Rescuing a 10-Year-Old Church Roof from Shingle Loss in Donegal, Ontario
When high winds began stripping shingles from the roof of a church in Donegal, Ontario, the congregation faced a familiar and worrying dilemma. A roof that was only ten years into its service life was already losing pieces, and the concern was that continued shingle loss would eventually force a full and costly replacement. Rather than tearing off a roof that still had a great deal of structural life left in it, James and the church leadership looked for a way to address the underlying problem directly. That decision led to a roof rejuvenation treatment designed to restore the flexibility and adhesion the shingles had lost. This case study walks through what was found on the roof, the work that was carried out across the church's expansive 5,000 square feet of asphalt shingles, and the outcome the congregation reported afterward. It is a clear example of how preventative maintenance can extend the life of a qualifying asphalt-shingle roof and postpone a major capital expense.
$45,000
Estimated Savings
10 years
Roof Age
5,000 sq ft
Roof Size
Project Overview
This was a commercial-scale rejuvenation project on the roof of a church building in Donegal, Ontario, completed on August 7, 2022. The roof spans roughly 5,000 square feet and is finished in black asphalt shingles that were approximately ten years old at the time of the work. Rather than pursuing a replacement, the church chose a rejuvenation approach aimed at treating the shingles in place. As the aerial photographs show, the roof is a large, multi-slope structure sitting on an open rural site, which made a thorough, whole-roof treatment the sensible path forward for the congregation.
The Roof Condition
The contractor reported that the shingles had not been installed properly to begin with, and that the roof had reached a point where the shingles were extremely dried out. The most pressing issue was significant shingle loss. According to the contractor's assessment, most of the shingle tabs had never been glued down properly, which left the leading edges free for wind to work its way underneath. Once the wind got beneath those tabs, it was able to lift and tear shingles right off the roof. Combined with the dried-out condition of the shingle material itself, this left the church roof vulnerable every time a strong storm rolled across the surrounding open fields. It was a problem that would only worsen with time if left unaddressed.
More Photos
The Treatment
The work completed on this project was a full roof rejuvenation treatment applied across the church's asphalt-shingle roof. Rejuvenation is a preventative maintenance process designed for qualifying asphalt-shingle roofs that have dried out but remain structurally sound. Rather than replacing the shingles, the treatment works by penetrating the shingle layers to restore lost flexibility and, critically for this project, to re-bond the shingle layers and tabs that had been lifting. Given the roof's ten-year age and its 5,000 square feet of black shingles, the goal was to treat the entire surface so that the previously unglued tabs would once again hold, closing off the pathways the wind had been exploiting. The treatment addressed the roof as a single system, targeting the dried-out material and the loose tabs that were the source of the ongoing shingle loss. The whole project was carried out for $5,000.
The Results
With the rejuvenation complete, the church addressed the root cause of its shingle loss rather than simply patching the symptoms. By restoring adhesion between the shingle layers and re-securing the tabs that had been lifting in the wind, the treatment took away the mechanism that had been allowing storms to peel shingles from the roof. The congregation reported a major reduction in shingle losses following the work. Beyond that immediate benefit, treating a dried-out roof helps restore flexibility to the shingle material, which supports the roof's continued performance in the years ahead. The financial picture is just as compelling for a church stewarding its resources carefully: the rejuvenation was completed for $5,000, against an estimated replacement cost of around $50,000, for an estimated savings of roughly $45,000. That figure is an estimate rather than a guarantee, but it illustrates why preventative maintenance made so much sense for a ten-year-old roof that still had plenty of life left in it. By choosing to treat rather than replace, the church extended the service life of an asset that would otherwise have faced premature removal.
Project Details
- City
- Donegal, Ontario
- Roof Age
- 10 years
- Roof Size
- 5,000 sq ft
- Shingle Colour
- Black
- Treatment Price
- $5,000
- Estimated Replacement Cost
- $50,000
- Estimated Savings
- $45,000
- Project Completed
- August 7, 2022
Homeowner Feedback
We were having major issues with losing shingles in high winds. Reactiv8 majorly reduced our shingle losses because it penetrates the layers and glued the shingle layers together again.
