Commercial and Industrial Flat Roofing in Markham

NorthCan Roofing looks after flat and low-slope roofs on Markham's office and technology campuses and its Milliken Mills industrial stock. Because much of Markham was built from the late 1980s onward, the membranes here are mostly single-ply rather than tar-and-gravel, and the work leans towards seam and detail remediation.

What makes Markham's roof stock different from the rest of the GTA?

Age, mostly. Markham's commercial growth came later than Mississauga's or Scarborough's, and the technology and office campuses along Highway 404, Woodbine, Warden and Highway 7 were largely built from the late 1980s through the 2000s. That means concrete and steel decks with single-ply membranes, thicker insulation than the older stock carries, and roofs that were designed with drainage in mind rather than laid dead flat.

The industrial half of the picture is Milliken Mills, in the southwest of the city around Steeles and Kennedy, which is older and closer in character to the adjacent Scarborough employment lands: multi-tenant single-storey blocks, steel deck, and some remaining built-up roofs alongside modified bitumen replacements. Newer distribution buildings sit further north and east.

The consequence is that a lot of Markham buildings are now at the awkward point where the original single-ply roof is old enough to be tired but not obviously finished. Seam welds have aged, fasteners have backed out under thermal movement, the membrane has shrunk slightly and pulled at corners and curbs, and there may be scattered punctures from years of mechanical service traffic. Deciding between remediation and replacement on that roof needs evidence, which is what a proper roof inspection with seam probing and core cuts provides.

What Markham buildings ask us for

Less full tear-off than elsewhere, more targeted work on membranes that still have life.

• Seam re-welding, patching and corner detail rebuilds on ageing TPO and EPDM.
• Fastener and plate remediation where thermal movement has backed screws out of the deck.
• Repairs around the dense rooftop equipment on technology and office campuses.
• Replacement of remaining built-up roofs on the older Milliken Mills industrial blocks.
• Maintenance agreements for campus owners with multiple buildings on one site.

Campus owners in particular benefit from having every roof on one condition schedule rather than reacting building by building, which is what our property manager service is built around. If you are budgeting a future replacement, the flat roof cost calculator is a starting point.

Markham's permit process for roof work

The City of Markham publishes its review targets openly. It states that it can take anywhere from ten to forty days to get a building permit, with complete applications reviewed in ten to thirty business days on the first cycle depending on complexity and incomplete ones taking longer, and that it cannot process incomplete applications. For a commercial roof replacement that is a real scheduling input, because a permit-triggering scope submitted in late autumn may not clear in time for cold-weather-limited installation.

Whether your scope needs a permit turns on the Building Code Act and on whether structural work is involved. Confirm through Markham's building permit process page and with the Building Standards department. Where a technology campus is under site plan control, changes to rooftop screening or equipment visibility can also need planning sign-off. Our approach to phased campus work is described on the commercial roofing page.