Commercial and Industrial Flat Roofing in Scarborough

NorthCan Roofing works across Scarborough's employment lands on flat and low-slope commercial and industrial roofs. Most of what we are asked to price here is a mid-century built-up tar-and-gravel roof at the end of its service life, on a steel or concrete deck, being replaced with SBS modified bitumen or a single-ply system.

Why do so many Scarborough industrial roofs need replacing at once?

Because they were built at the same time. The Golden Mile along Eglinton East was developed as a manufacturing corridor in the post-war decades, and the Tapscott and Milliken employment lands filled in through the 1960s and 1970s. That produced a very consistent stock: single-storey plants and warehouses, steel deck on open-web joists, and four-ply or five-ply built-up roofing with a gravel surfacing over organic or fibreglass felts.

A built-up roof of that generation can run a long time, but it fails in a recognisable order. The gravel migrates and exposes bitumen, the bitumen oxidises and alligators, the felts go brittle, and then the flashings at curbs and at the parapet let go. Many of these roofs have also had two or three overlays added over the decades, which means the assembly is heavy, wet in places, and no longer something you can simply add another layer to. On a large share of Scarborough buildings the honest answer is a full tear-off, not another overlay, and a moisture survey and inspection is what settles that argument with evidence rather than opinion.

What we do on Golden Mile and Tapscott buildings

The typical scope is a phased tear-off across a large single roof area, new vapour retarder and insulation to current thickness, tapered build-up at the drains, new curbs under rooftop units that have been sitting on rotten wood since the 1970s, and either two-ply SBS or a mechanically attached single-ply membrane depending on the tenant, the deck and the exposure.

• Industrial roofing on plants, warehouses and multi-unit industrial condominiums.
• System selection between SBS, TPO, PVC and EPDM for the building's actual use.
• Flashing and metal work at party walls, curbs and mechanical screens.
• Maintenance programmes for owners with several units in one complex.

Where a tenant cannot lose production, we sequence the work bay by bay and keep every day's opening closed watertight overnight. The flat roof cost calculator is a reasonable starting point for a budget on a large rectangular roof, because area is the main driver here.

Which permit office covers a Scarborough re-roof?

Toronto Building. Scarborough is part of the City of Toronto, so the permit path for a Scarborough industrial re-roof is exactly the same as it is downtown, handled through Toronto Building's Scarborough Civic Centre counter and the City's online services. There is no separate Scarborough building department.

The City states that replacing existing roofing material does not require a permit provided no structural work is required, and that structural or material alterations do. On mid-century industrial buildings, structural work is more common than owners expect: corroded deck sections, new or relocated rooftop unit curbs, and new roof openings all cross that line. Toronto's green roof requirement in Municipal Code Chapter 492 also applies to Scarborough addresses, with industrial buildings treated under their own provision. Check the City's permit requirement list and confirm your scope before you book a crew. Our overall approach is set out on the commercial roofing page.