House Painters in East York, Toronto
East York is the slice of Toronto north of Danforth Avenue, between the Don River and Victoria Park Avenue. It covers 21.26 square kilometres and holds about 116,399 people. It was a township from 1924, became a borough in 1967 when the township merged with the town of Leaside, and stayed Ontario's last remaining borough until amalgamation dissolved it in 1998. People here still say East York, and the Don Valley ravine still keeps it feeling separate from downtown.
The houses are what matter to a painter, and the census is blunt about them. In Old East York, 72% of the 3,960 private dwellings were built before 1960. In Danforth East York it is 73% of 7,275 dwellings. In Woodbine-Lumsden, 72% of 3,604. Leaside-Bennington sits at 72% too. Across the City of Toronto the figure is 33%. This corner carries roughly double the citywide share of pre-1960 housing.
The mix is low-rise and owner-occupied. Danforth East York is 41% single-detached and 24% semi-detached, four times the 6% city average for semis, with 71% owner households. Old East York is 59% single-detached. Much of it went up after the Second World War as inexpensive government-built houses for returning veterans, and plenty of those single-storey bungalows have had a second floor added since.
The other half of East York is vertical and much newer. Thorncliffe Park is only 20% pre-1960, roughly 30 apartment towers on a racetrack that ran from 1920 to 1953. Crescent Town dates from 1969. Broadview North is 58% towers and 68% renter households.
We are Co Painting. Our shop sits at 25 St Dennis Drive in Flemingdon Park, directly across the Don Valley from East York.
What Painting an East York Home Involves
Start with lead, because this is where most East York quotes get it wrong. People repeat that lead paint is a pre-1960 problem. That is not the rule. Lead in paint was not regulated in Canada until 1976, so assume any house built before 1980 has it, indoors and out, and exterior coatings applied before 1990 can still carry high levels. East York makes that more urgent, not less. Before 1960 the levels were extremely high, sometimes 30 to 50% pure lead, and roughly three quarters of the core here predates 1960.
The worst of it sits where a painter works: window trim, baseboards, banisters, cupboards, doors and porches, because the durable high-lead paint went on the high-traffic surfaces. It only turns into a hazard when someone puts dust or vapour in the air. So we never dry-sand old paint and never put a heat gun on it, since a heat gun creates toxic lead vapour. The room gets sealed, the surface stays wet while we scrape, tools run with dust collection, and we clean up with a HEPA-filtered vacuum instead of compressed air or a dry broom, which is what Ontario's guidance on controlling the lead hazard calls for. Outside, we sheet the ground and take the chips with us.
Inside, the big one is the addition. All over East York, bungalows have grown second storeys and shops have been converted, which means new drywall meeting ninety-year-old walls. Getting the two to read as one room takes patching, skim coating, and primer.
The stock also shows its age. The City counts 635 occupied dwellings in Danforth East York, 285 in Old East York and 415 in Woodbine-Lumsden as needing major repairs, rates of 9%, 8% and 12% against 7% citywide. Cracked plaster and water-stained ceilings are normal out here, and they get fixed before anything gets painted.
What We Paint in East York
Interior painting
Walls, ceilings, trim, doors, and closets, with the prep an older East York house needs first. See our interior painting.
Exterior painting
Brick, wood, aluminum siding, trim, porches, and doors, prepped for Toronto freeze-thaw and painted inside the season window. See our exterior painting.
Cabinet painting
Sprayed kitchen cabinets with no brush marks, for far less than new cabinets cost. Popular in the bungalows where the kitchen is original. See our cabinet painting.
Trim, doors, staircases, and railings
The detail work these houses are full of: baseboards, casings, stair railings and spindles, and front doors, finished in harder coatings that take daily traffic.
Walls that need fixing first
Where an addition meets the original house, the joint telegraphs through the paint. We skim those seams flat, prime them, and take care of the cracks and water stains while we are at it. See our drywall and plaster repair.
Wallpaper removal
Homes of this age often still have papered rooms. We strip the paper and the glue, repair what is underneath, and prime so the paint goes on flat.
The exterior painting of our house looks fantastic. The crew was clean, respectful, and completed everything on time.
