Interior Painting in The Glebe
Interior rooms in century houses, where the walls are plaster, the ceilings are high and the trim is worth more than the paint going on it.
Paint Experts provides professional interior painting throughout The Glebe, Ottawa. An interior repaint in a century house is a restoration exercise more than a decorating one, and getting it right means treating the surfaces as things to be recovered rather than simply covered.
Preparing a plaster wall for a modern finish
Plaster does not fail like drywall. It cracks along stress lines that reopen seasonally, and sections can be intact but detached from the lath behind, which sounds hollow and moves under pressure. Filling those with a lightweight compound guarantees a repeat. We re-anchor loose areas, use setting compounds that cure hard rather than air-dry soft, and tape the cracks that are structural rather than cosmetic.
Ceiling height, cornices and cut lines above eye level
Nine and ten foot ceilings put the wall-to-ceiling junction well above where anyone can comfortably reach, and many Glebe rooms have a cornice or picture rail in the way of a straight cut. That is staging work. It is also where a rushed interior visibly falls apart, because the cut line sits directly in the sightline of anyone sitting in the room.
Questions about your project? Talk to us directly.
(613) 801-7316Painting original woodwork without losing the profile
Original baseboards, casings and rails have often accumulated many coats, and each one has softened the detail a little further. Where the profile has filled we sand back to recover it before recoating rather than adding to the problem. On any pre-1980 surface that work is done wet and contained, because older layers may contain lead and dry-sanding them in an occupied house is not acceptable.
Colour against original wood and period features
Many Glebe rooms retain stained wood somewhere — a staircase, a mantel, a set of doors — and the wall colour has to work with it rather than despite it. Warm original wood against a cool grey wall reads as a mistake in daylight even when both are attractive separately. We sample on the wall directly beside the retained element, and in the light the room actually gets.
Common questions
How much does interior painting cost in The Glebe?
$400 to $700 per room walls-only and $700 to $1,200 with trim and ceiling, though older rooms with plaster repair and original trim sit at the upper end because the preparation is greater.
My plaster cracks keep coming back. Why?
They were probably filled rather than repaired. Structural cracks reopen seasonally unless they are taped, and loose plaster needs re-anchoring to the lath before any filler goes near it.
Can you paint original trim without losing the detail?
Yes, by sanding back accumulated coats to recover the profile first. On pre-1980 surfaces that is done wet and contained.
Quote my Glebe interior
Tell us the rooms and roughly the age of the house. We will walk it and quote in writing.