Resilience is just part of the design for homes that can stand up to rain, wind, fire and earthquakes.
By Danielle Pope
No matter where in the world a home is built, it must be constructed to withstand the particularities of its environment. On the West Coast, that means designing homes with features and materials that make them more resilient to wind and rain, climate change and earthquakes.
According to Mark Bernhardt, president of Bernhardt Contracting and president of the Canadian Home Builders Association of BC, provincial seismic requirements have been very strong for many years — and they are about to get stronger.
“In the next year, there will be another building code change that will ramp that up again,” he says. “The West Coast in particular, and B.C. in general, will have some of the most seismically safe buildings in the world. It already does, and I think people living in new homes here on the West Coast can feel pretty good about their house in an Earthquake.”
Ready for the Shakeout
An important factor in earthquake resilience is flexibility in the construction materials. Concrete and steel are more flexible than you might think.
“It requires the steel and the concrete to be strong — they both do different things — and so concrete can be a very earthquake-resilient material,” says Bernhardt. “Wood is actually even a little bit better. If we’re talking about single-family homes, wood, even the way we built 50 years ago, is a very, very earthquake resistant and flexible way to build.”
There’s a reason homes on this coast have traditionally featured cedar and other natural materials. It’s an act of resource, and preservation.
“We saw that with the Christchurch [New Zealand] earthquake, where their buildings are very similar to ours and very, very few of the major problems happened in wood- frame buildings,” says Bernhardt.
Standing Up to Big Storms
Earthquake resiliency is not the only thing that makes West Coast homes special.
Rain, damp and wind — especially wind — are constants and influence the way homes are built. For example, West Coast homes often use more resilient finishes, like cement fibreboard, better known as Hardie board or Hardie plank, which is a versatile, durable alternative to wood siding. Metal siding is also popular and is notable for its low maintenance. Stucco is also a common choice.
“That isn’t something we would see in other provinces, like the Prairies,” says Bernhardt. “A lot of folks here, when they’re building a home, want to focus on durability, lower maintenance and things like that. It’s not just about style decisions.”
Hardie board, metal and stucco are more durable in high winds than vinyl siding, for example, which can crack if flying debris hits it.
“Cement board or metal or something like that can take a pretty hard hit from a piece of flying debris, so that certainly helps with our storm resiliency here,” he says.
When it comes to waterproofing, it is not just the siding protecting homes.
“What’s underneath your siding is just as important as what you side it with and maybe even more important,” says Bernhardt.
He explains that it’s a sequence of steps that effectively waterproof a building by using air gaps and particular materials that prevent wind-driven rain from getting through the siding and water barrier, then soaking into the wood.
“The requirements on that have been really strong in B.C. for quite a while,” he adds.
Made for Stormy Weather
Roofing materials are another decision point for maintaining durability, and there are lots of options.
“The main governing factor, here, is wind more than anything else,” says Bernhardt.
“Regular shingles will deal with water, and regular shingles can actually deal with wind, too. A metal roof is probably going to be more durable than a shingled roof, but that’s a style choice more than anything these days.”
How well a home is sealed is important in rain and storm resiliency. In fact, recent building code changes mean new builds must be tested for drafts.
“Anything that’s newly built is going to be better than what we were doing even five years ago, and it makes a big difference for how long it can keep heat in,” he says.
Sealing drafts also prevents wet air from getting inside — wet air that can lead to mould and other problems common for coastal climates.
Then there are the windows. Not only do good windows help with energy efficiency, ventilation and temperature control, they also provide noise proofing. Luckily, high-quality windows are widely available, thanks to B.C. manufacturers. A decade ago, this wasn’t the case — at least not for locally made windows.
“Now, there are at least 15 — probably more — manufacturers here in B.C. that are manufacturing really good, really robust, high-performance windows,” says Bernhardt.
While the building codes mean new homes are more storm-resistant than ever, improvements are taking place with renovations, too. However, renovations can be more complicated because they may involve a mix of building techniques and strategies. For example, in a new build, up-to-code insulation can be easily installed. But for a renovation, if the walls and siding are in good condition, removing it all to replace insulation is not only costly but also a waste burden.
Instead, practical renovations may be more focused on low-hanging fruit — installing better attic insulation and replacing an oil or gas heating system with a heat pump.
Building in a New Climate
Resiliency in the face of a changing climate is a hot topic in home design.
Moreover, West Coast folks sincerely want their homes to be gentler on the environment and able to withstand the increasing intensity of weather events. One of the ways more homeowners are doing that is by installing heat pumps.
