Renovating a Condo in an Older Vancouver Tower: What to Check First

What an older building changes

The building work in an older unit is the same as in a newer one. The difference is in what has to be found out first. Old finishes may contain hazardous materials. Shared pipes and windows may be close to the end of their expected life, and the strata may already plan to replace them. The building's electrical system has a fixed capacity, and a new appliance may need more than is spare.

Each of those can damage a finished renovation or stop the work before it is finished. A new tiled wall may have to be opened a year later for a shared pipe. An appliance may arrive and the building may have no capacity to supply it. The checks on this page come before you choose finishes, and most of them are requests for documents.

How old Vancouver's homes are

In the 2021 Census, Statistics Canada counted 305,335 occupied private dwellings in the City of Vancouver. Its counts by period of construction put 167,325 of them in 1990 or before, and 138,015 in 1991 or later.

Read these figures with one caution. They count every type of dwelling together: houses, duplexes, rented apartments and condos. The census counted 112,105 condominiums in the city, and the Census Profile gives no count of condominiums by age. The table shows the age of the city's housing as a whole.

Hazardous materials: the inspection the law requires

Have the unit inspected before any demolition and before the price is fixed. Section 20.112(2) of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation says that before work begins on the renovation of a building, all employers responsible for that work, and the owner, must ensure that a qualified person inspects the building and the worksite to identify the hazardous materials, if any. The owner shares this duty with the contractor.

Age is the reason to expect a finding. WorkSafeBC says asbestos was widely used in BC as a building material until the early 1990s. Its campaign page for owners says: "if your home was built before 1990, it's likely that at least some parts of the home will contain asbestos that could be released with any renovation, demolition, or maintenance work." The page names drywall, textured ceiling coat, insulation, vinyl flooring and window putty among the materials that often contained it.

Sampling is the only way to know. WorkSafeBC states: "Never assume a building material is free of asbestos. You can't tell just by looking at it." The regulation counts a manufactured material as asbestos-containing when it would be determined to contain at least 0.5% asbestos under the listed test methods. Its list of hazardous materials also includes lead and other heavy metals.

The qualified person collects samples, identifies each one and writes a report. The report gives the location of each sample, says whether it is hazardous, and gives the location and approximate quantity of each hazardous material. It must be available at the worksite.

If the report finds asbestos

Removal comes before the renovation. Under section 20.112(7) and (8), no renovation work that may disturb an identified hazardous material can be carried out until it is safely contained or removed, and a qualified person has confirmed that in writing.

The company that does this work must hold a licence. WorkSafeBC states: "As of January 1, 2024, asbestos abatement contractors must be licensed to operate in British Columbia, and anyone performing asbestos abatement work must complete mandatory safety training and obtain certificates." Abatement means removing or containing the asbestos. WorkSafeBC publishes a list of licensed contractors, so check the company's name on it before you sign.

Three records follow the removal. A notice of project must be submitted to WorkSafeBC for all asbestos work. A qualified person must certify that the worksite air is safe after the removal is complete. And the abatement contractor gives you a report confirming that all asbestos has been contained or removed. Keep that report in the unit's file and send a copy to the strata.

We state no price and no duration for an inspection or a removal, because we have no published figure for either.

Read the depreciation report before you choose finishes

A depreciation report tells you which parts of the building are due for replacement and when. The Province of BC says all strata corporations with five or more strata lots must obtain one on a five-year cycle, and that it helps owners plan for the repair, maintenance and renewal of common property over a 30 year period. Section 94(2) of the Strata Property Act describes it as a report estimating the repair and replacement cost for major items and the expected life of those items.

The regulation lists what the report must describe, with an estimated service life for each. The list in section 6.2(2) of the Strata Property Regulation includes the building's exterior, with its roofs, doors and windows. It includes the building's systems: electrical, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing and fire protection. It also includes balconies and patios.

For a renovation, look for three entries: the plumbing, the windows and the balconies. If the report gives the shared water pipes or drains a short remaining life, the strata may plan to replace them, and that work can open walls inside the units. Pipes that serve more than one unit are common property under section 1 of the Act, and the strata must repair and maintain common property.

One limit applies to this report. Under section 6.2(2)(a) of the regulation, it is based on an on-site visual inspection. A visual inspection cannot see inside a wall, so read the report together with the other records below.

