Century homes, infills and renovations — painted at the standard the neighbourhood expects.
Ottawa House & Cabinet Painting works throughout Westboro, Hampton Park, McKellar Park, Highland Park, Wellington West and Champlain Park. Interior painting, plaster repair, fine trim and millwork finishing, cabinet refinishing and exterior work, all quoted in writing after a free on-site visit.
Westboro is a mix of pre-war homes and modern infills sitting on the same street, and the two need entirely different approaches. Century homes here have plaster and lath rather than drywall, original wood trim carrying eighty years of paint, and pre-1978 finishes that need lead-safe handling when they get sanded. The new infills and semis are drywall throughout with contemporary flat-finish trim and tall stairwells. What both share is that finish quality is scrutinised here — Westboro homeowners look closely at cut lines, and they are right to.
Pre-1940 century homes with plaster walls and original millwork, 1950s post-war bungalows through McKellar Park and Highland Park, and a steady stream of modern infill singles and semis built since 2005.
Every community in Ottawa has its own housing stock and its own recurring problems. These are the ones we see most in Westboro.
Century-home plaster cracks, keys let go, and skim coats fail. We repair and skim properly and prime with a product suited to old plaster, because ordinary wall paint over unrepaired plaster telegraphs every crack straight back through.
Deep original casings, baseboards and wood sash windows carry decades of paint. Careful stripping where it is needed, sanding, priming and a hard waterborne enamel gives you crisp profiles instead of soft, filled-in detail.
Paint applied before 1978 may contain lead, which becomes a real concern the moment it is sanded. We work wet, contain the area, use HEPA vacuums and clean up properly rather than sanding dry into an occupied home.
New infills and gut renovations need the full first finish — primer and two coats on everything, straight lines against modern flush trim, and a schedule that fits around your other trades.
See the full range on our Ottawa painting services page, or check current painting costs in Ottawa.
No charge, no obligation, and a written fixed price before any work starts.
Possibly. Lead paint was in common residential use in Canada until 1978, so anything under later coats in a pre-war Westboro home may contain it. Intact paint is not the concern — sanding it is. We work wet, contain and HEPA-vacuum, and can arrange testing if you want certainty before starting.
We repair plaster as part of our painting work: cracks, small failed sections, skim coats and patching around old fixtures. Where large areas of plaster have separated from the lath and need re-keying or replacement, that is a plastering job and we will tell you so rather than painting over it.
Rosin paper or breathable canvas over the floors, taped at the edges — never plastic sheeting on hardwood, which traps moisture and can mark a finish. Furniture is centred and covered, and everything comes off the walls before we start.
Yes. Westboro, Hintonburg, Wellington West, the Glebe, Old Ottawa South and Centretown are all part of our core Ottawa service area, and they share much the same century-home considerations.