House Painters in Leaside, Toronto
Leaside is a planned neighbourhood in the east end of Toronto, in what used to be the Borough of East York. The name comes from William Lea, who started a large octagonal brick house he called Leaside in 1851 and finished it in 1854. The Canadian Pacific station that opened in September 1894 took his name too.
The layout came next. In 1912 the railway men William Mackenzie and Donald Mann hired Frederick Todd, the town planner and landscape architect behind Mount Royal in Montreal and Port Mann in Vancouver, to lay Leaside out. The York Land Company bought roughly 1,000 acres and the pitch was a new Rosedale. The Town of Leaside was incorporated on 23 April 1913 with a population of 43 and Randolph McRae as its first mayor.
Then almost nothing happened for two decades. Residential building stayed thin until the 1930s, and it was Mayor Henry Howard Talbot, in office from 1938 to 1947, who pushed the expansion through. The population tells that story on its own: 938 in 1931, 6,183 in 1941, 16,233 in 1951, 21,250 by 1966. What you walk past today is largely a 1930s and 1940s build sitting on a 1912 plan, which is exactly why one street reads as a single piece instead of a jumble.
The rest is geography and bridges. Leaside sits on the Iroquois Plain, a flat plateau with deep river valleys on three sides. The Leaside Viaduct was completed on 29 October 1927 and the Millwood underpass went under the CP tracks the same year, which is what finally connected the place south and east. Eglinton Avenue was pushed east across the Don in 1956. Leaside joined the Township of East York to form the Borough of East York in 1967, and became part of the City of Toronto in 1998.
What Painting a Leaside Home Involves
An old brick house is a different job than a new one, and this is a neighbourhood of old brick houses.
Start with the number that matters. In the City's Leaside-Bennington profile, 72% of the 6,712 private dwellings were built before 1960. Across the City of Toronto the figure is 33%. So this pocket carries more than double the citywide share of pre-1960 housing, and Health Canada is blunt about what that means. Their line is that your home probably contains lead-based paint if it was built before 1960, and that if it was built between 1960 and 1990 the exterior may contain it.
That changes the method, not the paint. Health Canada also says not to use sanders, heat guns or blowlamps on lead-based paint, because it creates toxic dust and fumes. So we do not. We seal the room off, keep the surface wet while we scrape, and run a HEPA vacuum through the job. Their other point is one people miss: leaving sound old paint alone is often safer than tearing it off, as long as it is not chipping or within reach of children. A proper repaint does exactly that. It locks the old film down under a new one instead of turning it into dust. We do not test for lead and we do not do abatement. We prep for it.
Then the stock itself. The Leaside Residents Association describes street after street of tidy single family homes in stripped down Georgian Revival or Tudor Revival style, set back consistently, on comfortable lots with private driveways and boulevard trees. The detached houses are largely 1930s and 1940s, Tudor styling, brick outside. Which means the exterior painting here is not big flat walls. It is trim, soffits, fascia, porches, railings, garage doors and the wood around bays and dormers. Long fiddly runs, and that is where the hours actually go.
Last, the two-house street. The LRA's own worry is incremental erosion, infill and renovations that do not keep the designed character, argued out one minor variance at a time. You can see it on the ground. The 1940s bungalows get targeted for redevelopment and the custom rebuilds keep coming. So a 1938 original stands next to a recent rebuild. One carries eighty years of coats over old plaster and old millwork. The other has fresh drywall and factory-finished trim that needs a bonding primer or nothing sticks. We walk the house before we quote it. Toronto's freeze-thaw also decides the calendar, so we book most exterior work between late April and mid-October. See our interior painting and exterior painting.
Residential and Commercial Painting in Leaside
Most of our work here is houses, and this is an owner-occupied neighbourhood. The City's profile counts 4,635 owner households against 1,805 renters, and 56% of dwellings are single-detached where the city average is 24%. Semis run 13% against a 6% city average. Only 460 of the 6,712 dwellings are condos. That is a lot of privately owned brick and trim, and it is why an estimate on a Rumsey Road or Airdrie Road house is a walk-around, not a phone call.
The rental side is not towers. Apartments under five storeys make up 22% of dwellings here against 15% citywide, while buildings of five storeys or more are only 8% against 44% across Toronto. So the multi-unit work in Leaside is walk-up hallways, stairwells and suite turnovers, done on the building's schedule and around the people living there. Where a wall has been opened up, the seam between new board and the original telegraphs straight through the paint, so we skim it flat and prime it. Renovation work needs a City of Toronto building permit and a different trade. We come in after.
Then the commercial edge. Laird Drive and Wicksteed Avenue carry the names of Canadian Northern Railway executives, and that side of Leaside was industry for decades. Canada Wire and Cable started making shells in 1914, the Leaside Aerodrome ran from 1917 to 1944, and Research Enterprises Limited employed more than 7,500 people at its peak. Today it is retail, offices and shops, and we paint those after hours so nobody works around a ladder.
The newest change is transit. Line 5 Eglinton opened on 8 February 2026. Leaside station sits underground at Bayview and Eglinton with its main entrance on the southeast corner, and Laird station is the easternmost underground stop before the line surfaces at a portal at Brentcliffe Road. Mid-rise buildings have followed. Two eight-storey buildings with 241 units are going up at 126, 132 and 134 Laird Drive, an eight-storey retirement rental and a seven-storey senior condo are under construction at 146 to 150 Laird, and a nine-storey, 197-unit building was approved at 1710 to 1736 Bayview. New suites, corridors and amenity rooms all need painting, and we do that work too.
