Roof replacement in Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce

The call: water running out of a light fixture

The owner called us as an emergency for a reason that leaves no room for doubt: water was running out of a ceiling light. That is not the kind of sign you monitor, it is one you discover — and it means water has already been moving through the structure for a while, not that it just got in.

Once water reaches an electrical point, the priority changes. We come out fast, skip the theorising, and go up to see what is actually happening on the roof, because the ceiling stain almost never marks the spot where the water came in.

What the inspection found: hail

Once we were on the roof the diagnosis became clear. Most of the shingles carried hail damage — not an isolated crack, but wear spread across the slopes. Hail strikes a shingle by knocking the protective granules loose and weakening the asphalt underneath, and once that layer is gone the material lets water through where it should be shedding it.

In several places the water's entry paths were visible directly. This was no longer a question of finding "the" leak: the system as a whole had stopped doing its job. A spot repair would have sealed one point while the water came in through the next.

That is what pointed the recommendation toward a complete replacement rather than a targeted repair. When damage is spread across the whole surface, redoing the roof costs less than stacking up partial fixes over two or three years.

A semi-detached house with a steep pitch: what that changes

This property has two characteristics that call for particular attention, and both are common in Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce: it is semi-detached, and the roof is both tall and steeply pitched.

The steep pitch increases the real surface to cover — a steep roof is considerably more area than the house's footprint suggests — and requires full safety equipment, which slows the installation. The height adds to the logistics: access, scaffolding, getting debris down.

The party wall demands its own rigour. On a semi-detached house the junction between the two properties is a critical watertightness point, and the job has to be run without spilling onto the neighbour's roof. It is a detail that does not show in a finished photo, but it separates clean work from a dispute.

The result and the financing

The complete replacement was carried out for $12,000, tear-off and disposal included. The owner chose financing rather than paying in one go: the monthly payment worked out to roughly $150 a month*.

It is a situation we see often with an emergency: the problem would not wait, but the budget was not planned for that month. Spreading the cost means the roof gets fixed straight away instead of letting water keep working through the attic while the money is gathered.

*The $150/month figure is what this specific project came to. Your own payment depends on the amount financed, the term and the conditions approved for your profile — it is not a guaranteed rate.