Kitchen & Bathroom Updates in Toronto & the GTA

Should you paint your cabinets or replace them?

Paint them when the boxes are sound and the layout works for you. Replace them when the boxes are swollen from water, the doors are coming apart, or you want the kitchen laid out differently.

Many kitchen updates are a mix. The cabinets stay and are painted, while the counters, backsplash, sink and lighting are new. That keeps the largest single cost of a new kitchen out of the job.

Water damage is the usual deal-breaker. A sink base with a soft, swollen floor gets replaced, whatever happens to the rest of the kitchen. Paint or replace kitchen cabinets walks through the choice, and the cabinet painting cost guide shows what painting them costs.

Which kitchen and bathroom work needs a building permit?

In Toronto, the line is drawn at plumbing and at walls. Toronto Building's list says you need a permit to install or modify a plumbing system, and to add or remove walls. Installing cabinets and millwork, or repairing and replacing plumbing fixtures, needs none.

So a new vanity, toilet or faucet in the same place usually needs no permit. Moving the sink to an island, adding a shower where there was none, or opening the wall between the kitchen and the dining room does. When do I need a building permit? has the city's full list.

Electrical work is separate. The contractor doing it files a notification of work with the Electrical Safety Authority, which serves as the electrical permit, and a building permit doesn't cover it. Other GTA cities keep their own permit lists, so your quote names the permits your job needs wherever you live.

Who does the plumbing, electrical and gas work?

Trades who hold their own Ontario licences for it, hired for your job. Ontario allows only an electrical contractor holding an ESA licence to be hired for electrical work in a home. ESA's guide to finding the right contractor shows how to check a licence number.

Plumbing is a compulsory trade in Ontario. A plumber needs a Certificate of Qualification, or a registered apprenticeship, and appears on Skilled Trades Ontario's public register.

Gas work, such as moving a range's gas line, goes to a contractor registered with the TSSA, whose technicians hold gas certificates. The TSSA explains why in hire registered and certified professionals.

What keeps a bathroom from going mouldy?

Controlling moisture, more than any one product. A bathroom fan that vents outdoors removes the damp air a shower makes. A fan that blows into the attic only moves the problem somewhere you can't see it.

Behind the tile in a shower goes a waterproof layer, because tile and grout alone let water through over time. Around the tub and the vanity, a flexible sealant closes the joints that grout would crack along.

Paint matters too. Bathroom walls and ceilings take a paint made for humid rooms, usually in a satin or semi-gloss sheen that wipes clean. The paint sheen guide explains the choice.

What should a renovation quote and contract spell out?

The scope room by room, every material by brand and line, the trades and the permits, the price plus HST, and the dates. In Toronto, a renovator must also sign a written contract with you on the city's own form before any work starts. Any extra work needs its own written contract first.

If you sign a renovation contract at your home, Ontario gives you a 10-day cooling-off period to cancel it. Your rights when starting home renovations or repairs explains it. For the painting part of the job, what a painting quote should include is a good checklist.