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Home COFSAB Forum Repairs and Maintenance Replacement of Roofs

  • Replacement of Roofs

    Posted by Tracey Boyle on October 26, 2022 at 2:00 pm

    We are a condo complex with 3 buildings that will have to replace the shingles within 5 years or so. Just wondering if anyone has had to do this in the Calgary area and if there are any recommendations and rough costs. Also has anyone had roofs replaced with a different material such as metal, rubber or fibreglass material.

    Jonathan Klein replied 1 year, 4 months ago 4 Members · 5 Replies
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  • Dana Bouwman

    Member
    October 26, 2022 at 3:45 pm

    Hi Brian,

    That sounds like a big job! It’s likely that a roof inspector would be able to provide you advice on replacing your shingles with a different type of material. I’ve used Todd Boyde from Insight Management for a couple of roofs and I’ve been very happy with his advice. If you call and generally explain your situation he will point you in the right direction. 587-438-8560

    From a corporate governance point of view, the condo property act says you can’t use reserve funds for capital improvements. And the condo property act also says that you need a special resolution of the owners to pay for capital improvements by special assessment, so that may make things more difficult depending on how different the new roofing system is from the current one.

    My biggest piece of advice for any condo looking to update the roof is to always hire a roof inspector to double check the work. The roof inspector will charge several thousand dollars to do this – generally around $5,000 for an apartment style building or around $500 per unit for a townhouse – but it is so worth the money! It is so common for condos to get a new roof, and then only a couple of years later spend $10,000s on roof repairs because the original contractors cut corners.

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  • Mark Hambridge

    Member
    October 26, 2022 at 5:18 pm

    Before we moved into a condominium (20 years ago), I had to replace the builder-provided wood shingles on our freehold single-family dwelling (a former show home only ten years old). The original roof looked nice but decayed rapidly because the wrong material was used (spruce) and poor installation technique. At that time, only asphalt shingles were available.

    About ten years ago we contemplated building a Passive House® in Rocky Ridge. For various reasons, the project didn’t proceed. At that time, Euroshield rubber shingles/tiles were the only durable alternative: https://www.euroshieldroofing.com/

    There are others on the market now, but those would have been our choice for all the qualities you seek.

    Dana suggested that you may not be able to do this without a special resolution to upgrade the materials, since you aren’t doing a straightforward replacement. I understand that an upgrade can be done, if it is within the budget and it improves (but doesn’t materially change) the roof’s appearance. Since longevity and durability should be improved, especially since storms are now more frequent and severe, I believe an argument can be made to go ahead … but first, get professional advice!

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    Replacement of Roofs

  • Dana Bouwman

    Member
    October 26, 2022 at 9:37 pm

    I only just thought of this, but since the roof replacement is 5 years away that means you should have a reserve fund study in that time. Once you decide what kind of roof you want then you could have the reserve fund study provider include that kind of roof in the reserve fund study. Legislation says if something is in the reserve fund study then it’s a reserve fund expense. That would get around the possible legislative issues I brought up in the previous reply. I would just make sure the owners are aware before you do this and perhaps have the owners approve this addition to the reserve fund study.

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  • Tracey Boyle

    Member
    October 27, 2022 at 9:21 am

    Thank you for the advice. I will be passing this onto our board for them to consider. I especially the comment about the reserve study as we are do for one next year I believe.

    Regards

    Brian

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  • Jonathan Klein

    Member
    November 9, 2022 at 1:40 pm

    We are in the process of preparing to replace the flat roof for our building. I would recommend that you consider hiring a “roof consultant” (also referred to as a “roof inspector”). The consultant will handle the entire job for you, preparing a specification, bid package, going out to bid, evaluating the bids, inspecting the contractor’s work at various points during construction. The board reviews and approves all of the documentation before it is issued and can select the contractors that will bid.

    Check out the list of Inspectors on the Alberta Roofing Contractors Association website:

    https://www.arcaonline.ca/inspector-directory

    You can also find consultants with the “Registered Roof Consultant” (RRC) and “Registered Roof Observer” (RRO) designation on the IIBEC website:

    https://iibec.org/

    We had the following roof consulting companies on our shortlist:

    Petra Contract Services

    https://www.petraconsulting.ca/

    Baxter Roof Consulting

    http://baxterroofconsulting.ca/

    Goodwin Roof Inspections & Consulting

    https://www.goodwinroof.ca/

    RJC Engineers

    https://www.rjc.ca/

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    Replacement of Roofs

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