge keep the underside of the roof close to outdoor temperature. Block the soffits with insulation pushed into the eaves — extremely common, and usually done with good intentions — and the attic warms, the snow above melts, the meltwater refreezes at the cold edge, and you have an ice dam every year regardless of how good the shingles are.

So the useful first call is somebody who will look in the attic as well as on the roof, photograph what they found, and tell you plainly whether this is a repair or a replacement — including the times when the honest answer is that the roof has years left and the money is better spent on the ventilation.

How it works

Three steps, and you decide at the end of them.

  1. 1

    You call and describe the problem

    Tell us what you have noticed and where — the room, the smell, the noise, how long it has been going on. Give us your postal code and we will match you to a licensed company covering your area. There is no form to fill in.

  2. 2

    A local company takes it from there

    They discuss the problem with you directly, arrange a time to inspect, and agree the work and the price with you before anything starts. That conversation is between you and them.

  3. 3

    You decide whether to go ahead

    You are under no obligation. If the quote or the approach is not what you wanted, you are free to say no and call someone else.

Find your town

What the work involves locally depends on where the ductwork is and how hard the system runs.

All Toronto towns →

Call now How it works