We had the great pleasure of painting the exterior of a pretty house in Scarborough Village. This older area of scarborough is known for its architecture of distinctive bungalows and back split homes. This fifties architecture still prevails even if it’s dwarfed by the occasional “monster” home.
We came to know the customer, Dean, many years ago as the office manager at one of our favourite general contractors, Weber Construction. Weber Construction used to be a major player in the commercial renovation field. Through them we got to work for some major commercial customers, such as GO Transit, Volkswagen Canada and many others. For 15 years we were their preferred Scarborough Painters for commercial projects. Unfortunately, after decades in business, Weber stopped being in business and we didn’t hear from Dean for a long time. She ended up searching us online and we were ecstatic that she did. We were happy to see her and her family and paint the exterior of her cute house.
The Scope of Work
- Front screen door, door and frame
- The milk can by front door (prime rust spots)
- The railing sections, posts and mailbox
- Previously painted window frames
- The entrance way lattice sections and gate
- The red and green benches
- The side door frame and milkbox
- Four door frames and two doors at the back
- Four large shutters and two small shutters
Prep the above by scraping or sanding any peeling paint and caulk all cracks with acrylic caulking. Any exposed surfaces will be spot-primed and glossy areas will be sanded. Any patching will be done with exterior grade compounds. Two finish coats will be applied on the above areas.
Painting The Exterior Furniture
As part of the initial scope, we were to paint some red and green benches. They were built with red wood slats, screwed on green metal framing. The benches were structurally fine but they were showing their age and the paint needed re-doing. After tracking down the original green and red Tremclad colours, we prepared and painted them. The transformation was incredible. The customer was so happy with the results that she asked us to paint the rest of the metal furniture in the property. The extras were a metal table and chairs in the tremclad green and also some concrete ornaments.
About Tremclad Rust Paint
It would not be an exaggeration to say that you can find an old used can of tremclad paint in most Canadian basements. Year after year, Canadians would head over to Canadian Tire, get some Tremclad paint and refinish their exterior metal surfaces. Most homes had at least some black or white steel railing and many had metal furniture and garden tools that needed attention. Tremclad is now owned by Rust-Oleum but was first developed in 1921 by sea captain Robert Fergusson to protect ships from corrosion (source).
What makes Tremclad a versatile coating, is that it comes in most basic colours, and does not require a lot of prepwork. All you have to do is sand and scrape any loose rust and paint right over the problem. In most cases, you don’t need a primer, you can spot-prime with the paint. Having said that, Trem-clad does have a few primers, including a red oxide primer for metal. To add to its versatility, Tremclad is an acceptable finish product for properly prepped wood. You would need to prime new wood with a wood primer. During the last few years, most Tremclad products also come in acrylic Direct to Metal (DTM) finishes. We had a chance to use their water based products and we were pleased with the performance.
The Colours
The main colour was Benjamin Moore’s Albescent OC-40. We used Albescent for the wood trim, including the extensive lattice fencing at the front of the house. The exterior of the front door, wood screen door and the milk can was painted in the colour Jamestown Blue HC-148. Jamestown Blue is an aged looking blue, part of Benjamin Moore’s Historical Collection.
The shutters and the metal furniture was a basic green from Tremclad. The red for the furniture was Royal Red, a premixed red colour from Tremclad. The colour scheme was already there, all we needed to do was refresh the colour and bring the surfaces back to life.
This house exterior now blends in nicely with the landscape of the neighbourhood, and it’s now a classic older Scarborough house.
In Conclusion
This has been a fun job. There were a few hot days but the satisfaction of a job well done made it all worth it. The customer was so happy with the exterior paint work she asked us to paint the interior of the house after removing some of the old wallpaper. We are looking forward to being able to do this work for her in the future. It’s always a great feeling when you’re able to surpass the customers’ expectations.
1 thought on “Cute Scarborough House”