Roofing permits and code on the Oceanside coast

The RDN publishes two lists: work that requires a building permit, and work that does not. Roofing appears on the second, in these words — "Roofing repairs or replacements (providing that no structural changes are made)". Exterior finish repair or replacement sits beside it under the same proviso.

The qualifier is where it bites. The permit list includes making alterations, additions or repairs to an existing building or structure, and making interior structural renovations. A re-roof that changes the roof line, alters or replaces rafters or trusses, or cuts a new opening is not a covering replacement any more. Replacing sheathing like for like is repair. Changing what holds the sheathing up is not.

Installing solar panels appears on the permit list in its own right, which matters wherever a re-roof and a solar install are being planned as one job.

The Town of Qualicum Beach works from Building Bylaw No. 903, 2024. The exemption list at Section 3.3 does not name roofing at all. What it does include is "repair and maintenance of lawfully-conforming structures where the level of life safety and building performance shall not be decreased below the level that already exists, exclusive of structural alterations and remediation as a result of a previous deficiency".

That is a general clause rather than a roofing clause, and it is written around outcome — life safety and building performance not decreased — rather than around trade. A like-for-like re-roof sits comfortably inside it. A re-roof that alters structure, or that remedies a previous deficiency, is expressly outside it.

The City of Parksville administers its own Building Bylaw No. 1387. The exemption provisions in that bylaw were not readable at the time of writing, so the position inside the city limits is confirmed with the City building department rather than assumed from a neighbouring jurisdiction.

The BC Building Code is a technical standard, not a permit process. A roof needing no permit still has to be built to Part 9.

Section 9.26 governs the roofing itself. Table 9.26.3.1 sets a minimum slope for every covering: 1 in 3 for asphalt shingles in normal application, 1 in 6 for the low-slope method, 1 in 4 for profiled metal roofing, and 1 in 50 for modified bituminous membrane. Article 9.26.6.1 sets acceptable underlay, and 9.26.6.2 sets head and end laps at not less than 50 mm, overlapping eave protection by at least 100 mm.

Section 9.19 governs the roof space. Article 9.19.1.2 sets unobstructed vent area at not less than 1/300 of the insulated ceiling area, rising to 1/150 below a 1-in-6 slope or where the roof is framed with roof joists, distributed on opposite sides of the building with at least 25 per cent of the area at the top of the space and 25 per cent at the bottom.

None of that becomes discretionary because no permit was pulled.

Article 9.26.5.1 requires eave protection running from the edge of the roof at least 900 mm up the slope, to a line not less than 300 mm inside the inner face of the exterior wall. The same article then lists what is exempt: unheated garages, carports and porches; roofs where the overhang exceeds 900 mm measured along the roof slope; roofs of asphalt shingles installed in accordance with Subsection 9.26.8; roofs at a slope of 1 in 1.5 or greater; and regions with 3,500 or fewer degree-days.

Appendix C of the code lists Parksville at 3,200 degree-days and Qualicum Beach at 3,200. Nanaimo is listed at 3,000. All three fall under the threshold, so that last exemption applies across this part of the Island, and on a shingle roof the asphalt-shingle exemption applies as well.

A code minimum is a floor, not a specification. Eave and valley membrane is still worth having on an exposed lot, and Appendix C gives the reason: a one-day design rain of 91 mm for Parksville and 96 mm for Qualicum Beach.

Roofer is a Red Seal trade in British Columbia, carrying 4,950 hours of work-based training and 15 weeks of technical training over three years. It is not one of the seven trades that require Skilled Trades Certification. Those seven are construction electrician, industrial electrician, powerline technician, steamfitter and pipefitter, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic, gasfitter Class A and Class B, and sheet metal worker.

Certification for a roofer is therefore available and voluntary rather than compulsory. What is not optional is WorkSafeBC coverage, and a clearance letter can be asked for before work starts. Liability insurance is the other document worth seeing rather than being told about.

On low-slope work there is a third question. The RoofStar Guarantee is issued by the Roofing Contractors Association of British Columbia through RCABC Guarantee Corp, on work carried out by its member contractors, and it is a third-party guarantee rather than a contractor's own promise.