Council minutes, engineers' reports and questions for the strata

The minutes show what the council and the owners have decided since the last report. Section 35 of the Act requires the strata to prepare minutes of annual and special general meetings and council meetings, including the results of any votes. The same section makes the strata keep any reports it has obtained on the repair or maintenance of major items, including engineers' reports.

An owner can ask for all of these. Under section 36, the strata must make its records available to an owner on request and provide copies, within 2 weeks for these records.

Read them for any mention of pipe replacement, window replacement, balcony repairs or work on the outside walls. Then ask the strata manager in writing:

• Is any work planned on the water pipes, drains, windows, balconies or outside walls in the next five years?
• Will that work need workers to enter the units or open walls, floors or ceilings inside them?
• If a wall or floor I have renovated is opened for that work, what will the strata restore, and to what standard?
• Has a special levy been approved or proposed for any of this work?

What the answers change in your plan

The answers can change the order of your plans. If the strata will replace the shared pipes behind your bathroom wall in two years, it may be better to renovate that room after the pipe work, or to agree with the strata that the pipe behind your wall is replaced while your wall is open.

Standard Bylaw 7 lets a person authorized by the strata enter a unit at a reasonable time on 48 hours' written notice to repair common property. The bylaw applies to a renovated unit in the same way as to any other.

Electrical capacity and the electrical planning report

Check the building's electrical capacity before you choose appliances or heating and cooling equipment. The Province of BC says almost all strata corporations have finite electrical capacity, and that paying for upgrades to that capacity can be expensive.

A new document helps here. Strata corporations with five or more strata lots are required to get an electrical planning report. It records the current capacity of the strata's electrical system, the existing demands, an estimate of peak demand and spare capacity, and the capacity needed for future demands such as electric vehicle charging and heat pumps. The deadline for strata corporations in the Metro Vancouver Regional District is December 31, 2026. Ask the strata whether its report is done and request a copy.

The report has a stated limit. The Province's page says: "An EPR cannot inform the installation of electrical loads." When an owner wants to add equipment that will increase the electrical demand, the strata needs to ensure a qualified professional selects the equipment, confirms the electrical capacity and informs the strata if electrical upgrades are needed. Plan for that check, and for the time it takes, if your renovation adds a large electric appliance or a heat pump.

Wiring and plumbing inside the unit: we open and check

We found no public source that describes how the wiring and pipes of each period were installed in Vancouver's buildings, so this page makes no claim about any era. Two buildings of the same age can differ, and one unit may have been altered by an earlier owner. We find out what your unit has by looking.

Before we quote, we look at the electrical panel and what it supplies. We find where the water lines and drains run and where they join the shared pipes. We ask the strata for the building's drawings where a wall or a pipe is in question. Where the answer is hidden behind a finish, we ask your permission to open a small area, after the hazardous materials inspection has cleared that spot.

Two legal points apply to what we find. Pipes, wires and ducts that serve another unit or the common property are common property under section 1 of the Act, so changing them needs the strata's written approval under Standard Bylaw 6. And electrical work is done by a licensed contractor under a permit. Technical Safety BC states that owners of a strata cannot obtain homeowner permits and must hire a licensed contractor, and inside Vancouver the City issues the permit.

We photograph the pipes and wiring before the walls are closed. The photos go in the file you keep for the unit.

Insurance deductibles and old pipes

A leak is the risk to plan for when old plumbing is opened and reconnected, and the owner may have to pay for the damage. A deductible is the first part of an insurance claim, which the insurer leaves the insured party to pay. The Province of BC says strata corporation insurance deductibles can range from $100,000 to $750,000 or higher.

The Province's page on owner insurance says the strata may recover the deductible from an owner who is deemed responsible for the loss, and that an owner can be deemed responsible without being at fault or negligent. Section 158(2) of the Act lets the strata sue an owner to recover the deductible.

The same page says an owner's own policy can cover some or all of that deductible, and can cover improvements made to the unit up to a stated limit. Call your insurance broker before the work starts. Say that the unit will be under renovation, describe the plumbing work, and ask what the policy covers during that time and after it.

The order of checks before the design is fixed

Do the checks in this order, because each one can change the next.

• Ask the strata for the bylaws, the rules, the depreciation report, the electrical planning report, recent minutes and any engineers' reports.
• Ask the strata manager in writing about planned work on pipes, windows, balconies and outside walls.
• Have a qualified person inspect the areas the work will disturb for hazardous materials.
• Have the unit's wiring, panel, water lines and drains looked at.
• Call your insurance broker.
• Then fix the layout, choose the products and send the strata request.