Roof replacement
Roof Replacement in Commerce Township, Michigan
Commerce Township is a lake township that grew up twice: first as a resort destination of cottages around Union Lake, Wolverine Lake and a string of smaller waters, and then, from the 1990s on, as a suburban community of year-round houses on half-acre lots. About 40 percent of the township's housing was built between 1990 and 2009, which puts a large share of it at or near a first tear-off, while many older lakefront cottages have since been expanded into year-round homes, often with added-on roof sections. A 48390 address can sit in Commerce Township itself, in the separately administered Village of Wolverine Lake, or in the neighboring City of Walled Lake, and each has its own building department and its own answer on roofing permits. We pull whichever permit applies, tear off to the deck, install a complete Owens Corning system and register the warranty in your name.
Serving the Charter Township of Commerce, the Village of Wolverine Lake and neighboring City of Walled Lake addresses in Oakland County — three permit offices behind one ZIP code.
Do I need a permit to replace my roof in Commerce Township?
Yes. The Charter Township of Commerce's own building FAQ asks and answers this directly: "Is a building permit required for siding and roofing? Yes, a building permit will be needed for either type of project." That permit comes from the township's Building, Water & Sewer Department at 2009 Township Drive, Commerce Township, MI 48390, which enforces the State Construction Code Act of 1972 and requires a permit before any construction, alteration, addition or demolition. The office is open Monday through Thursday, 7:15 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and is closed Fridays. We handle the calls with the department so you don't have to. It is the permit holder's responsibility to call for inspections, and the township's FAQ specifically tells homeowners to confirm that the contractor is licensed and that the contractor — not the homeowner — has pulled the permit and arranged the inspections. We do both. A Commerce Township address can also fall inside the separately administered Village of Wolverine Lake or the City of Walled Lake, which each run their own building departments, so we confirm which office your specific parcel belongs to before the job is scheduled.
40.6%
Of Commerce Township homes built 1990–2009, the largest block now reaching a first tear-off
88.2%
Owner-occupied — this is a township of people roofing their own houses
17,476
Total housing units in the township, per the Census Bureau's 2020–2024 estimates
about 31 miles
From our base in Howell, east on I-96 and M-5
Three permit offices behind one ZIP code
Commerce Township shares ZIP 48390 with the City of Walled Lake, and a 48390 address can land in any of three separate governments: the Charter Township of Commerce, the Village of Wolverine Lake — which sits inside the township but operates its own administration and ordinances — or the City of Walled Lake itself, which borders the township to the south and has been its own city since 1959. Each one issues its own roofing permit and runs its own inspection process, so the first thing we do on a Commerce-area estimate is confirm which office your parcel actually reports to.
The township's building department is unambiguous about the roofing permit itself. Its FAQ page addresses it head-on — a permit is needed for roofing, the same as for siding — and the same FAQ puts the responsibility for scheduling those inspections on the permit holder, which in practice means us. The township's permit-requirements handout also shows a wall-section drawing noting an ice-and-water shield running from the eave to roughly two feet inside the wall, which lines up with the statewide ice-barrier rule described below.
| Era | Share of housing | What it means for a roof |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 or later | 1.2% | Original builder roof, still inside its first few years |
| 2010–2019 | 9.7% | Still well inside a first roof's service life |
| 2000–2009 | 19.8% | Reaching a first tear-off now |
| 1990–1999 | 20.8% | The single largest decade, squarely at first-replacement age |
| 1980–1989 | 11.3% | Well past the age of an original roof |
| 1970–1979 | 14.2% | Among the older homes in the township |
| 1960–1969 | 9.0% | Deck condition confirmed at tear-off |
| 1950–1959 | 8.7% | Lake cottages and early subdivisions |
| Before 1950 | 5.3% | Oldest stock; additions and layer count checked |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 five-year estimates, tables B25034, B25035 and B25024. The township's Census geography includes the Village of Wolverine Lake. Total housing units: 17,476. Median year built: 1991. Owner-occupied: 88.2%. One-unit detached homes make up 77.0% of the housing stock, with another 9.3% one-unit attached and 5.1% mobile homes.
