Siding Contractor in Coquitlam

A Short Drive from Our Maple Ridge Shop

From Berkana Construction's base at 13490 224th St in Maple Ridge, Coquitlam is about twenty minutes down the Lougheed corridor. That proximity matters on multi-week recladding projects, where a crew that arrives early and a supplier run that takes half an hour instead of half a day keep the schedule honest. We have served the Lower Mainland since 2019 as a licensed, insured, WorkSafeBC compliant BC contractor, working for homeowners, stratas, property managers, builders and commercial owners. Written quotes are free.

Coquitlam Is Three Cities Stacked on a Hillside

Coquitlam's neighbourhoods were built in very different decades at very different elevations, and both variables change what a wall needs.

The valley floor. Maillardville, Cape Horn, Harbour Chines and parts of Central Coquitlam hold the oldest stock, including genuinely heritage-era housing in Maillardville. Original cladding here has been painted and patched repeatedly, and the failures are the classic ones: rot at grade, hose bibs, window sills and rooflines.

The mid slopes. Austin Heights, Ranch Park, Eagle Ridge and River Springs run largely from the 1950s through the 1980s. Face-sealed walls, minimal insulation, and cladding that is now at or past the end of its service life.

The upper slopes. Westwood Plateau boomed through the 1990s and Burke Mountain is still under construction today. These are large, detail-heavy houses with complex rooflines, multiple material transitions and big window walls, sitting in the wettest and coldest part of the city.

That elevation gradient is not a minor factor. Rainfall increases as you climb, and the upper neighbourhoods also see more freeze-thaw cycling than the flats. A wall assembly that is adequate in Maillardville can be marginal on the Plateau, which is why we specify deeper rainscreen cavities and more conservative flashing details up the hill. Tree cover across the upper slopes compounds it by keeping walls shaded and slow to dry.

The Rainscreen Question: Lessons from the Leaky Condo Era

A large share of the Lower Mainland's building-envelope failures came out of the late 1980s and 1990s, when face-sealed walls were common and Coquitlam was growing quickly.

Face-sealed construction relies on keeping water out at the surface. There is no drainage cavity behind the cladding and no ability for the wall to dry once water gets in, which it eventually always does, through a failed sealant joint, a window detail, a nail penetration or a wind-driven rain event. BC learned what that produces in this climate at enormous cost, and rainscreen design became standard practice as a direct result.

Plenty of townhome complexes and detached homes from that period, including many on Westwood Plateau and around Eagle Ridge, were built without a drainage cavity. When we reclad a home or strata building from this era, we do not simply hang new siding on the old assembly. We install a ventilated rainscreen: strapping that creates a drainage and drying gap, correctly lapped water-resistive barrier, and flashing details at every window, deck and penetration.

That cavity is the single most important upgrade a 1990s Coquitlam wall can receive, and it is the reason recladding here is an envelope decision rather than a cosmetic one. Our siding replacement in Coquitlam page covers the process in detail.

What We Find on Plateau Recladding Projects

We are candid with Plateau and Burke Mountain owners during quoting that hidden damage is more likely on houses of this vintage and exposure than the pristine exterior suggests.

The recurring finds are damp or rotted sheathing below windows, damage radiating from deck ledgers that were never properly flashed, rot at roof-to-wall intersections lacking kick-out flashings, and staining tracking down studs where water has been running for years. Complex rooflines mean more intersections, and every intersection is a detail that either works or does not.

None of it is unusual. All of it is fixable while the wall is open, and none of it is fixable while it is closed.

Materials for Coquitlam Homes

James Hardie fiber cement leads most of our Coquitlam quotes because it handles coastal rain, resists fire and keeps its finish on sun-exposed south slopes. Its weight and rigidity are also an advantage on the wind-exposed upper plateaus, where lighter cladding can lift.

On contemporary Burke Mountain builds we frequently combine fiber cement panels with Longboard woodgrain aluminum soffits and accents for a modern look that needs almost no maintenance. We also install Western Red Cedar, engineered wood, premium vinyl, AL13 aluminum panels, Lux steel and the EasyTrim Quick Panel system.

Where energy performance is part of the conversation, we can add exterior insulation beneath the new cladding. On the upper slopes it does double duty: it improves comfort and it raises sheathing temperature, which reduces condensation risk inside the assembly during cold snaps.

Repair, Storm Damage and Restoration

Between full replacements, our repair crews handle the everyday failures: cracked boards, wind-lifted panels on the exposed plateaus, rot at deck ledgers, and moisture damage below aging windows.

The important part of a repair visit is the diagnosis rather than the patch. On Plateau houses especially, a soft board is usually a symptom of a flashing detail failing somewhere above it, often at a roof-to-wall junction a full storey up. We trace water to its source before closing anything, because a repair over an unsolved leak is just a slower leak.

When a storm, burst pipe or fire causes serious exterior damage, we manage restoration from documentation through rebuild, including the photographs and written scopes your insurance adjuster will ask for. One company handles the file from first inspection to final walkthrough.

Soffit, Fascia and Roofline

Coquitlam rooflines take more water the higher up the hill you go, and Plateau and Burke Mountain homes tend to have complicated ones: multiple gables, dormers and long fascia runs with transitions where water concentrates. Tree cover keeps gutters loaded with debris, and an overflowing gutter on those elevations soaks fascia from behind through an entire winter.

Lower in the city, mid-century houses through Austin Heights and Harbour Chines are frequently still on original wood soffit with minimal venting, which starves the attic of intake air. We size venting for the attic rather than replacing like for like. See soffit and fascia in Coquitlam.

We replace soffit and fascia during most recladding projects, since the roof edge is usually the same age as the walls and fails on the same timeline. Catching it in one mobilization saves scaffolding costs and spares you a second round of trades a few years later.

Permits and Strata Process

Like-for-like recladding on a single-family Coquitlam house generally does not require a building permit, while structural repairs, assembly changes and multi-family work often do. Requirements vary by scope and change over time, so we confirm what your project needs with the City of Coquitlam during quoting and handle the application when one applies.

For stratas, we provide councils with written scopes, phasing plans and photo documentation suitable for owner meetings and depreciation report discussions. We phase work so residents keep access and parking, and we are direct about what we find, because discovering rot mid-project costs far more than investigating properly before the scope is set.

Book a Free Assessment in Coquitlam

If your walls are showing their age, or your strata is weighing a recladding decision, call Berkana Construction at (672) 771-6868 or email info@berkanaconstruction.com. We will inspect the building, explain what we find in plain language and provide a free written quote you can actually compare against others.