A roof replacement in Goderich has to answer two questions that most towns on this corridor only ask one at a time. The snow wants full eave protection, honest ventilation and an attic that does not leak warm air. The lake wind wants shingles rated for uplift and nailed exactly to the maker’s pattern. Skip either one and the roof is under-built for this town, whatever it cost.
Then there is a third question that only some Goderich houses face: whether the house sits in one of the Town’s heritage districts, where the material and the colour are not entirely your choice.
Why Goderich gets both specifications
On most of this corridor the weather picks one problem for you. Down on the Erie shore it is wind. Inland in the snowbelt it is snow. Goderich sits on the Huron shore at the mouth of the Maitland, so roofing in Goderich has to plan for both at once.
The snow side
Snow squalls come off Lake Huron all winter. The nearest station with full normals is inland at Blyth, about 27 km away, at roughly 374 cm a year, and the lakeshore itself is not that snowy, so treat the number as the country behind the town rather than the town. The pattern is the same either way: heavy snow, a thaw, ice at the eave.
That is why the Town’s own heritage guidance for roofs asks for a continuous air barrier, insulation and ventilation at the attic, and for additional waterproofing when a roof prone to ice dams is re-roofed. An ice dam on the roof starts with warm air leaking into the attic, and new shingles over a leaky ceiling will dam again.
On a Goderich tear-off, ask three things:
- How far up from the eave does the ice-and-water membrane run, and does it cover the valleys?
- Where is the soffit intake, where is the ridge vent, and is the path between them open?
- Will anyone look at the attic side, the pot lights and the hatch, while the deck is open?
The wind side
A lakeshore house takes wind on its west elevation all year with nothing upwind to slow it. Wind lifts a shingle at its edge, and once a tab lifts, the next gust takes it.
The protection is not exotic. It is a shingle with the right uplift rating for an exposed site, the starter course along the eave and the rakes, and the nailing pattern the manufacturer specifies, followed to the letter. The Ontario Building Code requires roofing to go on to the maker’s written instructions, which is covered in more detail in our notes on roof permit rules in Ontario.
Which Goderich roofs take the most wind
The streets closest to the bluff, and any tall roof with an open view of the lake. A low bungalow behind a row of mature trees is a different job from a two-storey on the edge of the bluff.
The 2011 tornado, and the roofs it left behind
On August 21, 2011, an F3 tornado came ashore at Goderich from Lake Huron. It hit hardest in the Waterloo Street and St. Georges Crescent area closest to the bluff, tore the roofs off several buildings around The Square, and reached the homes north of Elgin Street before it left town. News reports estimated that one hundred houses were seriously damaged or destroyed.
Two things follow for anyone replacing a roof there now.
Whole streets were re-roofed at the same time. A roof put on in the months after the tornado has aged next to its neighbours ever since. The date alone does not mean it is finished. The answer to how long does a roof last depends on the granules, the sealing strips and the deck far more than on a birthday. But if the house next door is being replaced, yours is worth a look.
The paperwork may still exist. If you bought a house on one of those streets, ask the seller or the previous insurer for the 2011 scope of work. It tells you whether the deck was replaced, whether the flashing was new, and what was only patched. The same documents are what an adjuster wants to see on any future insurance claim for roof storm damage.
The tornado was also unusual. Goderich sits in the lake shadow of Lake Huron, which makes tornadoes less likely there than across much of southwestern Ontario. The wind that works on a Goderich roof every winter is the ordinary west wind, not a repeat of 2011, and that is what the specification is for.
Inside the heritage districts
Goderich has three heritage conservation districts, designated under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act:
| District | Established | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| The Square | 1982 | Every property fronting The Square |
| West Street | 1992 | All but one property on West Street, between The Square and Waterloo Street |
| Outer Square | 2014 | All but three properties inside Nelson Street, Victoria Street, Elgin Avenue and Waterloo Street |
If your property is designated, the Town says you need a Heritage Permit before any change that could affect its heritage features, and there is no fee to apply.
What the Town’s roof guidance asks for
The Town’s pamphlet on roofs in the districts is short and specific:
- Where the original roofing is still on, replace it with matching material.
- Recondition an existing standing seam metal roof where you can, and do not cover it with a different material.
- Recondition slate, and replace damaged slates with matching ones laid by a roofer who knows slate.
- For asphalt, use premium shingles in grey, brown or black.
- Install skylights flush with the roof.
- Keep existing chimneys, even ones that no longer work, and keep fascia details such as verge boards and pressed metal.
Replacing a slate or metal roof near The Square
This is where a Goderich quote can go wrong before anyone climbs a ladder. A quote that prices a standing seam roof or a slate roof as a straight asphalt tear-off has priced a job the Town may not approve. Ask the Town whether your property is significant, contributing or non-contributing, and get that answer before you compare prices.
The building permit question
The Town of Goderich publishes two lists: work that needs a building permit, and work that does not. Dormers, chimney reconstruction and replacing a masonry chimney below the roofline are on the first list. Installing eavestrough is on the second, provided the drainage stays on your property.
Re-shingling is on neither. That is not a loophole. It means the answer depends on the job, so ask the Chief Building Official, especially if sheathing, framing or the roofing material is changing. A switch from asphalt to metal changes the assembly, and a roof that loses its chimney at the same time is doing work the Town has named.
What we would not spend money on in Goderich
An overlay to save a winter. Two layers of weight under Huron snow, and the deck stays hidden. The case for roofing over existing shingles is weakest in this part of the corridor.
A replacement because the tornado roofs are all the same age. Look at yours first. Some of those roofs will outlast their neighbours.
Removing a dead chimney to save flashing work. Inside a district the Town asks you to keep it wherever possible, and outside one, taking a masonry chimney down below the roofline puts you on the permit list.
Once you know which of these questions apply to your house, the scope and the roof replacement cost for a lakeshore house are the next conversation, and the answers above are what should be in the written quote.