Painters in Don Valley Village, North York

House Painters in Don Valley Village, North York

Don Valley Village is the North York pocket north of the 401, boxed in by Sheppard Avenue East, Leslie Street, Finch Avenue East, and Highway 404. Don Mills Road runs straight up the middle. The 2016 census counted 27,051 people here across 10,196 homes.

The build date is what matters to a painter. 69% of the homes here went up between 1961 and 1980. Only 10% predate 1960, against 33% across Toronto. This is not a plaster and lath neighbourhood. It is a drywall neighbourhood, and drywall that age fails in its own predictable ways.

The other half of the story is height. 57% of homes here sit in buildings of five storeys or more, above the 44% city average, and 2,845 units are condos. Renters hold 4,870 households against 5,095 owners. That means turnover painting and building rules.

Both sides share the same streets. Van Horne Avenue, Esterbrooke Avenue and Linus Road all run inside the neighbourhood, and the rental high-rises sit mostly on the edges.

What a 1960s and 70s Don Valley Village House Takes

The houses here are split-levels, semis, and detached homes in Georgian, Tudor, and contemporary styles, on land that was a string of farming hamlets in the early 1800s. In 1963 Consolidated Building Corporation was advertising three-bedroom houses in this area at $16,550. Those houses are past sixty now, with decades of repaints on them.

One building is far older than the subdivision. The Zion Schoolhouse, a small red brick school from about 1869, still stands at 1091 Finch Avenue East. It is the exception. Most of the homes here went up in the 1960s and 1970s.

Drywall that age gives out in predictable spots. Nail pops down the studs. Taped seams cracking along the ceiling line. Corner bead showing at the archways. Painting over that only hides it. We cut the pops out and re-tape what has let go.

If a ceiling has sprayed texture, we test a patch first, because a wet roller on loose texture pulls it off the board. Painted trim and doors get a hard enamel.

Then there is lead. Health Canada says a home built before 1960 was likely painted with lead-based paint, and it only calls interior paint low concern in homes built after 1980. Only 10% of this neighbourhood predates 1960, but 69% went up between 1961 and 1980, in between those lines. It still matters under old layers, and Health Canada warns that sanding is what puts that dust in your air.

The Towers, the Condos, and the Rules That Come With Them

Apartments of five storeys or more are the biggest housing type here at 57%, and the rental buildings ring the edges. In a tower, the job starts on a booking sheet, not a paint deck.

Book the service elevator. Hang the pads. Park at the loading dock, not the ramp. Buildings of three or more storeys with ten or more units fall under the City's RentSafeTO apartment standards, and if your building wants a certificate of insurance on file first, we send ours ahead.

Then it is smell and time. Somebody shares every wall with you, so we use low-odour paint and protect the run to the elevator. 4,870 households here rent, so if your deadline is a lease date, give us that date at the walkthrough.

Interior and Exterior Painting in Don Valley Village

Inside, split-levels are the ones that make you think. The half-flights carry one wall colour across three levels instead of stopping at a door, so we paint them as one surface.

Outside you get painted wood trim, fascia, soffits, garage doors, railings, and aluminum. Toronto's freeze and thaw cycle is what kills a coat. Water gets behind a failing edge, freezes, and lifts the film off, so we wash, scrape to a sound edge, spot prime, and caulk first.

See interior painting and exterior painting.

Residential and Commercial Painting

We take commercial work too: small offices, retail units and the plazas on Don Mills Road, Peanut Plaza included.

North York General Hospital opened in 1968 at Leslie Street and Sheppard Avenue, right at the southwest corner, and Seneca Polytechnic's Newnham Campus is just across Finch at 1750 Finch Avenue East.

The Painting Services We Offer

The jobs we handle on a North York home, most of them on the same visit.

• Interior painting

  Walls, ceilings, trim, doors, and closets, with the drywall prep first. Low-odour paint, room by room.

• Exterior painting

  Wood siding, aluminum, brick, porches, and railings. Washed, scraped, and primed first, which is what makes it last a Toronto winter.

• Cabinet painting

  Doors off, degreased, sanded, and sprayed, so there are no brush marks. See cabinet painting.

• Drywall and plaster repair

  Cracks, holes, water stains, and failed seams patched, skimmed, and primed so the repair disappears. See drywall and plaster repair.

• Deck and fence staining

  Backyard wood greys out fast. Washed, dried, and stained so it sheds water. See deck and fence staining.

• Wallpaper removal

  Score, steam, strip the glue, and skim the wall smooth.

• Ceiling painting

  Water stains blocked first, then a flat finish that hides the dips instead of lighting them up.

• Trim, crown molding, and doors

  Filled, caulked, sanded, and finished hard enough for daily knocks.

• Stucco and siding

  Stucco, aluminum, and vinyl, with coatings made to move with the surface.

• Power washing

  Dirt, chalk, and mildew off, so the new coat grabs the surface.

Great customer service, job done professionally, very happy with the result, definitely recommend.

We Are About 14 Minutes South of Fairview Mall

We work out of 25 St Dennis Drive in Flemingdon Park, off Don Mills Road south of Eglinton. Our door to CF Fairview Mall at 1800 Sheppard Avenue East is 9.3 km. St Dennis to Wynford Drive, onto the Don Valley Parkway, stay on it as it becomes Highway 404, off at Sheppard Avenue East. About 14 minutes on a clear road. The other way is straight up Don Mills Road, 8.3 km, past Don Mills, Henry Farm, and Parkway Forest.

The landmarks are easy to name. Fairview Mall on the northeast corner of Don Mills and Sheppard, open since August 1970 and now over 180 stores, with Don Mills station beside it. The Fairview library branch. North York General at Sheppard and Leslie. Oriole Community Centre and Arena at 2975 Don Mills Road West. Dallington, Godstone, Lescon, and Oriole parks. And the Peanut, where Don Mills Road splits into two one-way legs between Sheppard and Finch around Peanut Plaza.

It is not sitting still either. A June 2022 City planning report on 1800 Sheppard Avenue East describes a four-phase plan for the 18.8 hectare mall site: 12 new buildings from 18 to 58 storeys and about 4,700 homes, with the mall kept. Phase 1 is three towers of 38, 48 and 58 storeys along Sheppard, by the Don Mills subway entrance. Allenbury Gardens, one of the Four Corners housing projects, is on Toronto Community Housing's list of completed revitalizations.

Co Painting, 25 St Dennis Drive, North York, ON M3C 1E6. Call (416) 319-8444.

See the Other Areas We Serve

Co Painting serves Don Valley Village and the neighbourhoods around it. Henry Farm across Sheppard, Bayview Village across Leslie, Parkwoods and Don Mills below the 401.