Where We Work in East York
Pape Village, Danforth East York around Cosburn Avenue, Old East York, Woodbine-Lumsden, the streets off O'Connor Drive, Broadview North above Todmorden Mills at 67 Pottery Road, and the towers of Thorncliffe Park and Crescent Town. If you are near Michael Garron Hospital at 825 Coxwell Avenue, the East York Civic Centre at 850 Coxwell, East York Collegiate Institute at 650 Cosburn Avenue, R.V. Burgess Park, Stan Wadlow Park, or the Taylor Creek Park trail, you are in our patch. We also paint shops and small units along the Danforth and Pape, scheduled around their opening hours.
One more East York reality: the Ontario Line is coming through. Cosburn Station is going in at the northwest corner of Pape and Cosburn, with about 10,300 people inside its walking radius. Site clearing is done and soil stabilization is the current work. Lane closures on Pape between Torrens and Gowan run to the end of 2030, and the speed limit on Cosburn just west of Pape is down to 30 km/h. If your place is in there, we will work around the disruption.
Why choose us
Why East York Homeowners Choose Co Painting
We are from the next pocket over
Flemingdon Park sits one valley over from East York, so these are some of our shortest trips, with a crew that already knows the streets and the houses.
Old paint gets handled like old paint
Lead was not regulated in Canadian paint until 1976, and about three quarters of core East York predates 1960, when the levels were highest. So we seal the room, prep wet, run dust collection and a HEPA vacuum, and never dry-sand or heat-gun an old surface.
We treat brick like brick
Breathable masonry coatings, honest advice on paint versus limewash versus leaving it alone, and never a sealed film that costs you the wall later.
The price is in writing and the work is backed
A free, itemized estimate before we start. 100% insured and licensed in Ontario, 5.0 across 70 Google reviews, and the work is backed for three years.
Free Estimates in East York
Our shop is at 25 St Dennis Drive in Flemingdon Park, directly across the Don Valley, so East York estimates are easy to book. From the pin on this map, Pape and Cosburn is 3.9 km, about 7 minutes. The Civic Centre at 850 Coxwell is 4.4 km. Michael Garron Hospital is 4.8 km, and Stan Wadlow Park 5.3 km, about 10 minutes. Call or send the form and we walk the house with you and put the number in writing on the spot.
Co Painting, 25 St Dennis Drive, North York, ON M3C 1E6. Call (416) 319-8444.
FAQ
East York Painting Questions, Answered
Do you actually work in East York?
Our shop is in Flemingdon Park, on the other side of the river, so East York is some of the closest work we do.
Should I worry about lead paint in an East York house?
Treat it as likely. Lead in paint was not regulated in Canada until 1976, so assume any house built before 1980 has it, indoors and out, and exterior paint applied before 1990 can still carry high levels. East York is older than most of the city. About 72% of Old East York was built before 1960, when lead levels in paint were highest. It only becomes a hazard if someone dry-sands it or takes a heat gun to it. We do neither. We prep wet, collect the dust, and vacuum with a HEPA filter.
Can you paint my brick house?
Yes, with the right product. Masonry needs a coating that lets moisture out, so we use breathable products made for brick. And when limewash, or leaving the brick bare, serves the house better, we will tell you straight.
We put a second storey on. Can you make the old and new walls match?
That is a common East York renovation, and work we know well. The new drywall and the old walls get patched, skimmed, and primed so the finished room reads as one surface, not two eras.
How much does it cost to paint a house in East York?
It depends on the size, the surfaces, and the prep the house needs, so we quote in person and put it in writing. The estimate is free. If you want ballpark ranges, ask when you call.
Do you paint kitchens and cabinets in these older homes?
Yes. Original bungalow kitchens are a specialty: washable paint on the walls and sprayed cabinet finishes that make an original kitchen look current without a renovation.
When is the best time for exterior painting in East York?
Spring through fall, roughly late April to mid-October, and June and September are the best of it. Toronto weather decides the schedule, so exterior slots book from the front of the season.
Do you handle the small stuff, one room or a front door?
Yes. A bedroom, a hallway, a front door and porch rail. A front door gets prepped like a whole house, it is just a shorter day.
Are you insured?
Fully insured and licensed in Ontario, and we can show you the paperwork before we start.
How fast can you start?
Interior work is not weather-dependent, so it is the easier one to schedule. Exterior depends on the season and the forecast. Call (416) 319-8444 and we will give you an actual start date.
Nearby Areas We Serve
Leaside and Thorncliffe Park are part of the old borough and we work in both. North and east of the valley we cover Don Mills, Parkwoods, York Mills, and Bayview Village. Flemingdon Park is home turf, served straight from the shop.