House Painters in Armour Heights, North York
Armour Heights runs from Wilson Avenue north to the west branch of the Don River, which wraps around its north and east sides. Bathurst Street is the west edge. Highway 401 cuts straight through the middle, and Avenue Road gives out at Bombay Avenue, just north of the interchange. Building the 401 in the 1950s wiped out some of its streets.
The land is named for John Armour, a farmer who bought on the west side of Yonge in 1838. Colonel Frederick Burton Robins bought it in 1910 and finished his estate house, Strathrobyn, in 1914. Suburban building started in the 1940s, and by the early 1970s the farmland was gone. So the oldest houses you'll paint here are mostly post-war, with a few from the 1920s. Armour Boulevard, Tresillian Road, Barwick Drive and Bideford Avenue are all in here.
The City of Toronto doesn't treat Armour Heights as its own neighbourhood. West of Avenue Road it's counted inside Lansing-Westgate. The strip east of Avenue Road, where the Canadian Forces College and Armour Heights Public School sit, falls in Bedford Park-Nortown. The name lives on in Armour Heights Public School and in Armour Heights College, Strathrobyn's name on the federal heritage register, and we use it for the whole area.
What we paint here is usually one of three things. An original house, an original with an addition, or a new house that replaced one. Each has its own prep list.
Interior and Exterior Painting in Armour Heights
Outside, most of the paint goes on wood. Window trim, fascia, soffits, front doors and garage doors take the weather and fail first. We wash it, scrape and sand the loose paint, fill what's soft, prime the bare spots and finish with an exterior coating.
Inside and out can be one project on one timeline. See interior painting and exterior painting for the full scope.
Additions, Rebuilds and the Seams Between Them
Take 23 Barwick Drive. The Globe and Mail covered its sale in April 2021. It's an early-1950s house on a 53 by 140 foot lot, expanded over 20 years into 2,110 square feet, with a fourth bedroom over the garage. The listing agent said houses like it would originally have had only three bedrooms. In 2022 an application for 25 Barwick went to the City's Committee of Adjustment for a new garage with living space on a second floor above it.
That's the add-on pattern, and it leaves seams. New drywall in the addition meets original walls that have had decades to settle. Rolled over as is, that joint shows through the finish. We skim it flat, tape it if it's still moving, prime the patch and carry the finish across both walls. It's the one spot where a cheap job on these houses gives itself away, so we spend the time there. See plaster repair and skim coating.
Bideford Avenue shows the other path. In April 2024 blogTO covered 80 Bideford, a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house on a 44 by 144 foot lot. Earlier listings showed original hardwood floors and a fireplace. It went up for sale as is, with approved plans and permits for a 4,400 square foot house, and the story said it looked comically small beside its neighbours. The City's files back that up. The Committee of Adjustment heard new-house applications on Bideford at number 91 in 2016, where the existing house was to be demolished, then 100 in 2018, 78 and 87 in 2021, and 80 in 2022. On Barwick, number 15 came through in 2017 for a new two-storey with the old house coming down.
A new house is a different job. Fresh drywall and long trim runs. Where big windows throw side light down a wall, that light finds every roller mark, so those rooms get two full coats and a wet edge. The originals need the opposite. Patching, sanding and spot priming come before any colour.
Here's our honest advice if your house is likely to come down. Don't pay for a full repaint. Paint the rooms a buyer walks into first and stop there. If you're staying, paint it properly, starting with the prep.
Strathrobyn and the Tudor-Style Fronts
Strathrobyn still stands at 215 Yonge Boulevard, at the corner of Wilson Avenue, as the officers' mess of the Canadian Forces College. It was finished in 1914 by the architects George and Moorhouse, in Tudor Revival style. Cross gables, mock half-timbering, Tudor arches, leaded casement windows, walls of stone, stucco and clay tile, and brick across the main facade. It's been a federal heritage building since 1991. A local realtor guide credits it with inspiring the Tudor-style houses you'll see around Armour Heights. One early plan for the land went mostly unbuilt. Only its bridle path was realized, and that's Yonge Boulevard today.
For a painter, the Tudor look means a lot of exposed wood on a masonry wall. The dark boards, the gable trim and the window frames get the paint, and the stone, stucco and brick around them don't, unless you ask. Cutting a clean line along a timber set into stucco is slow work, so we brush it. Soft boards get repaired before they're painted.
Older Homes, Condo Suites and Rentals
The City's 2021 census count for Lansing-Westgate, the area that takes in most of Armour Heights, shows two housing types side by side. Of 6,555 occupied homes, 2,380 are single-detached houses and 3,285 are apartments in buildings of five storeys or more. That's more homes in those buildings than in detached houses.
If your home is in one of those buildings, the building's rules set the job. We book the service elevator with the property manager, file our certificate of insurance before we pick up a key, pad the cab and protect the corridor. We work inside the building's hours. Rental turnovers get booked around your move-out date.
