Painting of Toronto Row House
There were many city planning reasons for building row houses and saving space was one of them. In large cities, especially European cities, where space is limited and population is large and growing, that kind of thinking makes sense. The Greater Toronto Area is large and expansive, so the need for row houses in the suburbs is not there. In fact Townhouses make more sense. In Downtown Toronto, that is a different story. Space is limited and of course land was available at a premium. As a result, high density housing made perfect sense. Affordability of housing was of course an issue.
So how would proud homeowners of a row house in the city of Toronto make their house stand out? How would they express their individuality? Some colourful front gardening, a new front door, maybe some landscaping would help. But nothing can make a statement as loud as a strong paint colour can. Painting the main exterior architectural elements of the front of a house can do wonders for its look.
Of course painted exteriors of brick and main body surfaces are common in Cabbage Town and someone can see hundreds of painted exteriors in the Kensington Market. But it takes boldness to pick a colour and make your house stand out as the homeowners did for this Richmond Street W. row house. The Exterior Painters of Ecopainting were hired to paint this fresh and distinctive grey blue colour. Exterior flat paint was used by SICO to paint the brick. Two coats were used after the brick was pressure washed.
The metal roof over the porch was also painted. A Direct To Metal (DTM) acrylic was used to paint the the roof in an almost black colour from Pittsburgh Paints. The transformation is very obvious. This Toronto Row house is now …different.
To add individuality to your home, the Painters of Ecopainting Inc. and their trained colour consultants can help you pick a colour that shows your style. Call 416 733-7767 for an estimate. You can also request a painting estimate online and someone will be in touch with you shortly after.
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Need painters for your Toronto area home?
Browse through the categories of this blog and soon you will find out that this is not the “same old same old” of Paint Contracting. The painters, contractors and consultants collaborating and updating this blog have something different in mind.
For residential painting, we use the services of Ecopainting Inc.
Ecopainting is not your average painting company. They are the first “Eco” painting company in Toronto and they follow strict environmental policies. They have also earned a reputation for extraordinary service.
That service is engrained in their service culture and mostly comes from their careful screening of the painters they hire. Every single painter working for Ecopainting is a full time employee and selected for their professionalism.
As a result, their Toronto Painters are a pleasure to have in any home as this customer commented:
“extraordinary service, pasionate staff, very professional and a pleasure to have in any home. Our home is our pride and my husband and I could not believe how dilligently the painters work throughout the entire day…”
Sarah K. from the Annex said:
” I felt that the painters were extremely respectful. They treated my place like their own home…”
Some Painting Services availableInterior and Exterior Painting
Wallpaper Removal
Decorative finishes
Mural Painting
Floor finishing
Cabinet painting
Pressure Washing
Plaster repairs
Drywall repairs
Stucco Painting
Condominium and Apartment Painting
Loft Painting
Call Ecopainting directly at 416 733-7767
or request an estimate online
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Our Commercial Toronto Painters make it easy to request and receive Painting Services in Toronto. We use COMPASE and their network of Professional Toronto Painters.
Commercial Painting Services are available to General Contractors, Designers, Building owners and managers.
It is refreshing to know that commercial customers will always get predictable results.
Painting Services are available for the following
Call 416 479-0131 to speak to us about your painting needs, please complete our online consultation form.
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By Rachel.
In July, I had a brief interview with Peter Umanec, M. Sc. Commercial Development Representative for Benjamin Moore. Mostly, I was interested in the benefits of low to zero VOC paints, and wondering how these are preferable to other environmentally forward-thinking products, such as recycled paints. Peter explained everything pretty completely, and I gained a greater understanding of why he promotes the Benjamin Moore “Natura” line of paint.
Rachel: Okay, so first of all, why Natura?
Peter: Well let me ask you a question. Why are solvents necessary in paints at all?
Rachel: No clue, actually.
