Plumbing, heating and gas fitting in New Westminster

The oldest housing stock in the region

New Westminster was the province's first capital, and it has the building stock to prove it. Queen's Park, Brow of the Hill, Glenbrooke North and Sapperton contain genuinely old houses — many Victorian and Edwardian, some over a century old and still on infrastructure that has been patched rather than replaced.

Working on these houses is a different exercise from working on post-war stock. Original galvanized steel supply is common, corroded internally to a fraction of its bore. Cast iron drainage is often at or past the end of its life. Heating systems have frequently been through several conversions — coal to oil to gas — with each leaving redundant piping and abandoned chimneys behind. And a century of renovations means several vintages of plumbing meeting at fittings that were never meant to last.

None of that is a reason not to fix things properly. It does mean diagnosis starts with establishing what's actually installed, rather than assuming from the age of the house.

Heritage properties

Queen's Park is a heritage conservation area, and a number of properties across the city carry heritage designation or are on the heritage register. That can affect what you're permitted to change, particularly anything visible from the street — new venting terminations and exterior equipment being the mechanical examples that come up most.

It's worth establishing your property's status before planning work rather than after. A high-efficiency furnace or boiler needs a sidewall vent, and where that vent can go is a question worth answering early. We work within whatever applies; we'd just rather know at the quoting stage.

Steep grades

The city runs down a hillside to the Fraser, and the grade between the uptown area and the waterfront is significant. As anywhere with real elevation change, pressure-reducing valve settings matter and drift over time, showing up as inconsistent pressure between floors. Long, steep driveways also affect access for equipment swaps — worth mentioning when you book.

The new riverfront

Alongside all that history, the Quay, the Brewery District and Sapperton's newer developments have added a substantial stock of modern strata buildings. That work is a different discipline: in-suite plumbing and fixtures on one side, and on the other the mechanical rooms — commercial boilers, domestic hot water storage and recirculation, expansion tanks and controls. We hold LBP0212329 for boiler, pressure vessel and refrigeration work, which commercial plants require, and work with property managers on scheduled maintenance.

Where we work

Queen's Park, Uptown, Downtown and the Quay, Sapperton, the Brewery District, Brow of the Hill, Glenbrooke North, West End, Connaught Heights and Queensborough.

What we can help with

• Plumbing — repiping galvanized supply, drain repair, fixtures and heritage-house work.
• Heating — boilers and radiators and furnaces.
• Heat pumps — ductless options for houses that never had ductwork.
• Gas — lines, fireplaces and appliance connections, permits pulled.
• Commercial — boiler plants, hot water systems and controls.