Code Says 1.84. The Rebate Says 1.22. Ordering Windows on the North Shore

Two numbers, one order form

U-value measures how fast heat moves through the window assembly. Lower is better. It is written as W/(m2.K), and the whole conversation about window performance comes down to that one figure and where your target sits.

The BC Building Code sets a maximum U-value for windows and doors by climate zone, in Table 9.36.2.7.-A. Most of the North Shore sits in Zone 4, where the maximum is 1.84. Colder zones get stricter numbers, down to 1.44 in Zone 8. Anything at or below the zone figure passes.

The BC Hydro rebate for windows and doors uses a different threshold entirely. It requires a maximum U-Factor of 1.22 or less. That is well below the Zone 4 code ceiling, and it is not a small step up in glazing spec.

So there is a wide band of windows that are perfectly legal, will pass inspection, and are worth exactly zero in rebate money. Nothing about the code number tells you where the rebate line is, and no one is obliged to raise it with you before you sign.

The 1.22 number appears in the code too, under a different table

There is a detail here that trips up people who go looking in the code and come back confused. The 1.84 figure comes from Table 9.36.2.7.-A. There is a second table, 9.36.2.7.-D, which applies to buildings containing only dwelling units under section 9.36.1.3.(6), and it sets fenestration at 1.22 in every climate zone.

So 1.22 is not an arbitrary utility invention. It is a number that already exists in the code for a specific compliance path. Which table governs your project depends on the path your designer or builder is following, and that is a question for whoever is stamping or submitting the work.

From an ordering point of view, none of that changes the practical instruction. If you want the rebate, the product needs a U-Factor of 1.22 or less, and the number is set the day the order is placed.

North Shore climate zone: check it, do not assume it

BetterHomesBC lists North Vancouver in Zone 4, under 3,000 heating degree days. It also carries an asterisk noting the municipality has multiple climate zones depending on location.

That asterisk deserves attention here more than almost anywhere else in the province. The District runs from sea level at the waterfront up the mountain slopes, and the heating degree day figure at Dollarton is not the figure at the top of the Grouse Woods area. The published city row is a single number standing in for a range.

The edition of the code matters too. The 2012 BCBC listed North Vancouver at 2,910 HDD. The older 2007 Vancouver Building Bylaw table listed 3,000, which would push the same city over the line into Zone 5. Small differences in the source table move you between zones at the boundary.

We could not confirm the current North Vancouver row in the 2024 Table C-2, so treat the zone as something to verify rather than assume. Ask your municipality what HDD figure applies to your address before anyone specifies to a zone-based minimum. On the upper slopes especially, the answer may not be the one on a summary page.

This caution only affects the code minimum. The rebate threshold of 1.22 is the same number everywhere, so if you are building to the rebate, the zone question stops mattering.

What else the rebate requires, beyond the number

The U-Factor is the headline condition. There are four more, and each one has disqualified somebody.

The product needs certification by CSA, Intertek, Labtest, QAI or NFRC. Installation has to be done by a licensed contractor holding a valid GST number and a valid BC business licence, which rules out doing it yourself and rules out a cash arrangement with someone working without a licence. Applications are due within six months of the invoice date, so a project that stalls over a winter can run the clock out. And skylights are excluded, which surprises people planning a whole-house glazing upgrade.

One exclusion is specific to where you live. Homes inside Vancouver city limits are not eligible for the Tier 2 rebate. North Vancouver and West Vancouver addresses sit outside those limits, so the North Shore is in scope, but it is worth knowing the geography rule exists if you own more than one property.

At Tier 2 the rebate is $100 per window or door, to a maximum of $2,000. That caps out at twenty units. On a full-house replacement the rebate is a contribution rather than a driver of the decision, which is the honest way to hold it: worth structuring the order to capture, not worth choosing a window you dislike to chase.

• Maximum U-Factor of 1.22 W/(m2-K) or less
• Certified by CSA, Intertek, Labtest, QAI or NFRC
• Installed by a licensed contractor with valid GST and a BC business licence
• Application submitted within six months of the invoice date
• Skylights are not covered
• Homes inside Vancouver city limits are not eligible for Tier 2

Permits: the three North Shore municipalities do not agree

Homeowners ask whether replacing windows needs a permit and expect a yes or a no. The three municipalities on the North Shore are written differently enough that the honest answer depends on which one you are in and what exactly you are doing.

In the City of North Vancouver, Construction Regulation Bylaw 7390 lists exemptions at section 8.6.1, and that list covers painting, decorating, and re-roofing. Windows are not on it. Window work falls under section 8.1.1(a), alterations of a building. There is a separate building-envelope trigger at 8.1.1(h), but it applies only to buildings with more than two dwelling units, so it does not catch a single family house.

