Roofing contractor · West Vancouver, BC
Roofing contractor in West Vancouver: cedar, composite shake and low-slope roofs
Roofing Vancouver BC is a roofing contractor working across West Vancouver — Ambleside and Dundarave through the British Properties to Caulfeild, Eagle Harbour and Horseshoe Bay. Cedar roofs and conversions, Brava composite shake, designer asphalt, metal and torch-on. WorkSafeBC registered, $5M insured, GAF certified, ICBA and BBB members.
The housing
Three kinds of West Vancouver roof, and they want three different things.
West Vancouver is a small market with unusually demanding roofs. The slope rises straight off the water into second-growth forest, the lots are large and wooded, and the houses on them span most of a century of building practice. In practice we are quoting three different problems.
- The waterfront and village stock. Ambleside, Dundarave, Sentinel Hill, West Bay and Cypress Park hold the older and closer-set houses — pitched roofs, dormers, a good many additions, and often a low-slope porch or sunroom section stitched onto a steeper main roof. The junction between those two slopes is the single most common leak we are called to in this part of the district.
- The hillside estates. The British Properties were laid out by British Pacific Properties from the early 1930s, and Chartwell, Whitby Estates, Westmount and Altamont continued the pattern up the slope. These are large, complex roofs with many intersections, several planes and long valleys, and the labour in the flashing details usually outweighs the cost of the covering itself.
- The West Coast modern houses. The style runs roughly 1940 to 1965 and is defined in part by flat or low-pitched roofs with deep eaves, originally finished in tar and gravel. They are scattered all through Caulfeild, Eagle Harbour, Gleneagles and the upper slopes. A shingle cannot hold on that pitch, and the honest answer is a two-ply SBS torch-on membrane, TP-180 base and TP-250 cap, with the perimeter and the drainage detailed properly.
Nothing about that list is exotic. It just means an estimate built from a satellite outline alone is thinner here than it is on a subdivision street, which is why the free inspection matters more in West Vancouver than almost anywhere we work.
Cedar and shake
Cedar roofing in West Vancouver: repair, replace, or convert.
Real cedar
Cedar is still the material this district was built with, and we still install and repair it. It is also a maintenance commitment here rather than a fit-and-forget roof. Rainfall on this slope is high, the canopy is mature, and a north-facing cedar slope under conifer does not fully dry from October to April. Moss and decay work on the butts and the keyways, and a cedar roof that is kept clear lasts considerably longer than an identical one that is not.
Most cedar here sits on spaced sheathing rather than a solid deck, which is the fact that governs every decision afterwards. You cannot simply shingle over it.
Composite shake, and the conversion
Where the look matters and the maintenance does not appeal, we install Brava composite shake — a moulded synthetic shake product, sold mainly on the Vancouver west side and here. It is a product we install, not a credential we hold, and we would rather say that plainly than dress it up.
Where the look is not the point, the roof gets converted: the cedar comes off, a full new plywood deck goes down over the old skip sheathing, and an architectural asphalt shingle goes over that. It is usually the first time the roof has had a continuous deck, synthetic underlayment and proper metal flashings. Both routes are covered in detail on our cedar roofing and cedar conversion page, and both carry a ten-year workmanship warranty, with manufacturer material terms running separately and longer.
The interface
Living against the forest, and what the District asks.
West Vancouver is one of the few places in the region where the forest starts at the property line rather than at the edge of a park, and the District plans for it.
Its wildfire hazard development permit area covers approximately half the land in the District, taking in property within roughly 100 metres of undisturbed forest interface. The permit itself is triggered by things like a new single- or multi-family dwelling or a subdivision, not by ordinary maintenance, so re-covering an existing roof is a separate question from building a new house. If your house sits at that interface, the material, the gutters and how much needle litter the roof holds are all worth talking through before you commit.
Practically, the forest edge shows up in our work in less dramatic ways every week. Debris loads valleys. Overhanging limbs keep a slope permanently damp. Gutters fill twice a year rather than once. Those are the conditions that decide whether a West Vancouver roof reaches the twenty-five years we see as a regional average, or stops several years short of it.
For scope and paperwork, the District publishes its requirements on its building permits and inspections pages. We confirm with the building department before a job starts, and the city permit is included in the quoted price where one is required.
Inspections
Roof inspection in West Vancouver, before anyone quotes a number.
Our online estimator measures the roof from satellite imagery and prices it on the screen. On a West Vancouver house that is a starting point rather than an answer, because imagery cannot see the things that move the price here.
The free roof inspection covers all accessible surfaces — slopes, hips, ridges, valleys, flashings, penetrations and drainage — and comes back as a written report with photographs of your own roof, the condition of each area, an estimate of remaining service life and a fixed written price for anything recommended. On a cedar roof it also covers what is under the shakes, because spaced sheathing is what decides between a repair and a conversion.
What gets priced at the inspection rather than assumed: new decking if rot is found, a second existing layer, difficult access on a steep lot, an unusually complex roof, skylights, chimney flashing, gutters and structural repairs. Rot turns up on roughly one tear-off in ten, usually a couple of sheets around a penetration. A standard house takes one to three days; a larger, steeper or cedar roof takes two to four.
If the report finds a single failed detail rather than a finished roof, it says so and prices the repair instead. That is a legitimate outcome and it happens often.
