Older homes around Burnaby Heights and Deer Lake often carry cedar or aging asphalt that struggles with persistent moss, while the city's newer low-rise and infill stock leans on flat and low-slope torch-on roofing. With BC Building Code rainscreen requirements now standard on Lower Mainland walls, proper drainage cavities and flashing matter as much as the roof itself. On the higher ground near the mountain, ventilation and ice-dam detailing are worth getting right.
One city, two very different roofs
Few municipalities around Vancouver ask a contractor to switch gears as often as Burnaby does. Drive ten minutes from a 1970s Vancouver Special in Edmonds to a low-rise infill block off Willingdon and the whole job changes — pitch, materials, access, and who signs off on it. The detached belt through Burnaby Heights, Capitol Hill and the streets around Deer Lake leans heavily on steeper pitched roofs, where asphalt shingles remain the workhorse and the older cedar that’s still out there is usually nearing replacement. The flatter, denser stock closer to Metrotown and Lougheed pushes toward membrane systems and torch-on SBS on the low-slope additions, rear extensions and second-storey decks that are so common on Specials and reno’d post-war homes.
That cantilevered second floor on a Vancouver Special is its own recurring headache here. The shallow-pitch overhang traps debris, sheds water poorly, and is often where the first leaks show up decades after the original build.
Moss, shade and the Deer Lake tree canopy
Burnaby’s mature tree cover is part of what makes neighbourhoods like Deer Lake and the Heights so liveable, and it’s also what shortens roof life. North-facing slopes under big-leaf maple and conifer canopy stay damp for weeks at a time, and the moss that takes hold lifts shingle tabs and holds moisture against the deck. Annual moss treatment and keeping valleys and gutters clear of needle litter does more to extend a roof here than almost anything else. On the shaded, lower-pitched roofs we also watch ventilation closely — without proper intake and exhaust, trapped humidity rots sheathing from the underside long before the shingles wear out, so balanced intake-and-exhaust ventilation is part of any sensible re-roof.
Walls that have to breathe
Burnaby carries plenty of stucco and face-sealed cladding from the 80s and 90s — the same era and detailing that drove the Lower Mainland’s leaky-condo problems. When those walls come due for replacement, the modern fix is a drained and vented assembly behind the finish. A proper rainscreen system gives water a path out and air a path through, and it’s now the baseline expectation under current BC code on exterior wall work, not an upgrade. For the re-clad itself, fibre cement has become the default on detached homes around Brentwood and Capitol Hill: it stands up to driving coastal rain, holds colour, and suits the mix of older and contemporary streetscapes far better than the vinyl it usually replaces. Strata and SFH work both benefit from getting the wall behind the cladding right the first time.