Shingle Roofing in Trail and the West Kootenays.
Most pitched roofs in the Kootenays wear asphalt shingles, and for good reason. They handle snow, shed water, and repair cleanly when a tree limb or a windstorm says so.
What a shingle roof from us looks like
A shingle roof is only as good as what’s under it. Ours start with a full tear-off and a deck inspection: rot comes out, soft sheathing gets replaced. Ice-and-water membrane goes down at the eaves and valleys, where ice dams do their damage. Synthetic underlayment covers the rest. Then shingles, new flashing, and ventilation that actually moves air through the attic. Skip any of those and the roof looks fine for a while, then doesn’t.
What we find when the shingles come off
Every tear-off tells you what the last roof was hiding. The four we find most:
- Rot at the eaves. Ice dams push meltwater back up under the shingles, and the first metre of sheathing takes it. It’s cheap to replace with the roof open and expensive to ignore.
- Valleys shingled without membrane. The valley is where two roofs’ worth of water goes. If there’s nothing under it, it’s a leak waiting for the right storm.
- Bathroom fans venting into the attic. Warm wet air, cold deck, and the underside of the sheathing goes black. We find this on older houses more often than anyone expects.
- Blocked or missing intake venting. Soffits stuffed with insulation, no path for air. The attic runs warm, the snow melts from below, and the eaves ice up every February.
We show you what we find before we cover it back up, and anything that changes the price gets a written number before we carry on.
Shingles are one of five systems we install. If your roof is flat or you want steel, see torch-on, TPO, PVC or steel roofing.
How we install it
- Tear off to bare deck. No roofing over old shingles.
- Inspect and repair the deck: rot and soft spots come out.
- Ice-and-water membrane at eaves and valleys, synthetic underlayment over the rest.
- Shingles, new flashing and proper venting, installed to spec.
- Magnet-sweep the yard, haul the waste, and walk the job with you.
Common questions
We tear off. Roofing over old shingles hides deck rot, traps heat and shortens the new roof's life. A clean tear-off lets Trail Roofing inspect and repair the deck before anything goes down. That's the right way to shingle a roof in the West Kootenays.
Kootenay winters keep snow on your roof for months. Poor attic ventilation melts it from underneath, and the meltwater refreezes at the eaves as ice dams. Trail Roofing checks intake and exhaust venting on every shingle job and fixes it as part of the work, not as an extra.
Most houses take a few days once we start. Roof size and weather decide it. We book up in spring, so call early. Trail Roofing keeps the site clean while we work and hauls everything away when the roof is done, anywhere in the West Kootenays.
Who this is for
- Residential: Most pitched-roof homes in the Kootenays: the standard, done right.
- Commercial: Duplexes, small commercial and mixed buildings with pitched roofs.
- Industrial: Rarely the right call on industrial buildings: ask us and we'll say so.
Service area
We install and repair roofs across the West Kootenay: Trail, Rossland, Nelson, Castlegar, Kaslo, Salmo, Fruitvale, Grand Forks, Warfield, Montrose.