Where we work
A roofing contractor near you, from Ambleside to Horseshoe Bay.
Ambleside, Dundarave, Sentinel Hill, Altamont, Bayridge, West Bay, Cypress Park, the British Properties, Chartwell, Westmount, Whitby Estates, Caulfeild and Upper Caulfeild, Eagle Harbour, Gleneagles and Horseshoe Bay.
We do not quote a rainfall figure for West Vancouver, because Environment and Climate Change Canada publishes no climate normals for a station in the district, and we will not invent one. What we can do is bracket it with the nearest real stations, all of them across the harbour in North Vancouver on the same mountain front: ECCC's Canadian Climate Normals record 1,725 mm a year at North Vancouver Wharves at the waterfront over 1981–2007, 1,831 mm at North Vancouver 2nd Narrows, and 2,356 mm at North Vancouver Sonora Drive on the upper slopes. West Vancouver runs from the water to well above the Upper Levels in the same couple of kilometres, so what matters is not a single district number but where on that climb your house sits: Ambleside and Dundarave are a different roof problem from Chartwell or Whitby Estates, and the gap is a matter of hundreds of millimetres a year, not tens.
Alongside cedar and composite we install designer asphalt profiles that read as shake from the street, and 26-gauge snap-lock metal where a long exposed slope has to shed weather and debris without holding either. Every job carries synthetic underlayment, peel-and-stick at all penetrations, 26-gauge custom flashings and valleys, and new vents sized to the roof.
We are WorkSafeBC registered, carry five million dollars of liability insurance, are GAF certified, and belong to the ICBA and the BBB. Over five hundred roofs completed across the region.
Questions
Roofing in West Vancouver, plainly answered.
Who does roofing in West Vancouver?
We do. Roofing Vancouver BC works across West Vancouver, from Ambleside and Dundarave through Sentinel Hill, Altamont and the British Properties out to Caulfeild, Eagle Harbour, Gleneagles and Horseshoe Bay. Cedar roofs and cedar conversions, Brava composite shake, designer asphalt profiles, 26-gauge snap-lock metal and two-ply SBS torch-on on the low-slope sections. WorkSafeBC registered, five million dollars of liability insurance, GAF certified, ICBA and BBB members.
Do you still install cedar roofs in West Vancouver?
Yes, and West Vancouver is where most of that work is. Real cedar is a maintenance commitment on this side of the North Shore: shade, rainfall and a long wet season all favour the moss and the decay that end a shake roof. Where a homeowner wants the look without the maintenance we install Brava composite shake, which is a moulded synthetic shake product rather than a credential of ours, and where the look does not matter we convert the roof instead.
What is a cedar conversion, and why do so many West Vancouver houses get one?
The existing cedar is stripped off, a full new plywood deck goes down over the old spaced sheathing, and an architectural asphalt shingle is installed over that. It comes up because cedar was laid on skip sheathing rather than a solid deck, so you cannot simply shingle over it. The conversion is the point at which an older West Vancouver roof gets a continuous deck, synthetic underlayment and proper flashings for the first time in its life.
Can you roof a West Coast modern house with a flat or very low-slope roof?
Yes, and there are a lot of them here. The style ran roughly from 1940 to 1965 and is defined in part by flat or low-pitched roofs with deep eaves, which were frequently finished in tar and gravel originally. A shingle will not hold on that slope. We install a two-ply IKO SBS torch-on system, TP-180 base and TP-250 cap, with the perimeter, the curbs and the drainage detailed properly. The workmanship warranty on flat and torch-on work is five years, not ten.
Do I need a permit to re-roof in West Vancouver?
It depends on the scope. Straight replacement of a roof covering is a different proposition from structural work, new decking beyond a repair or anything that alters the building envelope, and the District's building department is the authority on which is which. We confirm before the job starts rather than assuming, and the city permit is included in the quoted price where one is required.
Does the wildfire hazard development permit area affect my roof?
It can affect what you build and where. The District's wildfire hazard development permit area covers roughly half the land in West Vancouver, taking in property within about 100 metres of undisturbed forest interface, and a permit is triggered by things like a new dwelling or a subdivision rather than by ordinary maintenance. If your house sits at that interface it is worth talking through roof and gutter choices with us and with the District before you commit to a material.
What does a roof inspection in West Vancouver cover?
All accessible roof surfaces: slopes, hips, ridges, valleys, flashings, penetrations and drainage. You get a written assessment with photographs of your own roof, the condition of each area, an estimate of remaining service life and a fixed written price for anything recommended. On a cedar roof we are also looking at the spaced sheathing beneath it, the condition of the butts and the keyways, and whether the roof is a repair or a conversion. The inspection is free.
How long does a roof last in West Vancouver?
About twenty-five years is the regional average we observe, and West Vancouver sits at the wetter, shadier end of it. Rainfall on this slope is high, the tree cover is mature, and a north-facing slope under second-growth conifer never really dries between October and April. A cedar roof's life depends more on maintenance than on the shake grade; an asphalt roof's depends mostly on ventilation and on how the valleys and flashings were built.
Next
Start with the roof, not the sales call.
Type the address and we measure it from satellite imagery and price it on the screen. The free inspection turns that into a fixed written price, with the cedar, the access and the low-slope sections priced rather than guessed.