The Village of Wolverine Lake: its own building department
The Village of Wolverine Lake sits inside Commerce Township but, in the township's own words, "operates separately for administration and ordinance adoption," even though the village receives township services such as fire protection. The village runs its own Building Department out of 425 Glengary Road, Wolverine Lake, MI 48390, (248) 624-1710, Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Its rule on roofing is explicit: "recovering any wall or roof system will require a permit." The village's inspectors work part time and ask for at least 24 hours' notice, so we build the schedule around that rather than assume same-day availability.
The City of Walled Lake, next door
Walled Lake is a separate incorporated city bordering the township to the south, and it has been its own city since 1959, with its own building department. Its building permit application lists "Tear Off or Re-Roof" as its own line item and states plainly that "Tear off requires open roof inspection and final inspection." The city's offices are at 1499 E. West Maple, Walled Lake, MI 48390, (248) 624-4847. The city's published inspection scheduling is not fully consistent between its permit application and its permits page — one notes 48 hours' notice and the other 24 — so for a Walled Lake-jurisdiction roof we confirm the current requirement with the city directly rather than quote one figure as settled.
A 1990s-and-2000s township built around an older cottage core
Commerce Township's housing has two distinct ages, and they need different conversations. Just over 40 percent of the housing was built between 1990 and 2009 — the largest and second-largest decades in the township's history — which means a very large share of Commerce roofs are builder-grade shingle systems now somewhere between roughly fifteen and thirty-five years old, the realistic working life of that assembly. Roofs from that era often went on without the details a full modern system includes.
A replacement is the one point at which every one of those original shortcuts gets corrected at once, because the deck is only open once: drip edge at both eaves and rakes, an ice barrier running from the eave to at least twenty-four inches inside the exterior wall line, gable or box vents replaced by a continuous ridge fed by real soffit intake with a baffle in every rafter bay, and every pipe boot, step flashing and counterflashing installed new rather than reused.
Behind that newer wave sits an older township. Nearly 38 percent of Commerce Township's housing predates 1980, and the township's own 2023 Master Plan describes the older housing stock directly: "Commerce Township is largely comprised of lake front cottages and single family homes, many of which are on lots one half acre or greater," and "most of the homes on the Township's lakes were developed as cottages years ago. While many cottages remain, many more have been expanded or replaced with year-round primary residences." A cottage that grew into a year-round house can grow a roof the same way — an original roof with a porch, sunroom or addition roof added at a shallower pitch, meeting the main roof in a valley nobody designed on purpose. On those additions, anything under 2:12 needs a membrane rather than shingles, sections between 2:12 and 4:12 need double underlayment, and a dead valley needs a cricket so water leaves instead of standing. On a plank-decked cottage, the true condition of the sheathing is not knowable until the tear-off, so we put in writing, before the job starts, exactly how deck replacement is handled if we find it.
On houses that already carry two layers of roofing, Commerce Township's rule follows the state: the Michigan Residential Code requires a full tear-off once a roof has two existing layers, so a third layer over the top is not an option regardless of how it would look from the street.
Lake Sherwood and the township's HOAs
The township's 2023 Master Plan describes a developer creating the Lake Sherwood subdivision around a man-made lake in 1956 and 1957, and notes that Treyborne Cove's homeowners association took part in the plan's public input sessions, and workshops were held at several homeowners associations. We do not guess which association guidelines apply to a given street. Where a homeowners association reviews exterior work, we read its guidelines before the estimate is written and supply the association with the manufacturer's product sheet, the exact shingle color and a sample board, so the approval is made on the real material rather than a photograph.
Union Lake, Wolverine Lake and a township of numerous lakes
Commerce Township's own description of itself starts with the water: the township "contains numerous lakes." Its Storm Water Master Plan names Union Lake, Long Lake, Middle and Lower Straits Lake, Wolverine Lake, North and South Commerce Lake and Fox Lake as lakes with county level-control structures, and also names Lake Sherwood and Bass, Reed, Hawk, Carus and Twin Suns lakes.
