House Painters in East York, Toronto
East York was its own borough until 1998, the only one in Canada, and it still carries itself that way. It is the pocket between the Don Valley and Woodbine, Danforth up to about Eglinton, with Pape as its spine and Pape Village at the middle of it.
The houses are the giveaway. Most of East York went up between the 1890s and the early 1960s, and the heart of it is 1920s to 1950s brick: two-storey semis, one-and-a-half-storey homes, and street after street of small detached bungalows on deep lots, a lot of them built after the war for returning veterans.
We are Co Painting. Our shop sits in Flemingdon Park, directly across the Don Valley from East York, and we paint homes on both sides of the river.
What Painting an East York Home Involves
Start with the age. A 1930s semi has a dozen coats on it before we ever show up, and paint from before 1960 commonly contains lead, which covers most of East York's original trim, doors, windows, and railings. So the old surfaces get taped off and kept wet while we scrape, and the dust gets vacuumed as we go, not at the end. On houses this age that habit is the most important thing your painter does. Ask about it no matter who you hire.
Then the brick. Most of these semis and bungalows are brick, and paint brick with a sealed film and the winter will flake the faces off it. We only use breathable coatings made for masonry, and when limewash or bare brick serves the house better, we say so.
Inside, the big one is the addition. All over East York, bungalows have grown second storeys and kitchens and basements have been redone, which means new drywall meeting ninety-year-old walls. Getting the two to read as one room takes patching, skim coating, and primer. When you collect quotes, ask each painter whether that work is written into the scope. Ours always is.
And the rooms themselves are small. In a 1940s bungalow the light sits close and you see every cut line and roller mark from a few feet away, so the finish has to be tight: crisp lines at the ceiling, trim sanded back sharp, colours picked for the light the room actually gets.
What We Paint in East York
Interior painting
Walls, ceilings, trim, doors, and closets, with the prep an older East York house needs first. Low-odour paint, and the room is usable again the same day. 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.
Decks and fences
Those deep East York lots come with fences and decks that have gone grey. We wash the wood, give it a dry day, then stain so the rain runs off instead of sinking in.
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 Village, Woodbine Heights, Old East York around the Civic Centre, the streets off O'Connor, and the towers of Thorncliffe Park and the apartment blocks of Crescent Town. If you are near Michael Garron Hospital, Stan Wadlow Park, or the Taylor Creek trail, you are in our patch. We also paint the 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 under construction at Pape and Cosburn, and the streets around it are living with lane reductions and construction traffic. If your place is in that stretch, a repaint after the mess is a reasonable plan, and 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
Most of East York's housing is in the lead-paint era, so we seal, wet-prep, and keep the vacuum running, inside and out. The dust stays contained.
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, a free colour consultation when you want help choosing, and quality materials only. 100% insured and licensed in Ontario, 5.0 across 67 Google reviews, and the work is backed for three years.
Free Estimates in East York
Our shop is in Flemingdon Park, directly across the Don Valley, so East York estimates are easy to book: off O'Connor, around Pape and Cosburn, the streets by the Civic Centre, all of it a short hop from the pin on this map. Call or send the form and we walk the house with you and put the number in writing on the spot. No obligation, and no surprises later.
Co Painting, 25 St Dennis Dr, 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.
My house is a 1940s bungalow near Cosburn. Should I worry about lead paint?
Treat it as likely. Lead showed up in paint right up to 1960, and most East York houses are older than that. The hazard comes from dry sanding, so we tape the space off, mist the old paint as we scrape, and run the vacuum the whole time.
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 a 1950s 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, Don Mills, Parkwoods, York Mills, and Bayview Village. Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park are home turf, served straight from the shop.