Peter: Well, Modern paints, are made of plastic, and plastic is just like a piece of Plexiglas, hard. So the paints are made up of millions of tiny beads of plastic, and if you mixed those beads with water and poured out, it would just look like milk, and when it dries it would dry to a chalky consistency and just flake off. So they add the solvents to make paint sticky, to stick to the wall and to stick together.
Rachel: So how are paints made with no solvents?
Peter: It is a different structure of acrylic that involves no solvents, but stays soft. If you start with soft plastic, no solvents are needed.
Rachel: Okay, so why Natura specifically?
Peter: Well, the product Ecospec is very similar to Natura. It is a paint with average solids of 35% and 65% water, and when you use a one gallon can of the paint, about a 1/3 of the can is left on the wall after you paint. The rest evaporates. So with Natura, it is just a little more concentrated, with around 45% of the can as a solid and 55% water. This way, the customer doesn’t notice a difference, but the painter uses fewer coats, fewer applications of a richer, thicker paint.
Rachel: So this will mean fewer cans needing to be recycled.
Peter: Right, also as far as odour, for the homeowner it’s nice because when the paint is still in the can, a giant vacuum is used to remove any remaining odours.
Peter: So now, why this trend towards Green?
Rachel: I guess people are realizing we have to take better care of the planet and ourselves.
Peter: Right. In the 80s, we started realizing that there was a growing hole in the ozone layer. The government started regulating the toxic levels of everything based on VOC, but what are VOC? Any old toxic compounds? Not at all! The regulations and VOC counts on cans of paint in particular, only correspond to the amounts of volatile organic compounds within the paint that react with sunlight and produce low level ozone.
Rachel: So, any other fumes, compounds that may still be toxic to humans, polar bears, whatever, but do NOT have this reaction, go uncounted by paint companies and government regulations, and subsequently go into the homes of unsuspecting consumers?
Peter: Correct. So why I recommend Natura is because it is free from all solvents, or at least the vast majority of them, not just the ones requiring to be accounted for by the government. Which is why we like it so much.
Rachel: Well, that sounds pretty great, but I am also interested in how recycled paints compare environmentally. They sound like they are a good use of paint that people may not want anymore, which otherwise would go into a landfill or toxic waste dump.
Peter: We (at Benjamin Moore) recycle all the paint that we have control over. So when we make a batch of paint, and pour it into cans, and there is some left over on the sides of the huge pot we make it in, the sides are washed out with water, and that wash water is used in the next batch of paint and so on and so on. But if paint is returned to our stores, we cannot reuse it because we don’t know what may have been added to that paint, and we can no longer guarantee that it is toxicity free. And once there is a toxic element in paint, it is virtually impossible to remove it.
Rachel: I see, so if someone returns paint, you might not know what is in it, and so it is hazardous to reuse.
Peter: Yes, so companies that produce recycled paints must first remove the solvents from any paints that contain them, and they do so by letting them release, as they would have on a consumer’s wall, so really they are just pre-releasing the solvents for the consumer, and making the paint not work as well. Even after, the recycled paint cannot be guaranteed at any particular toxicity level or even any uniformity to the consistency of the paint from one can to the next.
Rachel: That’s too bad, I thought recycled paint sounded like a great idea, but I guess there is no way of guaranteeing the toxicity, VOC levels unless you are making it yourself and know what goes into it.
Peter: Exactly.
That pretty much concluded our discussion on paint. I was a little disappointed to learn what I did about recycled paint, that one batch might be just fine, while another have a significant rise in VOC. Companies that make recycled paints tend to offer a very limited range of colour, and the quality of that might change as well depending on the batch. There are other ways of recycling paint however, such as looking for cheap deals on mis-tints at paint stores, or advertising your unused paint on websites such as free-cycle if you have bought too much. At this point though, if you want custom colour in good quality with low levels of toxic sludge, it seems like Natura Paints are the way to go.
Rachel is the Environmental Representative of Ecopainting Inc. an eco friendly Painting Toronto Company
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