North Vancouver · Since 2001
Epoxy and industrial floor coatings in North Vancouver.
Our own back yard, and the most chloride-aggressive part of the Lower Mainland — salt air off the inlet plus heavy winter road salt off the Upper Levels.
North Vancouver
Salt air changes the specification
West Pacific has been based in North Vancouver since 2001, so this is the environment we know best. Two things make the North Shore harder on concrete than the rest of Greater Vancouver: airborne chlorides from the inlet, which reach exposed decks continuously rather than seasonally, and the volume of de-icing salt used on the hills above.
Chlorides are what depassivate reinforcing steel, so on the North Shore we specify for chloride resistance as a baseline rather than as an upgrade. On exposed roof decks and top levels that means a fully aliphatic build, which holds colour and resists both the ultraviolet and the salt.
The other North Shore reality is rain volume. Drainage that is merely adequate elsewhere is not adequate here, and a surprising number of the decks we assess are failing because water sits rather than because the membrane was bad.
- Based in
- Unit 103–185 Forester St
- Since
- 2001
- Specified for
- Chloride and UV exposure
Services
What we install in North Vancouver
Parkade waterproofing
Traffic-bearing membranes for North Vancouver parkades, ramps and roof decks.
Learn more →Industrial floor coatings
Epoxy and urethane systems for North Vancouver warehouses and plants.
Learn more →Local conditions
The North Shore is a different climate for concrete
North Vancouver is where we live — Unit 103–185 Forester St — and the North Shore is honest about what it does to buildings. It rains more here than almost anywhere else in Metro Vancouver, the mountain slope means water is always moving through and under structures, and proximity to Burrard Inlet adds salt air that quietly tests every exposed coating and railing base from the Shipyards to Deep Cove. Grades are the other signature: driveways and parkade ramps pitch harder here than anywhere south of the inlet, and a sloped, wet, salted ramp is the hardest duty a traffic coating ever sees.
The building stock splits three ways. Lower Lonsdale and the Shipyards district have densified fast, stacking new strata towers — and new parkades — onto the slope. Central and Upper Lonsdale, Lynn Valley and Seymour carry decades of woodframe strata over concrete parkade podiums, exactly the assemblies whose membranes are now appearing in depreciation reports. And the harbourfront industrial lands along the inlet keep real industrial floors working within sight of the cranes. One of our documented projects sits in the middle of this picture: a 12,000 square foot strata roof deck here, coated in a fully aliphatic system selected specifically for salt air.
Freeze–thaw arrives earlier and harder than downtown — Upper Lonsdale, Lynn Valley and anything toward the mountains cycle through more freezing nights, and de-icing salt follows. Deck and parkade detailing that survives on the flat does not automatically survive on the slope; drainage, upturns and joint details carry more of the load here.
Where the work is
Home-ground work, from podiums to the waterfront
Being based here shows in the mix: parkade membranes and traffic coatings for the podium stratas of Lonsdale and Lynn Valley; exposed roof decks and walkways answering to rain and salt air; ramp systems for grades the South Shore does not have; and industrial floors along the working waterfront. Site assessments on the North Shore are same-week affairs — the shop is minutes from most of the buildings that call.
The strata decision-making side — what a flagged membrane means, what a proper scope includes, how phasing keeps residents parking — is written up in our depreciation report guide, and the systems themselves live in the systems library. For buildings across the water, the same service runs from West Vancouver through to Squamish and Whistler.
Questions
What North Vancouver clients ask us.
You are based in North Vancouver — does that change anything for local jobs?
Practically, yes. Our shop is on Forester Street, so on North Shore work the crew is on site early without a bridge crossing, materials come from our own stock rather than a supplier run, and if something needs a second look we can be there the same day. On a phased parkade project where a phase has to be finished before residents return, that proximity is worth more than it sounds.
Do North Shore buildings on the slope have different drainage problems?
They do. Parkades built into a slope frequently take groundwater against the uphill wall and at the base of the ramp, so the water problem is not only what falls on the deck. Before quoting a membrane we look at where water is actually arriving, because coating a deck that is being fed water from behind the wall solves nothing. Sometimes the honest answer is that drainage work has to come first.
Can you handle the salt and grit from the Upper Levels in winter?
That is exactly the load these systems are specified for. Vehicles coming off the Upper Levels and the Cut carry salt brine and grit straight into the parkade and drop it on the deck. Salt is what drives chloride into the concrete and corrodes the rebar, so on North Shore parkades we pay particular attention to ramp and entry detailing, where the heaviest salt load lands.
Do you work on both City and District of North Vancouver properties?
Yes, both, along with the industrial and marine-adjacent properties along the waterfront. The building stock differs across the two — more towers and older strata in the City, more low-rise and light industrial in the District — but the technical work is the same and we are local to all of it.
Site assessments
Have a slab in North Vancouver you're worried about?
Photographs and a rough area are enough to start. We'll come out, test moisture, and scope it properly.
Main (236) 873-2580 · Second (604) 230-0256 · estimating@westpacificcoatings.com