John Ho, community energy specialist at the City of Victoria, knows all about the benefits of electric air-source heat pumps. Installing a heat pump is one of the most impactful climate actions you can take.
“Not just to get your reliance off of fossil fuels, but also to make your home more resilient to expected climate impacts that we’re already seeing and that we’re anticipating getting worse, such as heat waves that are going to increase in frequency and severity,” he says.
Heat pumps work by moving air around versus creating heat and also help to keep homes cool.
“It’s not just cooling — it’s efficient cooling,” says Ho. “It’s that year-round comfort piece.”
In addition to temperature control, heat pumps can help with humidity, dampness and air filtration, which is particularly helpful for allergens and wildfire smoke.
“It’s really a win-win kind of system,” he says.
Victoria and the southern coastal areas have the perfect climate for heat pumps — temperate with occasional cold snaps and heat waves — giving West Coast homeowners an advantage over homeowners in other parts of the country who are more hesitant to let go of their fossil-fuel heating.
The transition to heat pumps is going very well on Vancouver Island and in the Vancouver area, says Bernhardt.
“We’re seeing the vast majority of homes now in this area choosing to have their main heating system be a heat pump system, and a lot of that’s just because they want the cooling,” he says.
Earthquakes, big storms and climate change — the strategies needed to address these challenges give West Coast homes their own brand of uniqueness, and mean coastal builders have a focused eye on these issues.
“The nice thing is, we’ve had these trades available to us for a long time,” Bernhardt says. “They’re very good, they’re very experienced, they know how to do it in retrofit, and they know how to do it in new builds.”
Two West Coast Myths
There’s more to these design choices than you might think.
1 Brick
While some of Victoria’s oldest buildings have brick facades, it isn’t as common with newer buildings. Once again, it’s more about cost and not about earthquakes — at least not anymore, thanks to modern building techniques, flexible mortars and hundreds of little ties that hold brick to a building.
“Certainly, some of it might crack and become damaged in a big earthquake, but the whole thing is designed to move and flex with the building,” says Bernhardt. “And, it’s all tied to the building, so you won’t have heaping slabs of brick falling off, at least not with a new building.”
2 Basements
Ever wondered why so many West Coast homes don’t have basements? Turns out, it is largely related to cost. It is more expensive to blast through rock than it is to dig into, for example, prairie clay. However, that is changing.
“We certainly see a lot of basements in newer homes, and that’s simply because the cost of land is so high now, it becomes worth it to have a basement suite or something like that, whereas in older homes that didn’t make sense,” says Bernhardt.
Reducing Fire Risk
Living among big, beautiful trees is one of the reasons people from across Canada envy those who live on the West Coast. But hotter, drier summers are making wildfires an increasing risk.
The B.C. government’s FireSmart program is a hub for information, including assessment guidelines and a helpful home manual.
“It’s a set of instructions, like the top 10 things a homeowner can do to reduce the risk of fire,” says Bernhardt. “Simple things, like raking the leaves away from the house, trimming bushes, removing debris — all very easy, just a bit of labour, zero-cost things people can do. But they have a massive impact on whether or not your house burns down in a forest fire.”
The Climate-Resilient Home
Kristie Signer, the City of Victoria’s climate adaptation specialist, offers a series of tips to help make homes more resilient to the effects of living on the coast in a changing climate.
Permeable materials like paving stones allow water to easily pass through.
- Plant native, drought-resistant trees and other vegetation on the south and west side of homes to provide shade and potentially buffer flood impacts from extreme precipitation events.
- If you have a basement, install a sump pump.
- Install a back-flow prevention valve on your sewer pipe to help protect your home from sewage backups associated with extreme precipitation events and atmospheric rivers.
- Install eavestroughs and downspouts if your home does not have them and ensure downspout extensions direct water at least 1.5 metres away from your house, and not toward your neighbour’s property.
- Evaluate how full any rain collection systems are before expected precipitation events.
- Whether building new or redoing your driveway or sidewalks, consider choosing permeable materials, such as permeable concrete, asphalt and paving stones, that allow water to readily move through and percolate into the soil.
- Clear your roof, eavestroughs, downspouts and drainage gutters of debris by removing needles and leaves.
- Review your insurance policy yearly when it renews; products or your eligibility for coverage may have changed and it can be very costly to recover following hazard events.
- Consider using lighter colours for your roof to absorb less heat.
- Add insulation to your attic space or upper floors to help stabilize the temperature in the cold and warm months.
