by Craig | Jun 9, 2018 | General posts, Wallpaper installation
Wallpaper can be difficult to remove sometimes. Sometimes it does damage to the walls when it’s removed. In these cases can we wallpaper over the existing wallpaper in your Toronto home?
In most cases the answer is yes, if certain steps are followed so that the new wallpaper adheres properly to the surface.
First, Let’s see if the existing paper will come off…
It’s best if the existing wallpaper can be removed. If not, there are 2 layers of paper that have to be stripped the next time that the walls are either painted or papered.
At CAM Painters we have various tips and tricks to remove wallpaper so that it can be done in the most efficient manner. So it’s worth at least exploring removal.
READ MORE: How do I remove wallpaper in my Toronto home?
Is the existing paper smooth?
If the existing wallpaper has a texture, that texture can show through the new wallpaper. A heavier wallpaper can hide the texture of the previous wallpaper, so it’s helpful to choose something that’s a little thicker.
If the texture is very pronounced, it’s better not to take any chances and to strip the current wallpaper. With the help of some useful tools, like a steamer and putty knife, the wallpaper should come off quite easily. Sites like https://www.raise.com/coupons/home-depot can help you make a saving on DIY tools if you don’t have any appropriate tools already. These savings are also great if your planning to do other renovations in your home too because it means the money saved can go towards better quality products like paints, wallpaper or furnishings.
Is the existing wallpaper sound?
If the existing wallpaper is starting to lift at the seams or is bubbling, this could cause problems with a subsequent layer of wallpaper. Therefore, it’s best to remove the existing wallpaper if possible.
Here are the steps we take to install new wallpaper over existing wallpaper
- Any lifting or bubbling sections of wallpaper are cut out; We want to make sure that we have a firm base to work from.
- The existing wallpaper is coated with a high quality wallpaper primer.
- A visual inspection is done to the walls. Once the primer dries, bubbles can appear and seams can lift which were not apparent before. We want to make sure that we have a sound base to work from.
- If any lifting wallpaper was removed, these areas need to be spot primed.
- Any areas of wallpaper that have been removed need a thin layer of drywall patch to make the wall smooth and even.
- Once dry, the drywall patch needs to be spot primed.
Once these steps have been done, we’re ready to hang wallpaper, just like a normal wallpaper installation!
READ MORE: How much does it cost to wallpaper a room in my Toronto home?
So, if you have existing wallpaper on your walls and would like something new, there are a couple of different processes that we can use. These options are discussed with our clients and we can move forward based on what is both most durable and most cost effective.
So if you’d like to Transform Your Home With Lasting Beauty why don’t you book a quote?
by Craig | Jan 2, 2018 | General posts
It’s that time of year! The time that everyone reflects on the past year and sets goals for the next.
How about setting some goals for taking care of your home in 2018? If you proactively take care of your home it will pay dividends down the road in terms of money savings and comfort.
Here are a few suggestions to get you started!
Don’t put off small maintenance items.
Changing your furnace filter is just one example. By changing your furnace filter on a regular basis you increase your overall comfort and lessen the chance of expensive furnace repairs in the future. It’s simple enough to pick up 20x20x1 furnance Filters, and the potential savings more than justify the cost. If you are looking for furnace repairs you may want to search online for your local furnace repair service or visit somewhere similar to CASTLEHOMECOMFORT.COM/HEATING/FURNACE-REPAIRS/ to learn more about what they offer.
Keep an eye on the humidity in your home
Homes can get extremely dry in the winter months, so be sure to monitor the humidity in your home. This can also be adjusted with your furnace, so make sure to hire someone like WWW.PAULTHEPLUMBERNH.COM/HEATING/REPAIR/ to keep an eye on it for you. I know of someone who’s place was so dry that all the glue in her wooden furniture dried out and it started falling apart!
Dryness can also affect your paint and wallpaper. Oh yes, if there’s not enough humidity the paste that holds wallpaper to walls can dry out and the seams in the wallpaper can open up. Also, if there’s not enough humidity in the home wooden trim can shift and open up cracks and gaps in the paint work.
A related tip..
Check the tops of your doors, door frames and window frames. Oftentimes these are missed or skipped by painters, however, it’s helpful to have them painted even though they’re generally not seen. If all sides of the wood are not painted as the more humid weather comes moisture can enter through the exposed surface and it can swell. This is the reason why when you shut a door it can feel tight at one time of year and loose at another.
How about some exterior paint-related tips?
Keep snow off your deck, front steps, window sills, basement window wells. Basically, if snow is sitting on a painted surface, it’s wise to clear it off. By removing the snow you not only protect the paint job, you also protect the wood underneath. Ice and snow build up can really take a toll on wood – even more so than a summer rain shower. When a rain shower comes, it generally passes in an hour or two. When snow comes, it stays for weeks on end. You should also keep an eye on any paint being taken away from the wood due to continuous water exposure as this could be a sign that you have a leak somewhere. It could just be your drains or it could be damage on your roof. If you find damage then contact some round rock roofing contractors to see if they can fix it for you. 
