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Roofing Materials for Ontario: Asphalt Shingles, Metal, Flat Membranes and What Goes Under Them
RoofingMaterials
Roofing Materials for Ontario: Shingles, Metal, Flat, and What Goes Under All of Them
What each system costs installed, how long it really lasts through our winters, and the words on the quote that tell you which one you are actually being sold.
Eighty percent of Ontario roofs get architectural asphalt shingles, and for most houses that is the right call. The other twenty percent is where the money and the regret live: metal roofs that cost double and are worth it or not depending on how long you stay, flat roofs that fail at the drain, and shingle brands that are not all the same once an ice dam sits on them. The underlayment nobody sees is in here too, because it is the part that keeps the house dry when the shingles do not.
The numbers
Installed, Ontario, per square foot of roof surface, one layer of tear-off included, before HST. Checked October 2026.
| System | Installed | Real life here | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-tab asphalt | $5.50 per sq ft | 15 to 20 years | Rentals, sheds, a house being sold |
| Architectural asphalt | $6.75 per sq ft | 22 to 28 years, vented attic | Most houses |
| Premium or Class 4 asphalt | $8.50 per sq ft | 25 to 30 years | Hail country, insurer discount |
| Metal panels, exposed fastener | $10.50 per sq ft | 30 to 40 years, washers sooner | Cottages, barns, garages |
| Metal shingles, interlocking | $13.50 per sq ft | 40 to 50 years | Houses that want the look of shingles and the life of metal |
| Standing seam steel | $16.00 per sq ft | 50 years plus | The last roof you buy |
| Flat membrane (mod-bit, EPDM, TPO) | $12.00 per sq ft | 20 to 30 years | Anything under 2/12 |
The guides
Asphalt shingles explained
3-tab, architectural and premium, what the warranty says, and what actually wears out in an Ontario attic.
Best shingles for Ontario
IKO, BP, GAF, Owens Corning, CertainTeed and Malarkey compared on wind, ice, heat and the attic under them.
Metal roof vs. shingles
Cost, life, snow, noise, resale, and the number of years in the house that decides it.
Metal roof cost in Ontario
Standing seam, metal shingles and panels, installed, and why five quotes on one house ran from $11,000 to $39,000.
Standing seam vs. metal shingles vs. panels
Three metal roofs that share nothing but the word. Which one each quote is actually for.
Gauge, steel vs. aluminum, Galvalume and Kynar
The four words on a metal quote that decide the next forty years.
Flat roof materials
Modified bitumen, EPDM, TPO and PVC, what each costs, and why flat roofs fail where they do.
Underlayment and ice and water shield
What the Ontario Building Code requires at the eaves, where good roofers put more, and what it costs.
How I pick, if you want the short version
- Staying under 15 years: architectural shingles from a brand with a plant in Canada and a warranty you can register. The brand page narrows it to three.
- Staying 20 years or longer, or a cottage with snow sliding onto a deck: metal. Which metal is the next question, and the three systems are nothing alike. Standing seam vs. metal shingles vs. panels.
- Any slope under 2/12: a membrane, not shingles, whatever the last roofer did. Shingles on a low slope are a leak with a warranty that excludes it. Flat roof materials.
- Whatever goes on top, ice and water shield goes under it at the eaves to the code line and further, in every valley, and around every chimney and skylight. What the code requires and where I put more.
Related on this site
- Roofing shingles: the original article on this site, with the installation details.
- Roofing material calculator: bundles, rolls and nails for a given roof.
- Roof replacement cost calculator: every system above priced on your roof.
Have a quote in hand? Let a builder read it first
For $99, I read your roofing quotes and your roof photos and send back a written note: what is missing from the scope, where the price is out of line with October 2026 Ontario rates, what to ask the roofer before you sign, and whether the roof should come off at all this year. Two business days. How the roofing quote review works.
