Restoration Register

Heritage painting and decorative finishes in Ontario

Assume every painted surface on a pre-1960 Ontario building contains lead until it is tested. That one fact changes the preparation, the containment and the disposal, and it is why dry-sanding a heritage exterior is both a health problem and a soil contamination problem.

This trade covers exterior repainting of clapboard, trim and joinery, interior plaster finishing, and decorative work including graining, marbling, stencilling and gilding. Two technical questions run through all of it. First, breathability: a vapour-tight modern coating over lime plaster or soft brick traps moisture inside the wall and blisters off while damaging what is behind it. Second, colour: paint stratigraphy, a scraped sample cut down through the layers, is inexpensive and settles what the building actually looked like rather than what the current owner assumes. Only eight specialists cover Ontario, with the largest cluster in Peterborough and Northumberland rather than in Toronto.

What to ask before you hire

  1. How will you test for and handle lead paint? Containment, wet methods and disposal should be described without prompting.
  2. Is the coating you are proposing breathable? Over lime plaster or soft brick this is not an aesthetic question.
  3. Has anyone looked at the original colour? Stratigraphy is cheap and it ends the argument with the heritage committee as well as the family.
Grant funding

Repainting alone is often treated as maintenance and excluded, but it is commonly eligible as part of a larger conservation project. Check the scope rules with municipal heritage staff before you separate painting into its own contract.

Across Ontario

Region pages

Related heritage trades

Get quotes for your project

Tell us about the job and we will pass it to up to three listed heritage trades who work in your area. It is free and there is no obligation.

All heritage service pages · Grants by municipality