The community sits across the Markham and Vaughan boundary, so an address alone does not tell you which side you are on.
Much of the original stock dates from the 1970s, which means textured ceilings and original finishes still in place.
Cabinet repainting is the most requested single job here, in houses whose layouts are sound but whose finishes have dated.
On both sides of Yonge Street from Steeles north to roughly Highway 7, covering the Markham side to the east and the Vaughan side to the west, including Thornhill Woods, Bayview Glen and the older village core around Yonge and Centre. The original village predates almost everything around it, the bulk of the housing went up through the 1960s and 1970s, and recent decades have brought substantial rebuilding and infill on established lots.
Textured ceilings from the 1970s priced at their real rate, and tested before any removal is discussed.
Decades-old oil-based trim needs a bonding primer before a waterborne topcoat will hold.
Kitchen work priced per door and drawer front, with every door checked individually.
Infill houses on old streets are modern construction and are quoted as such.
The bulk of Thornhill’s housing went up through the 1960s and 1970s, which puts it in an awkward middle band. It is not old enough to be plaster, so the walls are drywall and predictable. It is old enough that a great deal of the original finish work is still in place, and finishes from that period behave differently to modern ones.
Two things show up repeatedly. Trim painted with oil-based enamel, which has hardened over decades into a surface that a waterborne product will not bond to without a mechanical key and a bonding primer. And textured ceilings, sprayed or hand-applied, which hold roughly twice the paint of a smooth ceiling and which fall inside the age band where removal needs a lab test first.
The most common single request we get in Thornhill is cabinet painting, and the reason is structural to the housing. These are well-built houses with sound cabinet boxes and layouts that still work, fitted with doors whose colour and finish belong firmly to a previous decade.
Repainting those doors costs a fraction of replacing the kitchen and, where the boxes and the layout are sound, gives most of the visual result. We price per door and drawer front and check each door individually, because a single failed thermofoil door does not condemn the job, it just needs replacing before the rest is sprayed.
Recent decades have brought substantial rebuilding on established Thornhill lots, so a single street can hold a 1972 sidesplit next to a house completed last year. They need different quotes.
We do not price from the street or the postcode. The walkthrough decides whether a house is 1970s stock with oil trim and textured ceilings, or modern construction with a thin builder coat that needs two coats to cover properly.
Yes, but not directly. A waterborne enamel applied straight onto aged oil-based trim will not bond and will peel at the edges within months. It needs a light sand to key the surface and a bonding primer first. Trim of that age in Thornhill houses is common enough that we check for it at every walkthrough.
Painting it is usually the better value and keeps the surface sealed. If the texture dates from the 1970s, removal starts with an asbestos test rather than a scraper, and a positive result turns the job into abatement. Painting textured ceilings runs $500 to $900 per room against $300 to $500 for smooth.
It depends which side of the boundary your street falls on. It does not change our pricing or our scheduling, since crews are assigned to the Thornhill area as a whole rather than by municipal line.