Union Lake is an all-sports, 465-acre lake with a maximum depth of about 110 feet, making it Oakland County's third-deepest lake, and it is located within the township. Wolverine Lake, the village's namesake, is a residential community built around a 265-acre, all-sports lake, with some subdivision parks offering beaches and boat launches. A lake that size sitting to windward of a house is the reason we treat the water-facing elevation differently: that slope gets rake starter as well as eave starter and the manufacturer's high-wind fastening pattern rather than the four-nail code minimum. Owens Corning Duration shingles carry 130 mph wind resistance as standard and 160 mph enhanced when the full component set goes on with starter at both the eaves and the rakes.
The township also carries a heavy and uneven tree canopy — its own Master Plan describes density ranging from almost none to close to 100 percent in different areas, with several small and large undisturbed wooded areas. Mature canopy over an older cottage keeps the shaded slope damp, which grows moss and algae; Owens Corning hip and ridge brings 25-year algae resistance with the system warranty, which is what actually addresses that staining.
The vast majority of the township falls within the Huron River watershed, and the township includes most of Proud Lake State Recreation Area, a 4,700-acre tract along the Huron River with dense forest, hills, a chain of lakes and extensive wetlands. The township was originally settled as a resort destination; by around 2000 it had shifted in the region's eyes from a summer vacation area to, in the Master Plan's words, prime residential real estate — which is the same shift the housing numbers above describe in Census form.
Commerce Township's storm record: wind and ice, not hail
Commerce Township's documented severe weather is wind and tree-fall damage, plus one notable ice storm — not hail and not tornadoes. The table below draws on National Weather Service Detroit/Pontiac local storm reports for Commerce, Walled Lake and Wolverine Lake specifically.
| Date | Location | Event | What was recorded |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 25, 2023 | 1 NW Commerce | Thunderstorm wind damage | Numerous trees down |
| August 29, 2021 | Walled Lake | Thunderstorm wind damage | Tree damage reported via central dispatch |
| August 29, 2022 | 1 S Walled Lake | Thunderstorm wind damage | Large branch and wires down near Walled Lake Dr and Pontiac Trail; a 58 mph gust measured at the nearby NWS White Lake office |
| July 24, 2021 | 5 N Novi | Thunderstorm wind damage | Multiple trees and power lines down near South Commerce and Wolverine Lake; the same storm system produced an EF-1 tornado just north of White Lake, outside Commerce Township |
| February 22, 2023 | 2 WSW Wolverine Lake | Freezing rain (ice storm) | 0.30 inch of ice measured, the highest Oakland County total recorded that day; DTE reported nearly 3,000 downed wires and close to 500,000 customers without power regionwide |
| September 3, 2026 | 1 NE Commerce | Thunderstorm wind damage | Numerous large tree limbs down along Carroll Lake Road between Wise Road and Cooley Lake Road |
Source: National Weather Service Detroit/Pontiac (DTX) local storm report summaries. No hail and no tornadoes have been recorded inside Commerce Township itself in the National Weather Service summaries reviewed, which cover roughly thirty event summaries from 2020 to 2026.
What that record adds up to is a wind-and-limb township with one serious ice event. If someone knocks on your door in Commerce Township offering a hail inspection, ask for the storm date and the report, then check it — the nearest documented hail to the township is from 2014, near Highland and White Lake, well outside this record. The February 2023 ice storm is worth remembering for a different reason: a quarter-inch-plus of ice load is a roof and gutter stress test in its own right, independent of wind, and it is the kind of event that reveals a marginal ice barrier at the eaves long before the roof actually leaks.
For wind, Owens Corning Duration shingles carry a 130 mph wind resistance limited warranty as standard and a 160 mph enhanced warranty when the full component set goes on with starter shingles at both the eaves and the rakes — well above the 58 mph and 67 mph gusts measured at the nearby NWS White Lake office in 2022 and 2024. Because the sealant strip on a new shingle is heat-activated, bonding in about a day in summer heat and taking up to roughly twelve weeks on a shaded north slope in winter, a roof finished in warm weather seals well before the late-fall wind arrives.
The Michigan Residential Code and what it actually requires
Every roof we install in Commerce Township, whichever office issues the permit, is built to the same statewide rules under the Michigan Residential Code. Two of them matter most on a tear-off: an ice barrier — at least two layers of underlayment cemented together, or an equivalent self-adhering membrane — must extend from the lowest edge of every roof surface to a point at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall line of the house. And a new roof covering cannot go on without first removing all existing layers once the roof already carries two or more layers of any type of covering, which is why a re-cover is only ever an option over a single existing layer, never over two.
