Shutter BoysCalifornia shutters in Vancouver
Homes in Vancouver
Apartments outnumber houses in Vancouver: 80% of its 305,335 occupied homes are in buildings of two or more units, 31% of all homes in buildings of five or more storeys. Detached houses make up 15% and semi-detached and row houses 5%.
Much of Vancouver is new: 30% of homes were built 2001 or later, and only 43% in 1980 or earlier. 45% of homes are lived in by their owners.
Of the 33 British Columbia cities we have census figures for, Vancouver has the highest share of apartments. In West Vancouver, 8 km away, 39% of homes are apartments, fewer than here. Nationally, Vancouver's homes are older than those in 52% of the 167 Canadian cities we have census figures for.
Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population. Period of construction and tenure come from the 25% sample; counts are randomly rounded.
Condo towers
31% of homes are in buildings of five storeys or more, where floor-to-ceiling window walls are common. Tier-on-tier panels let you open the top for light and keep the bottom closed for privacy, and a mounting frame gives the panels a square edge on glass that runs wall to wall. Many buildings ask you to book the elevator for deliveries and keep to set work hours, so check with management before install day.
Plaster walls and deep casings
20% of homes date from 1960 or earlier, when walls were plaster on lath and windows sat in deep wood casings. Plaster cracks if you drive screws carelessly: drill a pilot hole, use fixings made for plaster, and fix into the casing or the framing behind it. A deep casing is good news for an inside mount; measure its depth before you choose a louver size.
A whole house in Vancouver
The most common home in Vancouver has one bedroom: 36% of homes. Small homes are a big part of the mix: 41% have one bedroom or none. Homes average 4.5 rooms.
Apartments are the most common kind of home here. No Canadian survey counts windows by type of home; in the US, the middle apartment in a building of five or more units has 3 to 5 (EIA, 2020). Shuttering that many windows at a typical bedroom-window size comes to roughly $1,300 to $2,900 CAD. For scale, that's about 0.1% of the median home value here, $1,450,000 CAD (owners’ estimates, 2021).
Homes here are smaller than in 95% of the 167 Canadian cities we have figures for: many orders are a few rooms, not a whole house.
Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population (bedrooms, rooms and value from the 25% sample; counts randomly rounded); U.S. Energy Information Administration, Residential Energy Consumption Survey 2020, Table HC2.1 (apartment windows). EIA RECS 2020, Table HC2.1
A typical home3–5 windows
All of them shuttered$1,300 to $2,900 CAD
Every window priced as a 36 × 48 in opening in our basic build (flat moulding, paint stage 1, 3½ in louvers), before tax and shipping. Your windows will differ; the designer prices each one.
Price your own windowsWorking from home
34% of workers here worked from home on census day in May 2021, during the pandemic, more than in 90% of the 167 Canadian cities we have figures for. Glare on a screen comes from direct sun and bright sky behind or beside it. Louvers tilted up throw daylight at the ceiling instead, so the room stays bright and the screen stays readable; wider louvers give the clearest view when you open them.
Older homes, high values
Owners here value their homes higher than in any other of the 167 Canadian cities we have figures for, and 43% of homes were built in 1980 or earlier. If an older house still has good wood shutters, repair them before you replace them; if not, poplar painted to match the trim suits original casings.
A few windows and a door
41% of homes here have one bedroom or none, so many orders are a bedroom window, a living room window and a balcony door. Sliding doors take bypass or bifold panels; check your building's rules on what shows from outside first.
Ages, place of work and value: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population. Rankings compare the Canadian cities we have figures for.
Vancouver weather and your shutters
At Vancouver (Harbour) (4 km away), July averages a high of 23 °C and December a low of 3.2 °C. No month averages a high above 29 °C or a low below freezing.
About 1 days a year top 30 °C, 17 days drop to 0 °C or below and 1,538 mm of precipitation falls, most of it around November and least in July.
Daylight runs from 16 h 15 min on the longest day to 8 h 11 min on the shortest, and the midday sun stands 64° above the horizon in June and 17° in December.
Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020, Vancouver (Harbour). Daylight and sun height: calculated from the city’s latitude.
Monthly figures
| Month | Average high | Average low | Precipitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 7.4 °C | 3.3 °C | 236.6 mm |
| Feb | 8.4 °C | 3.3 °C | 117 mm |
| Mar | 10.5 °C | 4.6 °C | 162.5 mm |
| Apr | 13.9 °C | 6.9 °C | 117.7 mm |
| May | 17.8 °C | 10.2 °C | 72.6 mm |
| Jun | 20.2 °C | 12.8 °C | 65.7 mm |
| Jul | 23 °C | 14.9 °C | 43.5 mm |
| Aug | 23 °C | 14.8 °C | 48.6 mm |
| Sep | 19.4 °C | 12.1 °C | 71.4 mm |
| Oct | 13.9 °C | 8.6 °C | 156.8 mm |
| Nov | 9.7 °C | 5.3 °C | 245.2 mm |
| Dec | 7.1 °C | 3.2 °C | 199.9 mm |
Wet months
1,538 mm of precipitation a year keeps the air damp for long stretches. Steam and condensation are hard on any joint, so in kitchens, bathrooms and laundry rooms keep the air moving and wipe water off the sill before it sits.
A mild year
Few days here are very hot or very cold, so louvers spend most of the year on everyday work: angling daylight off the TV, giving privacy from the street, and opening wide on a fine morning. That makes louver size more a matter of view than of shade; bigger louvers leave more open glass.
Fitting them in Vancouver
Shutter Boys shutters are made for you to fit yourself: an inside or outside mount takes a drill, a level and our step-by-step guide. If you'd rather hire someone, a finish carpenter or blinds installer can fit them; ask on your quote and we'll tell you if we know one near you. You arrange and pay the installer directly.
Near Vancouver
- West Vancouver 8 km
- Burnaby 10 km
- Richmond 11 km
- New Westminster 16 km
- Delta 20 km
- Port Moody 21 km
More about shutters in Vancouver
Each page takes one question further (fitting your windows, room by room, sizes and colours, louvers, or how shutters compare with other choices), using Vancouver’s own figures.
For designers, contractors and stores in Vancouver
Interior designers, contractors, window covering stores, realtors and property managers in Vancouver can sell or refer Shutter Boys shutters: dealers buy at trade pricing with a protected area; referral partners earn a fee on each client they send. No fee to join.
Price your windows
Choose Canada in the designer, enter millimetres or inches, and we reply with your quote in Canadian dollars.