This moisture issue is compounded by the wood expanding during the spring thaw too. As the wood expands the grain opens up, it can crack the paint and allow the melting snow to penetrate into the wood. The more moisture that gets into wood, the greater chance of wood rot and degradation.
In summary…
Setting a goal for taking care of your home in 2018 can pay for itself in comfort and cost savings. It can also pay for a new paint job too!!! So why don’t you book a quote? CAM Painters would love to Transform your home with lasting beauty!
by Craig | Dec 19, 2017 | General posts, Pricing/Value, Uncategorized
Unfortunately this is a more common experience in Toronto than it should be. Here’s how you can avoid this occurrence and find a reliable painter…
Here’s the backstory,
You found someone either through a recommendation of a friend, or perhaps on Facebook, or a lawn sign.
He seemed like a nice fellow when he met with you for the quote.
He gave you a price, you accepted it and booked in a start date.
The start date rolled around and no painter! No phone call, no text, no email – Nothing!!
Why would this happen in the first place?
First off, it’s very easy to call yourself a painting contractor.
Barriers to entry are very low, a vehicle, some brushes, rollers, roller trays and you can call yourself a painter. However, with such a low startup cost some people treat their “painting business” as a part-time hobby.
Many of these “painting contractors” will do cash only, so that they can avoid taxes and proper insurances, which places a lot of risk on the homeowner that hires them.
To sum it up, they don’t have much invested in the process, so it’s easy for them to quit on their customers and leave them high and dry.
How can you find a reliable painting contractor?
You can minimize the chance of this happening to you by doing your due diligence. How so?
Ask your painting contractor how many years they’ve been in business?
As a general rule of thumb, the more years someone has been in business, the more they are invested in the success of their business.
At CAM Painters, we’ve been in business for 16 years. We’ve invested thousands of dollars in equipment, so that we can provide a great customer experience.
READ MORE: Which painting contractor offers the best value for my Toronto home?
Look for reviews and testimonials
People will always say good things about themselves, sometimes they can even get a couple of other people to say good things about them.
Look for reliable contractors with lots of social proof:
Make sure that they’ve got lots of Google reviews – not just one review from their mother! At CAM Painters, for instance, we currently have over twenty 5 star reviews and counting! Also remember that, in some cases, it is possible for businesses to remove a google review if it is inappropriate in any way. They shouldn’t be able to remove legitimate negative reviews, though. Therefore, Google reviews provide a good insight.
They’ve got video testimonials – and not just written testimonials because those can be fabricated. We’ve got a number of video testimonials both on our YouTube channel and our website
A reputable contractor will give a written proposal and back up their work with a written warranty
You want an agreement in writing, so that there is no gray area of “he said, she said”. At CAM Painters we have a written proposal that goes over every aspect of the job from start to finish.
A reliable contractor will offer a written warranty on their work. At CAM Painters we offer a 5 year written warranty on both interior and exterior projects, as well as one hour of free touch ups each year, so that your house always looks it’s best!
To sum it up…
If you do your due diligence when you select a painting contractor you can minimize surprises during the painting process, such as someone not showing up when they say they will, or any other myriad of missed promises.
At CAM Painters we strive to give an excellent painting experience from start to finish, so why don’t you book a quote? We’d be happy to Transform Your Home With Lasting Beauty!
by Craig | Nov 27, 2017 | General posts, Interior Painting
During the holidays you give gifts to relatives that you don’t really like – so how about giving a gift to your Toronto home?
Your Toronto home protects you from the harsh elements, keeps you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. So why don’t you show it some love this holiday season? If your Toronto home could talk, I guarantee these things would be on it’s holiday wish list
A wallpapered powder room…
Much like you gals have a fancy scarf, or guys have a cool neck tie, your home wants a shot of colour and drama. In this case, a little pop of colour can go a long way, so try a bold patterned wallpaper in your powder room! Because it’s a small area you can make a very dramatic choice vs. Wallpapering the entire main floor, for example.
Or a few wallpapered accent walls
For the very same reasons listed above, accent walls are a great way to add a shot of colour and drama to an otherwise lifeless room. If you have reservations, start with the guest bedroom, or if you want to go all in, go for the master bedroom.
A painter for a day
Over time your house experiences some wear and tear. When that happens, it doesn’t necessarily need a full paint job from top to bottom, but just a freshening up. Why don’t you book a Painter for a Day? This program gives you a fully stocked professional painter for up to 8 hours to take care of those areas that need 
a little freshening up.
In fact, you could book a Painter for a Day before the relatives come over for the holidays, so that your home can look it’s best.
Conversely, I know some of you have rambunctious nieces and nephews! So maybe you want to book a Painter for a Day after the holidays, to fix the wear and tear that the little hooligans have inflicted on your home!
Read more about our Painter for a Day Program
A consult with an Interior Designer or Professional Organizer
If you’re not happy with your home, maybe you don’t need a new home, maybe all you need is to reorganize the way your home works for you. 
