The old car's not really worn out so take it for a tune-up and get another year or two out of it - so why not a tune-up for the roof?

It was 1976 and Larry Barron, fresh out of university, was anxious to impress his boss at Dominion Sheet Metal and Roofing Works.

He knew that roofs, like cars, often lasted longer if kept in good repair.

A tune-up was a term everyone recognized - so why not call what they did a roof tune-up and promote it.

Seal around the chimney, vents and flashings, nail down loose shingles, replace broken ones, clean and seal the eavestroughs, remove old TV antennas and seal the holes- those were things that could result in a leaking roof and premature replacement if not tended to.

He advertised the Roof Tune Up special in The Star on Oct 5, 1976, offering for $94.50 to "add years to the life of your roof." If was the simple reasoning that everyone could understand and quickly caught on.

Today the Roof Tune-up is Dominion Roofing registered trade mark.

Barron heads its tune-up and re-roofing division and still runs roof tune-up advertisements. And he's been kept as busy as that cat on the hot tin you know what, says Dominion president Sid Silverberg.
"A roof is like a car," says Silverberg, grandson of the late Harry Silverberg who founded the company in 1922.

"If you don't take care of a car, change the oil, and put in new plugs, it runs terrible and won't last," he says.

"The caulking dries out, nails pop up, shingles break and blow off, eavestoughs plug up - we make 18 checks and repair what is needed in a roof tune-up."

The 1995 price for a tune-up is $189.50 and when the time for a new roof comes, the cost of the tune-up is deducted.

Part of Barron's job at Dominion Roofing is to keep pace with the latest materials.

He says there have been several advancements that extend the life of a new roof to more than 30 years in most cases and often to 50 years.

And the price of these materials is usually not much more than the cost of the well-known asphalt shingle currently used on most subdivision roofs, says Silverberg, the man behind the change from just an eavestroughing and sheet metal business to include roofing.

It was shortly afer the end of Wold War II, and he was part of the Dominion Sheet Metal crew putting on eavestroughs and installing the metal flashings. That seal between the roof and the brickwork.

They were already up on the ladders, and sometimes getting the blame when roofs leaked even though it wasn't their fault so why not install roofs, as well, he reasoned.

The company name was changed to Dominion Sheet Metal and Roofing Works and they were soon doing jobs for some of Ontario's biggest builders- on homes for E.P. Taylor's huge Don Mills projects, the Del Zottos (Tridel), Bruce Mclaughlin who built Square One and thousands of Mississauga homes.

And they were always looking for new products and ways to expand the business.

They promoted the ideas of carports to those post-war bungalows - an extension of the roof and more work for Dominion - and then aluminum soffits and fascia.

Builders resisted the switch to aluminum because they thought people preferred wood, but home owners soon recognized the easy care feature of aluminum, and later vinyl, and they became widespread in the industry.

These day Barron is recommending products such as the new "steel shingles" - strong, shaped steel panels, coated with asphalt and stone granules to look like regular asphalt shingles. They go on right over the old roof so there are no old shingles to cart away.
"That eliminates a lot of work and expensive dump charges and they are as easy to install as regular shingles," he said.

"When we're done, the cost is not much more than the top grade asphalt shingles and you've got a roof that is fireproof, has high hail and wind resistance and a 50-year warranty."

There is also a few new twists that is reviving the market for the once-popular cedar shingles, Barron said.

Desirable because of their natural appearance, but rejected by many home owners in recent years because they were not fire rated, they now come force-injected with a fire retardant, then kiln dried. They can also be prepainted or stained.

A Dominion crew is now in the process of putting 40,00 sq.ft. Of cedar shingles on the roofs of a North York townhouse condominium development.

Barron said these new, thicker taper-sawn cedar shingles should last at least 30 years and probably closer to 50 years.

They also have an asphalt replica of slate roof that is growing in popularity. Another long-life product, it is laminated asphalt shingles with the color and thicker material giving a shadow detail that makes it look like slate.

Dominion also has a new solution to the often difficult leak problems with tar and gravel flat roofs or for new flat roofs- a two-ply "modified bitumen" blanket, Barron said.

Because they were so often called on the stop leaks around skylights, they decided to get into skylight installations.