East York Home Renovations That Make More of Compact Houses

Houses from the federal veterans' housing program, Topham Park's among them, were typically planned with an eat-in kitchen, living room, bathroom and two bedrooms on the main floor and an unfinished half-storey above. The old table corner is where extra counter space tends to come from: a peninsula, a built-in bench with drawers, or cabinets along the dining wall. Once the upper floor holds the bedrooms, a main-floor bedroom can become a wider kitchen or a dining room. In Leaside's 1930s houses and others wired before about 1950, opened walls can expose knob-and-tube wiring, which some insurers will not cover. A licensed electrician replaces it and adds circuits for new appliances, a gas fitter handles any gas range, and we build the cabinets, backsplash and trim around their work.

About 30 rental buildings went up in Thorncliffe Park from the 1960s into the early 1970s, and Crescent Town's towers were finished around 1971 beside Victoria Park station. In suites of that age the bathroom drains pass through the concrete floor to stacks shared with the units above and below, so moving a tub or toilet usually means coring the slab with the building's consent. Most owners keep the footprint and renew everything within it: tub or shower base, waterproofed walls, tile and vanity, while a licensed plumber and electrician reconnect the fixtures, fan and lights. Building staff normally shut off the water risers, so those connections are booked through the superintendent, and in the Crescent Town buildings run as condominiums the corporation's approval comes first.

Old East York south of Cosburn Avenue went up mostly before the Second World War, with post-war bungalows more common toward its northern edge, and in houses of both ages basement windows are often small and set high. A bedroom down there generally needs a window someone could climb out of in a fire, with a minimum clear opening set by the Ontario Building Code. Meeting it usually means cutting a bigger hole in the foundation under a building permit, with a lintel an engineer specifies and a window well outside. On a narrow side yard, a deep window well can crowd the path to the backyard, so we measure the side yard before the window size is settled.

Plenty of East York bungalows have already gained a second floor, and in Parkview Hills and Woodbine Heights many original houses are giving way to much larger ones. Owners who keep theirs usually weigh three routes: rework the existing floor plan, add a one-storey rear addition, or go up. The last two often press against zoning limits on height, side yards or rear-yard depth, and a minor variance then goes to the Committee of Adjustment's Toronto and East York panel, which mails notice to owners within 60 metres. Lots above the Taylor Creek Park ravine may also need a Toronto and Region Conservation Authority permit. Whichever route you choose, a designer and an engineer prepare the drawings, and we build from them.

Many older East York houses sit on subfloors of solid boards laid across the joists rather than plywood, and decades of seasonal movement leave gaps and slight ridges between them. Hardwood can be nailed over boards like that once loose ones are screwed down, but vinyl plank and tile telegraph every ridge, so they need plywood underlayment first, which raises the floor and can mean trimming doors. In Thorncliffe Park and Crescent Town, carpet in older suites may hide floor tile glued to the concrete. Health Canada lists floor tiles among materials that may contain asbestos, so a sample is lab-tested before anything is lifted, and any removal goes to an abatement contractor. On Massey Square, condominium rules may also set the sound rating of the underlay.

Health Canada's rule of thumb is that a home built before 1960 probably contains lead-based paint, and that covers much of East York's housing, from Leaside's brick two-storeys to the wartime houses and post-war bungalows. The thick layers sit on window sills, stair rails, doors and baseboards that have been recoated for generations. We test before prep starts. Where lead turns up we leave power sanders and heat guns aside, as Health Canada advises, because they throw off toxic dust and fumes; loose paint is misted and hand-scraped over plastic sheeting, then cleaned up with a HEPA vacuum. Many of Topham Park's wood-frame houses still have siding and front porches, and where the original wood survives we replace split or soft boards and prime bare spots before the finish coats.

Leaside houses of the 1930s and 1940s, like most homes built before drywall became common, were generally finished in plaster, and that plaster is thicker than a sheet of drywall and seldom flat. When a wall is opened or moved, we shim the new board out so it meets the old surface flush, then tape the seam and feather the compound wide enough that the change disappears under paint. Sagging or badly cracked plaster ceilings can often stay in place, fastened back to the joists with plaster washers and covered with thin drywall, which spares the house the dust and debris of tearing them down. Hairline cracks over doors and windows are cut open, taped with mesh and refilled rather than simply caulked.