Getting into a Downtown Toronto building
Towers here have rules, and they are not all the same. A few want the service elevator reserved several days in advance. Others ask for documentation from anyone doing work in a unit before they will release a fob. A good number only allow noisy work between nine and five on weekdays. None of that is a problem if I know about it early, so tell me what your property manager asks for when you first get in touch.
Street access is the other half of it. King, Queen and Adelaide are hard to stop on, the laneways behind Kensington Market and Corktown are tight, and a booked loading bay beats circling the block three times. I pack for the job so I can carry it up in one trip.
What actually holds in a condo wall
Walls in a Downtown Toronto tower are nothing like walls in a house. Demising walls are often concrete or block. Interior partitions are usually steel stud, which is thinner and hollower than wood and needs a toggle rated for the load rather than the screws in the bracket box. Ceilings are frequently post-tension slab, so anything going overhead gets careful treatment or a different plan altogether.
Most of my condo work is the same short list, done properly the first time.
- TV mounting on steel stud and concrete walls
- Blinds, curtain tracks and blackout rails fitted
- Flat-pack wardrobes and beds built in small units
- Faucet, shower head and toilet replacements
- Light fixtures and dimmers swapped like for like
- Balcony door adjustments and worn weather stripping
- Shelving, mirrors and artwork hung level
The old rows east and west of the core
Cabbagetown, Corktown and the streets around Kensington Market and the Garden District hold Victorian and Edwardian houses that predate almost everything else in Downtown Toronto. Floors slope. Nothing is plumb. Plaster sits on wood lath and cracks along the same old lines every few years. Trim is often original and worth working around rather than ripping out. I patch, repaint, ease doors and scribe shelving to walls that lean, which takes longer than it sounds and is worth doing properly.
Plenty of those houses were divided into flats decades ago, which means two of everything and doors that have been rehung more than once. Fitting new hardware to a hundred-year-old door is fiddly work, and it is usually the better answer than tearing out a solid door.
Quotes, prices and honest limits
Pricing here is straightforward. A free quote with no obligation, then a fixed price or an hourly rate settled before I start, materials with receipts if I supply them, and the unit left clean. If anything is not right afterwards, tell me and I will come back for it.
Some work is not mine to do. New wiring, panel changes, gas appliances and anything structural in a high-rise go to a licensed electrician, a licensed plumber or the building engineer. I will say so on the spot rather than waste your time or take a chance with your home.