The Painting Services We Offer
These are the jobs we book here, often on the same visit.
Interior painting
Walls, ceilings, trim, doors and closets in low-odour paint. Addition seams get skimmed and primed before colour goes on.
Exterior painting
Wood trim, fascia, soffits, front doors and garage doors on brick and stone houses. Washed, scraped, sanded and primed before the finish.
Trim, crown molding and doors
Decades of coats blur the profile. We sand it back so the edges read sharp. See trim and crown molding painting.
Plaster and drywall repair
Cracks over door frames, nail pops, and the joint where an addition meets the original house. Filled, skimmed flat and primed so nothing shows through.
Cabinet painting
Doors off, degreased, sanded, primed and sprayed, so there are no brush marks. See cabinet painting.
Wood rot repair
Soft sills, fascia boards and trim on Tudor-style fronts get repaired with light carpentry before any paint goes on.
Stucco and brick
Stucco gets cleaned and coated with a product that flexes with it. Brick painting and limewash too, if you want the masonry changed.
Condo and rental suites
Single units and turnovers, booked around the building's elevator, hours and insurance rules.
Great customer service, job done professionally, very happy with the result, definitely recommend.
Why choose us
Why Armour Heights Homeowners Choose Co Painting
We price the house you actually have
An early-1950s original, a house with a room over the garage, and a new build on the same street are three different quotes. We walk the house first and prep for what's there.
Older homes get the safe prep
House building here started in the 1940s and the farmland was built out by the early 1970s. So every original house predates 1980. On those we treat old coats as lead, prep wet and keep the dust contained.
The price is in writing
We see the job in person and leave a detailed written estimate before we start.
Insured and backed
Fully insured with $2 million in liability insurance, rated 5.0 across 78 Google reviews, with a full workmanship warranty and up to 12 years on cabinets.
Written Estimates in Armour Heights
Call or use the form and we come out, walk the job and put the price in writing. Our base is at 25 St Dennis Drive, 8.4 km from Armour Heights in a straight line and about 15.8 km by road. We take St Dennis to Wynford Drive, get on the Don Valley Parkway north, then go west on the 401 to the Avenue Road exit. From there it's Avenue Road to Bombay Avenue, then Armour Boulevard into the streets west of Avenue Road. With no traffic it's about 17 minutes. Earl Bales Park is just to the north.
Co Painting, 25 St Dennis Drive, North York, ON M3C 1E6. Call (416) 319-8444.
FAQ
Armour Heights Painting Questions, Answered
Where does Armour Heights start and stop?
Wilson Avenue on the south, Bathurst Street on the west, and the west branch of the Don River around the north and east. Highway 401 runs through the middle. The City doesn't map it as its own neighbourhood. Most of it is counted in Lansing-Westgate, and the strip east of Avenue Road in Bedford Park-Nortown.
How far are you, and how do you get here?
Our base is at 25 St Dennis Drive, 8.4 km away in a straight line. By road it's about 15.8 km. We take Wynford Drive to the Don Valley Parkway, go north to the 401 and west to the Avenue Road exit, then follow Avenue Road to Bombay Avenue. Allow about 17 minutes with no traffic.
Is it worth painting a house that may get rebuilt?
Only what you'll live with or what a buyer sees. Five houses on Bideford Avenue have gone to the Committee of Adjustment with new-house files since 2016, and the one at 80 went on the market with permits for a new one. If yours is headed that way, skip the full exterior. Fresh walls in the main rooms are enough.
My 1950s house has an addition. Will the new walls match the old?
They will once the seam is dealt with. The addition is newer drywall. The original walls have had decades to settle. We skim the joint flat, prime it, and run the finish coat across both walls so the line doesn't show.
Can you paint the trim on a Tudor-style front?
Yes. Half-timbering, fascia, soffits, doors and window trim on brick, stone or stucco houses. We scrape and sand loose paint, fill soft spots, prime bare wood and finish with an exterior coating. If a board is too far gone, wood rot repair and light carpentry are on our service list.
Do you treat older paint as lead?
Yes, in any house built before 1980. Canada didn't regulate lead in paint until 1976. We prep those layers wet, keep the dust contained and never dry-sand them.
Do you paint condo suites in the area?
Yes. We book the service elevator with the property manager, file our certificate of insurance first, protect the corridor and work inside the building's hours.
Do you paint kitchen cabinets?
Yes. Doors come off, then we degrease, sand, prime and spray. We paint cabinets rather than stain them, and cabinet work carries a warranty of up to 12 years.
How do I get a price?
Call (416) 319-8444 or use the form. We come out, walk the house with you and leave a written estimate before any work starts.
See the Other Areas We Serve
Co Painting serves Armour Heights and the neighbourhoods around it. Bedford Park sits to the south, past Wilson. York Mills borders it too, and Clanton Park has its own page too. The full list is on our areas we serve page.
Inside Armour Heights we cover both sides of the 401, from Bathurst Street east to the West Don.