Why Burnaby lights fail
Rain does most of the damage. Burnaby gets more of it as you climb, so lights on Capitol Hill and Burnaby Mountain stay wet longer than lights near the Fraser on the South Slope. Tall firs and cedars around Deer Lake and the ravine parks keep many roofs shaded and mossy, and moss holds water against plugs and joins.
That is where most faults start. A plug lying in a puddle, an unsealed join between two strands or a corroded connector will trip the outdoor outlet when it rains. The plug is doing its job. Leave it off, don't keep resetting it, and have someone trace the run.
Wind and falling branches cause the other common call. A strand pulled off the gutter often has a broken bulb socket or a cracked wire behind it.
What we fix and what we replace
Most calls fall into a few groups.
- Half a strand out with no obvious bad spot
- An outdoor plug that trips in the rain
- A timer that no longer switches the lights on
- One section of the roofline gone dark
- Lights pulled down by wind or a branch
- Corroded plugs where strands join
We trace the fault section by section. On older strands the cause is often a bulb or a fuse, and that is a quick fix. Sealed LED strands are different. If the dead section can't be repaired, a new strand is the better buy. We tell you which one it is before we do the work.
When we re-hang anything, we use clips only. No nails or staples go into your fascia or shingles. Tell us who hung the lights if you know, and send a photo of the part that is out.
Steep lots, split-levels and strata rules
Burnaby roofs are not all the same height. On steep lots in Capitol Hill and Burnaby Heights, the front gutter can sit well above the driveway. Split-levels and post-war houses often have several roof heights to tie together, so a dead section may be a join between levels rather than a bad bulb.
We move roof work when the roof is slick or the wind is up. That matters on mossy, shaded roofs, which stay slippery long after the rain stops. Higher lots near Burnaby Mountain are best done early in the fall, before the wetter weather and the odd snowfall arrive.
If you live in a townhouse complex around Brentwood or Metrotown, check what your strata allows on the exterior before we start. We also work with stratas, low-rise condos and storefronts, so a repair for a whole building is fine.
What the price depends on
Repair prices vary a lot from house to house, so we explain what yours depends on before we start.
- How long it takes to find the fault. A single bad plug is quick. A fault somewhere across a whole house can take longer.
- How high the roof is and how many levels it has.
- Whether the strand can be fixed or needs replacing, and who supplies the replacement.
- How much has come loose and needs re-hanging.
Many repairs take under an hour. You hire us for this one job. There is no program or yearly plan to join, and if you want the lights taken down in January, removal can be booked on its own.
