Roofing in Gordon Head: Costs, Common Problems and Local Factors

Gordon Head was built out fast between about 1960 and 1975 with ranchers, split-levels and boxy two-storeys on medium suburban lots, and those houses came with a roof type the rest of Saanich has less of: a low-slope section over a carport, a family-room addition or the whole rear wing, originally covered in tar-and-gravel. Many have been re-covered once in torch-on; some, in our reading, still have the original gravel. The pitched sections were asphalt from the start and are typically on their second or third roof. That combination, pitched plus flat on many houses, is what makes a Gordon Head quote different from a Broadmead or Royal Oak one.

The neighbourhood is also more open than the rest of the district. Hedges and cedars are mature, but there is no fir canopy like Prospect Lake's, and the shoreline bluffs above Arbutus Cove and Cadboro Bay bring some salt and wind. Moss is a moderate, north-slope issue rather than the defining problem it is elsewhere in Saanich. Access is easy: driveways, flat lots, room for a bin.

The Saanich page is about moss and tree cover because that is what drives calls from Royal Oak, Broadmead and Prospect Lake. Gordon Head has less of both. Its defining feature is the housing era: a near-uniform 1960s and 70s stock with low-slope sections that were built for tar-and-gravel and cannot take shingles. Where a Broadmead homeowner asks about moss and cedar, a Gordon Head homeowner asks whether the gravel roof over the carport has to come off, and whether the roof has two layers of duroid on it. Both are often yes.

An original built-up roof under gravel has usually outlived its design life several times over. Converting it means removing the ballast, checking and often replacing the decking underneath, adding tapered insulation or crickets where water ponds, and installing a two-ply torch-on system with new edge metal and a proper tie-in to the pitched roof above. The tie-in is where these roofs leak, and it is one area a professional may inspect first when a Gordon Head ceiling stains near the junction of the two roof types. A quote should price the flat section per square, separately, and state whether gravel removal and decking are included.

• Gravel removal and disposal itemised
• Decking check under the old built-up roof
• Tapered insulation where water ponds
• Two-ply torch-on named as the system
• Tie-in detail to the pitched roof specified

Many Gordon Head roofs were layered over in the 1980s rather than stripped, so the third roof is the first real tear-off. Our model adds $0.75 to $1.25 per sq ft of roof for each extra layer, and the decking under two layers has often not been seen since the first roof. Ask for the layer count before quotes; a contractor can usually tell from the eaves. Getting down to the deck is also the moment to add ridge venting and a drip edge that 1960s roofs lack.

Gordon Head is under District of Saanich rules. The district's Permit Q&A lists exempt work (small accessory buildings, trellises, low retaining walls, interior finishes, like-for-like plumbing fixtures, pools) and does not mention roofing as exempt or required. Phone Inspection Services at 250-475-5457 or email inspections@saanich.ca, and ask specifically about converting a tar-and-gravel section and about any decking replacement.