Roofing in Cordova Bay: Costs, Common Problems and Local Factors

Cordova Bay runs along the east edge of Saanich where the land drops to Haro Strait, and its houses were built from the 1950s to the 1990s on two kinds of lot: beach level along Cordova Bay Road and bluff-top above it. Many have been renovated more than once, which means added skylights, dormers and decks on roofs that were simple to begin with. Unlike Broadmead's forest or Gordon Head's flat-roofed ranchers, the Cordova Bay roof problem is the strait. Northeasterly outflow winds in winter arrive with salt spray, and the water-facing slope of a house takes both while the landward slope, often under arbutus and fir, stays shaded and damp.

That split is why metal is so common here as a second roof: it handles wind, shrugs off salt with the right coating, and holds no moss on the shaded side. The other Cordova Bay factor is access. A bluff-top house may have a driveway on the road side and nothing at all on the water side, so debris from the seaward slope has to come back over the ridge. A quote should say how.

The Saanich page is about moss under trees, and that still applies to the landward slopes here. What Cordova Bay adds is the coast. It is the only Saanich neighbourhood with high salt exposure and the only one where wind uplift is a routine winter repair. In practice a Cordova Bay quote reads like a North Saanich or Sidney quote on the seaward side (coatings, fasteners, wind ratings) and like a Broadmead quote on the shaded side (moss, valleys, needles). A contractor who prices both halves the same way has not looked at the house.

For asphalt, that means a high-wind-rated laminate, six nails per shingle, adhered starter strips at the rakes as well as the eaves, and a ridge cap product rather than cut shingles. For metal, a coastal-grade coating, concealed fasteners where the profile allows, stainless or coated exposed fasteners where it does not, and stainless edge metal. Lifted tabs on a seaward hip after a storm appear consistent with under-nailing or shingles that never sealed, and that slope is the first area a professional may inspect.

• Wind-rated laminate or coastal-grade metal on the water side
• Six nails and sealed rakes
• Stainless or coated fasteners and edge metal
• New flashings, not resealed, at every skylight and dormer

Many Cordova Bay homes were renovated in the 1990s and 2000s for the view: skylights, a dormer, a roof deck, a new wing. Each added feature is a flashing and a potential leak, and skylights in particular need a decision during a re-roof: re-flash at $300 to $900 or replace at $1,500 to $3,000 in our model. Ask for each one listed. A deck-to-roof tie-in on a bluff house is another item that should be named rather than folded into 'flashings as required'.

Cordova Bay is under District of Saanich rules. The Permit Q&A does not list roofing as exempt or required, so phone Inspection Services at 250-475-5457 or email inspections@saanich.ca before a change to metal, any structural work or anything touching a roof deck. On a bluff lot, also ask the contractor how the seaward slope will be stripped and where debris goes; that is the difference between the easy access rate and the 12 percent factor.