Roofer in Duvernay: redoing a house roof

One of the fourteen former municipalities

Duvernay is one of the fourteen municipalities merged in 1965 to form Laval. In the City's division into six planning sectors, it shares the first one with Saint-Vincent-de-Paul and Saint-François.

The planning sector changes nothing in the rules. A single Code de l'urbanisme (Laval's urban planning code) covers the whole city, and roofing in Laval by area follows the same articles everywhere. What changes from one area to another is the buildings.

What the City writes about Duvernay's houses

The City's land use plan contains three observations that are useful to an owner.

• Detached single-family housing dominates the urban landscape of the hub.
• Architectural styles there are diverse. The City explains this diversity by a wide range of construction periods.
• The City notes the appearance of high-value single-family homes there.

The City talks about the houses, not their roofs. None of its documents says which roof shape or which covering is most common in Duvernay.

The commercial core on boulevard de la Concorde Est

Duvernay is not made up of houses alone. The City places a 1960s commercial core there, on boulevard de la Concorde Est. The same plan states that the built environment has a relatively low density outside the areas along boulevard de la Concorde, which have larger housing forms. The owner of a commercial building does not fall under the same City process page as the owner of a residence.

Inventoried heritage buildings

The City's architectural heritage inventory, dated 2018, lists 50 main buildings in Duvernay. Among them, 29 have a gable roof with flared eaves, 10 a flat roof and 8 a mansard roof. Asphalt shingles cover 24 of them, profiled sheet metal 9.

These figures describe buildings selected for their heritage interest and say nothing about the other roofs in the area.

The Code also sets a rule for the buildings it designates as being of heritage interest, wherever they are in Laval. Being in the inventory does not by itself tell you whether your address is covered. For such a building, changing the roofing materials of the main building may require approval of a PIIA (site planning and architectural integration program). The Code exempts replacing a material with the same material of a similar colour, or with a material that preserves or restores the original or traditional features. The Code also exempts the renovation of a flat roof from the PIIA. The City makes the call.

To find out whether special provisions apply to your address, look it up in the City's Info-règlements tool. Info-règlements flags these provisions with a note.

The permit for a residence

The City's page on exterior residential renovation gives two cases.

• The roof covering is replaced with the same material, with or without added insulation: no permit.
• The covering is replaced with a new material: permit required.

The City does not define what it means by the same material. If your case leaves you in doubt, the answer belongs to the Service de l'urbanisme (the City's urban planning department).

When a permit is required, the City lists a cost of $92 for the first $20,000 of work, plus $2.50 per $1,000 bracket or part of a bracket. The City gives an approximate processing time of 30 days, which starts once the file is complete.

Where to file the application

The permit application is submitted online, through Mon Dossier (the City's online portal). If you cannot apply online, the City says to apply in person at the Service de l'urbanisme, 1333 boulevard Chomedey, on the ground floor. The City asks you to make an appointment before going.

If part of the roof is flat

The Code de l'urbanisme defines a flat roof as a roof with a slope of 16.7% or less, that is 2:12. Its article 380 requires main and accessory buildings with a flat roof to have one of these coverings:

• a green roof
• a white material, a material painted white or covered with a reflective coating or white ballast
• a material with a solar reflectance index of at least 78, certified by the manufacturer's specifications or by a professional's specification
• a combination of these coverings

The article makes exceptions for buildings and equipment authorized on a roof, for residential accessory buildings with a footprint of less than 40 m² and for farm buildings.

The Code does not specify what applies to an existing flat roof redone identically. Ask the Service de l'urbanisme this question before choosing the covering.

Before our visit

Stay on the ground. Note what you can see from the street and the yard: the roof material, the number of slopes, any dormers or a lower section with a low slope. If you know the year of the last roof replacement, add it.

We come out to Duvernay as we do everywhere in Laval: request a quote. Before signing with any contractor, check that the contractor holds a licence from the Régie du bâtiment du Québec (RBQ, Quebec's building authority), whose register is public.

Frequently asked questions