The township's own permit-requirements handout shows the same ice-barrier detail in its wall-section drawing, labeled as running from the eave to roughly two feet inside the wall line, which matches the statewide rule above. We confirm the specific inspection sequence that applies to your permit — whether township, village or city-issued — when that permit is actually issued, rather than promise a generic sequence in advance.
The Owens Corning system we register in Commerce Township
On Top Roofing is an Owens Corning Platinum Preferred Contractor — the top tier of the Owens Corning contractor network in the company's own words, and the only tier that can register its best system warranty. Every Commerce Township replacement is registered under a Platinum Protection Roofing Limited Warranty: limited lifetime coverage on materials with a 50-year non-prorated period, limited lifetime workmanship non-prorated for the first 25 years, 130 mph wind resistance as standard and 160 mph enhanced, and 25-year algae resistance with Owens Corning hip and ridge. It transfers once to a buyer within 60 days of a sale.
The warranty requires the whole system, not just the shingle: Duration shingles with SureNail Technology, Owens Corning or approved synthetic underlayment, Owens Corning hip and ridge, Owens Corning self-adhered ice and water barrier, starter at the eaves and the rakes, and VentSure balanced ventilation — plus new flashings and new drip edge throughout. We install all of it as standard, whether the house is a 1990s colonial off a subdivision street or a cottage on Union Lake or Wolverine Lake. Our credentials behind it: Owens Corning Platinum Preferred, BBB A+ accredited, HAAG Certified inspectors.
Ventilation on the township's older roofs
On the pre-1990 houses that make up nearly half of the township, the attic may be vented only by gable louvers or box vents, which is not a balanced system — it is two kinds of holes with no coordinated intake. A balanced system exhausts at the ridge and takes in at the soffit in roughly equal measure, so on those houses we seal the gable vents, install a continuous ridge vent, and set a baffle in every rafter bay so the soffit intake is not buried under blown insulation. The difference shows up as a cooler attic in summer and less freeze-thaw cycling at the eaves in winter.
Storm damage, insurance and what we will and will not claim
After a wind or ice event in Commerce Township the pattern is usually consistent: limbs across a roof plane, lifted or creased shingles on the windward slope, a damaged ridge vent, and torn flashing where a branch came down across a valley. We inspect and photograph it, document what we find in writing, and give you a clear read on whether it is a repair, a partial or a full replacement.
Where an insurance claim is involved, we document the damage thoroughly, provide the photographs and the written scope, and talk to your adjuster about what we found on the roof. We do not file your claim for you and we do not represent you against your insurer — that is your relationship. What we will do is make sure the adjuster sees what we saw, in writing, with dates and photographs attached. Our inspectors are HAAG Certified, a credential focused on identifying and documenting storm damage.
Commerce Township communities and roads where we replace roofs
From our yard at 5896 Sterling Dr in Howell, Commerce Township is about 31 miles east on I-96 and M-5. We replace roofs across the township, the Village of Wolverine Lake and the Commerce-area side of Walled Lake — the 1990s and 2000s subdivisions in the middle of the township, the older cottage-turned-year-round houses on Union and Wolverine Lakes, and the lake communities in between.
- Commerce Village
- Union Lake
- Wolverine Lake
- Glengary
- Oakley Park
- Lake Sherwood
- Proud Lake State Recreation Area
- Martin Parkway
- Pontiac Trail
- Cooley Lake Road
- Carroll Lake Road
- Wise Road
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a permit to replace my roof in Commerce Township?
What if my address is in the Village of Wolverine Lake instead of the township?
My address is 48390 — how do I know if I'm in the City of Walled Lake instead?
Who is responsible for calling for roofing inspections?
Is Commerce Township a hail town?
What storms have actually affected Commerce Township recently?
My house already has two layers of shingles. Can you just add a third?
My house was built in the 1990s or 2000s and the roof looks fine. Is it time?
My house is an older cottage on Union Lake or Wolverine Lake. Does that change the job?
What warranty comes with a Commerce Township roof replacement?
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