Village houses and what sits behind the wall
Anything close to Queen Street South in Streetsville is likely a century old or more. Plaster on lath will not hold a drywall anchor, and it cracks in a wide arc if you drive a screw into it without thinking. Floors slope. Door openings are narrower than the doors sold today. Ceilings in the original part of a house sit lower than the addition tacked on behind it. It all works fine, it just needs patience and the right fixings.
Repairs I do most in these houses are patching plaster properly rather than smearing filler across it, easing and re-hanging doors that have not shut since the last damp spell, and putting solid backing in before anything heavy goes on a wall.
Matching what is already there
Old houses are unforgiving about mismatched parts. Baseboard profiles from the 1890s are not on a shelf at the big-box store, and modern casing beside original trim looks wrong from across the room. Where I can, I take an offcut with me and find something close, or build the profile up out of two pieces so it reads right once it is painted.
Hardware is the same story. Old hinge sizes, sticking sash windows and painted-shut catches usually have a fix that keeps the character rather than throwing it out. If you would rather go modern, that is your call, just tell me before anything is ordered.
The newer streets ringing Streetsville
Vista Heights, East Credit and the Meadowvale Village side are a different job entirely. Drywall, predictable stud spacing, and houses of an age where the original fittings are giving up together. In those homes the list usually looks like this:
- Kitchen and bathroom taps replaced
- Toilets that run constantly repaired or swapped
- Flat-pack furniture and closet systems assembled
- Televisions and heavy mirrors mounted securely
- Light fittings, dimmers and ceiling fans changed
- Vinyl plank laid with fresh baseboards after it
- Damaged drywall patched, primed and painted
New wiring, a panel, or anything past swapping a fitting on a circuit that already exists is a licensed electrician's work. Same with drains past the fixture, which is a licensed plumber's. I say so before you book rather than halfway through a Saturday.
How a visit runs
Send a message with photos and I can usually price the work without coming out first. You should have an answer back within one business day. I am working Monday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday by appointment. Parking along Queen Street South fills through the middle of the day, so mornings tend to suit jobs in the village better.
Keep your small tasks together and I will do them in a single visit, which costs less than calling someone out three separate times. Materials come from me with the receipts, or you buy what you want and I fit it. Dust sheets go down, the offcuts leave with me, and if something is not sitting right after I have gone, I come back and put it straight.