The District of North Vancouver's Construction Bylaw 8271 names neither roofing nor windows. The clause that does the work is section 3.3.6, which sets out work the bylaw does not apply to, including non-structural repair and maintenance of lawfully-conforming structures on a parcel zoned for single-family residential use. Separately, the District's own permit questionnaire lists interior renovation with exterior modifications, giving windows added as its example, as permit work, and its checklist asks for exterior elevations if window size changes. Size changes clearly need a permit. Like-for-like replacement is not addressed directly in the bylaw text, so call the District rather than reading a conclusion into the silence.

West Vancouver adopted Building Bylaw No. 5340, 2025, effective June 23, 2025. Its exemption list at section 4.3 covers fences, accessory buildings under 10 square metres, trellises and landscaping, and low retaining walls. There is no roofing exemption and no window exemption. Section 7.1 requires a permit before constructing, repairing or altering a building. There is a widely quoted West Vancouver web page saying re-roofing and windows are exempt, but we could not retrieve it and its content conflicts with the current bylaw text, so we are not repeating it as fact. Confirm with the District directly.

The rule that holds across all three: enlarging an opening is structural work and needs a permit. Like-for-like replacement is where the three diverge, and that is the case where a phone call to the building department beats an assumption.

Retrofit or full frame, and what is behind the window

There are two ways to replace a window and the choice affects far more than price.

A retrofit or insert install leaves the existing frame in place and fits the new window inside it. It is faster, it costs less, and the interior and exterior finishes around the opening are largely undisturbed. The trade-off is glass area: the new frame sits inside the old one, so every opening loses some daylight, and on a house with many small windows that adds up visually.

A full-frame replacement takes everything out down to the rough opening. It costs more and it disturbs the finishes, and it is the only method that lets anyone see and repair what is behind the window.

On the projects we run, that second point is usually what decides it. This is a high-rainfall region and window openings are where water gets into a wall. Rot in the sill and in the framing below the window is common in older North Shore housing stock, and a retrofit install covers that condition rather than fixing it. You end up with a high-performance window sitting on wet framing, which is a worse outcome than the old window was.

What we tell clients: on a house from the 1960s or 1970s where nobody has opened a wall in decades, budget for the possibility of full-frame on at least the weather-exposed elevations, and have the conversation about it before the order goes in rather than on the day of demolition.

The install matters more than the U-value does

Here is the part that gets least attention and causes most of the callbacks we see. Flashing and the water management details at the opening do more for the durability of the wall than the window's rated performance does. A window at 1.22 installed without proper sill flashing will still let water into the framing, and the rating on the sticker will not help.

Water arrives at the opening and has to be directed back out. That means a sill pan or properly lapped flashing at the bottom, the correct sequence of membrane and building paper up the sides and across the head, and a drainage path that ends outside the wall. It is unglamorous work that is invisible once the trim goes on, and it is the single biggest difference between a window that lasts and one that quietly rots the wall beneath it.

When you are comparing quotes, ask each contractor to describe how they will flash the openings. The answers will differ more than the window prices do.

After the install: condensation, and the ventilation question

A pattern shows up a few weeks after new windows go in. The homeowner calls because water is forming on the inside of the glass, and the natural conclusion is that the new windows are defective.

Usually they are working correctly. The old windows leaked air, and that leaking air carried moisture out of the house all winter. A tighter building holds that moisture inside, where it finds the coldest surface available and condenses on it. Better windows made the problem visible by removing the leak that was hiding it.

The fix is ventilation rather than glazing. A heat recovery ventilator moves stale humid air out and brings fresh air in while keeping most of the heat, and it is the standard answer when a house has been tightened. Kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans that actually vent outdoors and get used matter as well.

Plan for this before the windows go in, not after. A tightening project without a ventilation plan trades one problem for another.

Getting to 1.22, and where it shows up in the schedule

Three things bring U-value down: adding a third pane of glass, low-e coatings on the glass surfaces, and filling the cavities with a gas that conducts heat less readily than air. Suppliers combine them in different ways and the resulting number is what you ask for.

Frame material matters for both performance and appearance. Vinyl, fibreglass, wood, and aluminium with a thermal break each behave differently and each looks different in the opening. Aluminium without a thermal break performs poorly, which is worth knowing on a house from an era when it was common.

The scheduling piece catches people out. Window lead times sit on the critical path of a renovation, and ordering happens early because the openings have to be ready when the delivery arrives. On a project involving structural changes around the openings, the window order gets placed before some of the framing is even built.

Which brings the point back to where it started. The order goes in early, the U-Factor is fixed at that moment, and there is no way to reach back later and change it because the rebate paperwork turned up a number you did not know about. Decide on 1.22 or not, in writing, before the deposit goes out.