If you have a consultation from an interior designer, maybe they can suggest some simple steps for you to enhance the look and/or the functionality of your home. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with all the stuff that’s lurking in your home, perhaps a professional organizer can help make your home less cluttered and more functional.
Hiring a professional is always wise, because the savings in time and aggravation more than pays for the service itself, and you reap the benefits for a long time after the consultation.
A final word on your home’s holiday wish list
Although this gift guide is not exhaustive, we have offered some suggestions to get you thinking about your home. I’d suggest that your home wants a splash of colour, to be well maintained and be organized, so that it works for you.
Why don’t you buy your home a gift and book a quote with CAM Painters, we’d love to Transform Your Home with Lasting Beauty!
by Craig | Nov 22, 2017 | General posts, Interior Painting
This is a familiar scenario: You have the flooring redone in your Toronto home and then realize that the staircase doesn’t match the new flooring. We can help!
Many people are painting the wood on their staircases in a two-tone colour scheme and it looks fantastic! Or they paint everything but the stair tread – on that area they have it stained and varnished to match the flooring.
I’ll go through the process shortly. But first, let’s define the anatomy of a staircase:
- Railing: This consists of the handrail – what your hand rests on, spindles and posts
- Stair tread: the part that your foot walks on
- Stair riser: the part that your toe inadvertently kicks when running up the stairs
- Stair stringers: the piece on either side of the stairs that holds the whole assembly up
What are our options?
If we want to paint the stairs, here is a typical colour scheme:
dark colour: Handrail, posts, stair tread
light colour: spindles, stringers, risers
If you want to do both stain/varnish and paint, the stair tread would be stained and varnished and the rest of the colours could be similar to the above scheme.
How do you ensure that the staircase is durable?
As you can imagine, stairs take a beating and it’s essential to have the most durable paint on them.
First thing, proper preparation is key:
If the stairs are currently varnished and we want to paint them it’s essential that we scuff sand the surface, this gives the primer something to grip on to.
After sanding we vacuum the surface to ensure all the dust is off the surface
We prime the surface with low odour alkyd primer – latex primers don’t stick good enough for foot traffic and constant abuse.
If We’re Staining and Varnishing
When staining and varnishing the stair tread we need to remove the existing coating all the way down to the bare wood.
Finish Coats:
If We’re Painting the Treads
We apply two coats of finish – low odor alkyd paint on the stair tread, which is suitable for walked on surfaces, on the other areas we use a latex enamel suitable for trim.
If We’re Staining and Varnishing the Treads and Painting the Rest
Generally we need to apply two coats of stain to get the wood to the right colour. After we apply the stain we put two coats of varnish on the tread, with a light sand in between coats.
On the other areas we put two coats of latex enamel suitable for trim.
READ MORE:
In conclusion
We’d love to update your staircase, so why don’t you book a quote? CAM Painters will Transform your Home With Lasting Beauty!
by Craig | Sep 7, 2017 | General posts, painting experience, Pricing/Value
So you’re thinking about painting your Toronto home? Selecting a painter can be very similar to selecting a pair of shoes! How so, you ask? Well, it’s all about shoes that are a good fit, that are appropriate for the situation you’re facing and within your budget.
Are your shoes a good fit?
Everyone’s feet are different. A shoe that feels comfortable on one person might be uncomfortable on another.
Similarly, you might feel comfortable with a particular painting contractor. Maybe they relate to you better than another. It’s important to have a painting contractor that you feel comfortable communicating with, and who communicates with you in a timely manner.
Are your shoes appropriate for the situation?
You wouldn’t wear running shoes to a business meeting, nor would you go for a jog wearing dress shoes! It’s the same with painting!
Some painting projects require “dress shoes”; You want the project to look great with a flawless finish.
Some painting projects require “running shoes”; You need the project to be finished in the most efficient time frame possible.
Some painting projects require “hiking shoes”; You need the project to be durable in adverse conditions.
Some painting projects might require a combination of stipulations, or maybe something different altogether. It’s important to be clear on your needs from the beginning so that you can select a painting contractor that is skilled and experienced in delivering what you require.
Budget
Just as the price of shoes vary, so does the price of painting projects. In general, if you spend more money on a pair of shoes, you can expect a greater degree of durability, technology or style. It’s similar with painting projects, the more you spend, in general, the higher the quality of paint, and the level of craftsmanship.
In painting, there is a truism: 
- Efficiency
- Quality
- Low Price
A consumer must make a decision as to their priorities, because a customer can only choose two. If a client wants efficiency and low price, they automatically choose to not have quality. If a client wants efficiency and quality, they can’t choose low price.
In conclusion
As with selecting shoes, selecting a painting contractor needs care to ensure that there is a right fit, appropriateness and budget. If you’d like to see if CAM Painters is the right “pair of shoes” for you why don’t you book a quote? We’d be happy to transform your home with lasting beauty!
So, if you have existing wallpaper on your walls and would like something new, there are a couple of different processes that we can use. These options are discussed with our clients and we can move forward based on what is both most durable and most cost effective.
