One city, five decades of houses
Malton and parts of Cooksville went up not long after the war, so you get small bungalows with lath in places and framing that sits wherever the carpenter felt like putting it. Applewood and Dixie came next with side-splits and back-splits. Erin Mills and Meadowvale are 1970s and 1980s subdivisions full of drywall, hollow-core doors that have dropped on their hinges, and windows already replaced once. Churchill Meadows and Lisgar are newer again, and the towers around Square One are newer still.
That range matters because the fix changes with the house. A bracket in a 2015 condo goes into a partition wall or straight into concrete, and those are different anchors and different tools. The same television in a Mineola home from the fifties might mean plaster over strapping instead. Checking comes before drilling, every time.
What people call me about
Across Mississauga the list barely changes from one month to the next.
- Flat-pack wardrobes and bed frames built in the room
- Kitchen taps, shower heads and running toilets replaced
- Interior doors adjusted until they latch again
- Dents and cracks in drywall patched, sanded and painted
- Light fittings, dimmers and ceiling fans swapped over
- Baseboards, quarter round and closet shelving fitted
- Backsplash tile laid and tired caulking cut out
Anything past swapping a fitting on an existing circuit belongs to a licensed electrician, and a drain buried behind a wall belongs to a licensed plumber. You will hear that from me on the phone, not after I have opened something up.
Working in the condo towers
Condo buildings near Square One, along the Hurontario corridor and down by the Mississauga lakeshore all run to the same rhythm. The concierge wants notice, the service elevator has to be booked, and management has its own paperwork before anything comes up in it. Send me the property manager's contact when you book and I will find out what the building expects ahead of the day, so nobody is standing in the lobby sorting it out.
Upstairs it is mostly anchors and dust control. Concrete takes a hammer drill and a sleeve anchor. Drywall partitions get toggle bolts. Everything takes a drop sheet, because a condo has nowhere to make mess.
Booking and how the day goes
Photos help more than anything else. A picture of the wall, the fitting or the flat-pack box usually gets you a price without a site visit first. You will hear back from me inside one business day, usually sooner. Hours are Monday to Saturday, 8 in the morning to 8 at night, and Sunday by appointment.
Several small jobs are best saved up. Six ten-minute tasks in one visit costs less than six separate trips across Mississauga. I supply materials and hand over the receipts, or I fit what you have already bought. When the work is done the offcuts and dust leave with me, and if something is not sitting right a week later I come back and put it right.
