Painters in York (Toronto)
Absolut Painting paints homes in York: interiors, exteriors, stairwells, basement suites and cabinets. The stretch from the Junction through Weston and Mount Dennis is brick semis and detached houses from the first half of the last century, with narrow rooms, plaster walls, stairs that turn at a landing and basements that have been finished as second suites. The painting work follows that pattern: older plaster upstairs, newer drywall below, and a lot of stairwell. We walk the whole house, including the basement, and write a quote that lists every prep step.
York (Toronto), on the ground.
Upstairs the walls are plaster over lath, so nothing is flat and the crew expects cracks, old patches and corners that have been rounded by a hundred years of paint. Those are filled, sanded and primed before colour. Stair halls in these houses are tall and narrow, with a wall that runs two storeys above the flight, which takes a plank and ladder setup and careful masking of the railing. Basement suites are drywall and usually need a repaint between tenants: nail holes, scuffs and the odd water stain blocked with a shellac primer, then two coats in a washable finish.
The crew moves and covers furniture, protects floors and stair treads, fills, caulks, sands and spot-primes, then applies two full coats with the ceiling and trim lines cut by hand. Doors and trim are enamelled, sprayed where the area can be sealed. Clean-up happens every day so the house stays liveable, and we walk the finished rooms with you before leaving. A touch-up visit follows, and the work carries a [2-year] written workmanship warranty. Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams paint. John Kotlar quotes the job and leads the crew on site.
Older houses in York have moved since they were built, so cracked plaster is filled and primed before colour rather than painted over and hoped for.
York runs from Junction semis to Weston and Mount Dennis detached houses, mostly early last century, with plaster walls, tall narrow stair halls and finished basement suites.
Parking is on the street and halls are tight, so the crew carries in ladders and a plank for the stairwell and works around tenants or a family in the house.
Full interior repaints, stairwells, basement suite turnovers, trim and doors, and porch and exterior trim are the usual York jobs.
Inside, outside and the cabinets.
Also in York: Ceiling painting · Wallpaper removal and painting
Questions from York
Do you repaint basement apartments between tenants?
Yes, and it is a frequent job in York. A turnover repaint is nail holes filled, scuffs sanded, any stains sealed with a shellac primer and two coats of a scrubbable eggshell on the walls, with doors and trim touched up or recoated. On an empty unit it moves quickly, and we can schedule it between a move-out and a move-in [once John confirms current booking windows].
Our stair hall is narrow and two storeys tall. Can it be painted without scaffolding the whole thing?
Yes. The crew sets a plank between a ladder on the landing and an adjustable ladder on the stair, secured and levelled, and works the tall wall in sections. The railing and treads are masked and padded first. It is the most awkward wall in a semi of this age, so it is listed on the quote as its own item rather than folded into a room count.
The front porch on our Junction house has peeling paint on the wood columns and floor. Can you fix that?
Yes. Porch wood is scraped to a sound edge, sanded, primed with an exterior primer and painted with a porch and floor enamel built for foot traffic, with two coats on the deck boards. Soft or rotten wood gets pointed out before painting, because paint will not hold on a board that is failing. Porch work is booked for the warmer months.
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