Steep driveways, stone stairs, retaining walls, decks and siding cleaned by an insured crew, from Maillardville up to Burke Mountain, with the water stage checked before we book you in.
Coquitlam has no Environment and Climate Change Canada station with published climate normals of its own. The nearest one that does is Simon Fraser University on Burnaby Mountain, immediately to the west, and under the 1981–2010 Canadian Climate Normals that station, at 365.8 m elevation, records 2,009.9 mm of precipitation a year over 183.1 days with measurable precipitation, against 1,189.0 mm at Vancouver International Airport down on the delta. Coquitlam runs the same profile: lowland along the Fraser at Maillardville, then a long climb through Austin Heights and Coquitlam Centre to the forested slopes of Westwood Plateau and Burke Mountain. The higher and the more treed a property is, the more water and shade its hard surfaces live with.
The water you are cleaning with comes from directly above your head. Metro Vancouver draws the region’s drinking water from three protected mountain watersheds, and the Coquitlam watershed supplies a third of it, a share that can rise to roughly half during summer peak demand. It has been a municipal drinking water source since the late 1890s. That is worth knowing here, because the conservation stages that decide when we can wash are set against the level in that reservoir.
Job types follow the slope. On Burke Mountain and Westwood Plateau it is steep exposed-aggregate driveways, stone stairs and big cedar or composite decks backing onto greenbelt, with conifer litter feeding the moss all winter. Around Como Lake, Ranch Park, Chineside and Harbour Chines it is older concrete under mature trees. In Maillardville and Burquitlam we see a lot of painted siding and shaded side walkways, and around Coquitlam Centre a lot of strata walkways, entries and parkade ramps.
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Coquitlam is supplied by the Greater Vancouver Water District, and outdoor water use here is governed by Metro Vancouver’s Drinking Water Conservation Plan. Stage 1 comes into effect automatically every year from 1 May to 15 October. From Stage 2 onward the plan restricts “washing impermeable surfaces”: driveways, walkways, decks, siding.
The detail worth knowing is the exemption. At Stage 2, washing impermeable surfaces is prohibited “except if for a health or safety reason, preparing a surface for painting or similar treatment, or aesthetic cleaning by a commercial cleaning operation.” A homeowner running their own pressure washer purely for appearance is offside at Stage 2; a commercial cleaning operation is not. At Stage 3 that aesthetic exemption disappears and only health-and-safety cleaning or surface preparation by a commercial operation is permitted. At Stage 4 it is prohibited except when ordered by a regulatory authority for a health or safety reason. The plan also notes its restrictions apply only to Greater Vancouver Water District drinking water, not to rain water, grey water or recycled water.
Metro Vancouver publishes the stage currently in force on its water restrictions page. As of August 2026, Stage 2 has applied region-wide since 16 July 2026. We check the stage before every Coquitlam booking and tell you plainly which category your job falls into, rather than quietly washing something we should not.
Get a free estimateDifferent surfaces need genuinely different pressure. Mixing them up is how driveways get striped and roofs get ruined.
We look at surface type, slope, drainage, water access and anything fragile nearby before a single trigger is pulled, then confirm the current water stage with you.
Roofs, painted siding and cedar get low pressure and a cleaning solution instead of force. The Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association is blunt about this: never use a pressure washer on an asphalt shingle roof, because it causes granule loss and likely premature failure of the roof system.
Concrete, aggregate, pavers and stone get a rotating surface cleaner rather than a hand wand, so you get an even finish with no zebra striping and no etched lines.
We flush runoff away from planting beds and away from the greenbelt or the lot below, rinse the surrounding area, put furniture back and walk the job with you before we leave.
We are based at 345 Kelvin Grove Way in Lions Bay and run Coquitlam on the same schedule as the North Shore, river flats to plateau.
Usually yes. Coquitlam is supplied by the Greater Vancouver Water District, so Metro Vancouver’s Drinking Water Conservation Plan applies. At Stage 2 washing impermeable surfaces is prohibited “except if for a health or safety reason, preparing a surface for painting or similar treatment, or aesthetic cleaning by a commercial cleaning operation”, and we are a commercial cleaning operation. At Stage 3 the aesthetic exemption is removed. We confirm the stage in effect on your booking date and tell you exactly where your job sits.
Yes. Long sloped driveways are routine for us. The planning matters more than the equipment: we work down the slope in sections and manage runoff so it does not sheet into planting beds, onto the greenbelt or into the property below.
Not the way we do it. Those surfaces get a low-pressure soft wash, not high pressure. The Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association warns that a pressure washer on asphalt shingles causes granule loss and likely premature failure of the roof system, so we do not use one there. Cedar and painted surfaces get the same gentle treatment.
More often than an open lot, and that is the honest answer. Constant conifer litter plus shade plus the rainfall this side of the region gets means moss re-establishes quickly on shaded aggregate and cedar. We would rather look at the property and tell you what it actually needs than sell you a fixed schedule.
Exterior cleaning in the Coquitlam market is typically quoted by the work in front of it: square footage of hard surface, linear footage of siding, number of storeys, rather than by the hour. Steep driveways, tight truck access and long hose runs generally push a quote up. We will not put a number on your job from a web page. Call 236-984-0598 or send the address and we will give you a real, no-obligation figure.
RipTide Exterior Cleaning is fully insured and our WorkSafeBC coverage is in good standing, and we hold an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. Your property and our crew are covered on every job.
Tell us the address and what you would like cleaned. We will confirm the current water stage, then send back a clear, no-obligation quote.