The Painting Services We Offer in Leaside
The jobs we handle on a Leaside home, most of them on the same visit.
Interior painting
Walls, ceilings, trim, doors and closets, in low-odour paint.
Exterior painting
Trim, soffits, fascia, porches and doors, washed, scraped and primed first.
Cabinet painting and refinishing
Doors off, degreased, sanded and sprayed. No brush marks, no stain. See cabinet painting.
Brick and masonry painting
Breathable coatings and straight advice on whether your brick should be painted at all. See brick painting.
Drywall and plaster repair
Cracks, holes and the seams where new board meets original wall. See drywall and plaster repair.
Wallpaper removal
Scored, steamed, stripped and skimmed smooth.
Ceiling painting
Water stains sealed first so they do not bleed through.
Trim, doors and railings
Baseboards, casings, staircases and the long window runs these houses are full of.
Deck and fence staining
Wood under a mature street canopy greys out fast. See deck and fence staining.
Great customer service, job done professionally, very happy with the result, definitely recommend.
Why choose us
Why Leaside Homeowners Choose Co Painting
Pre-1960 prep comes standard
Nearly three quarters of the dwellings here predate 1960. On the original stock we prep wet and contained, with no sanders and no heat guns. It is how we work, not an extra.
We know where a brick house eats time
The paint on these houses is trim, soffits, porches and bay surrounds, not big flat walls. We measure the fiddly runs, so the number we hand you is the number.
We price the house, not the postcode
A 1938 original and the rebuild next door are two different prep lists. We walk both before quoting either.
The price is in writing and the work is backed
We look at the actual house and put the estimate in writing first. Insured and licensed in Ontario, rated 4.9 across 75 Google reviews, with a three-year warranty and up to 12 years on cabinets.
Detailed Written Estimates in Leaside
Our shop is at 25 St Dennis Drive in Flemingdon Park, east of Leaside across the Don. To Trace Manes Park in south Leaside it is 4.5 km and about eight minutes. To Leaside station at Bayview and Eglinton it is the same 4.5 km, about seven minutes. Whether you are on Bessborough Drive, Parkhurst Boulevard, Donegall Drive or down by Millwood Road, call or fill in the form. We come to you, walk the house and hand you a detailed written estimate.
Co Painting, 25 St Dennis Drive, Toronto, ON M3C 1E6. Call (416) 319-8444.
FAQ
Leaside Painting Questions, Answered
Do you actually paint in Leaside?
We paint here regularly. From our shop at 25 St Dennis Drive it is 4.5 km to south Leaside, about eight minutes across Eglinton Avenue. We come to you.
Is Leaside part of East York or part of Toronto?
Both, in their turn. Leaside was its own town from 1913, merged into the Borough of East York in 1967, and became part of the City of Toronto in 1998. The City counts it with Bennington Heights as the Leaside-Bennington neighbourhood. On our paperwork it is Toronto.
My place is a 1930s brick two-storey on Bessborough Drive. Is lead paint a real concern?
Treat it as one. Health Canada puts it plainly: your home probably contains lead-based paint if it was built before 1960, and if it was built between 1960 and 1990 the exterior may contain it. In Leaside-Bennington 72% of dwellings predate 1960. So we prep as though it is there. Health Canada says not to use sanders, heat guns or blowlamps on lead-based paint, and we do not. We seal the room, keep the surface wet while we scrape, and run a HEPA vacuum. We do not test for lead and we do not do abatement. We prep for it.
Is Leaside a heritage conservation district? Does that limit my colours?
No. Leaside is not one of Toronto's designated Heritage Conservation Districts, it is not on the appeal list, and it is not among the districts in development. The colour is your call. Character still matters on these streets, and the Leaside Residents Association watches it closely, so it is worth looking at the block before you pick.
Most of my house is brick. What is there to paint outside?
More than people expect. On a Leaside brick house the painted work is the trim, soffits, fascia, porch, railings, garage door, and the wood around the bays and dormers. Long fiddly runs rather than big flat walls. That is where the hours go, and it is why a real number needs a walk around the house.
The house next door was rebuilt and mine is original. Same job?
Not close. An original carries decades of coats over old plaster and old millwork. A rebuild has new drywall and factory-finished trim that needs a bonding primer or the paint will not hold. Two houses, two different prep lists, so we walk yours before we price it.
Do you paint the walk-up apartments off Bayview?
Yes, and that is most of the rental stock here. In Leaside-Bennington 22% of dwellings are apartments under five storeys, against 15% across Toronto, while only 8% are five storeys or more, against 44% citywide. So the work is hallways, stairwells and suite turnovers in low-rise buildings, scheduled around the residents.
Can you repaint my kitchen cabinets instead of replacing them?
In a kitchen that is otherwise solid it is the better spend. The doors come off, get degreased, sanded, primed and sprayed, so there are no brush lines. We paint cabinets, we do not stain them. Cabinet work carries a warranty of up to 12 years.
When can you do the outside of my house?
Late April to mid-October, roughly. Paint needs a dry, mild stretch to cure and Toronto only gives you so many of those. The exterior calendar fills early, so it helps to book ahead.
Are you insured, and how do I get a price?
Fully insured and licensed in Ontario, and we can show the paperwork before we start. For a price, book the estimate. We come to your Leaside home, walk it, and give you the number in writing.
See the Other Areas We Serve
Leaside sits inside the old Borough of East York, with the Don valley on one side and Sunnybrook and Serena Gundy Park on the other. We work that whole run: East York, Don Mills, Parkwoods, York Mills and Bayview Village. See every neighbourhood we cover across North York.