Home Renovation Service
Home Renovation in The Beaches
Kew Beach · Balmy Beach · Upper Beaches · Kingston Road
Beaches houses: old cottages, sandy lots, and a lot of character to keep
The Beaches started as summer cottages and grew into a neighbourhood through the 1910s and 1920s, so the houses run from small winterized cottages to large detached homes on the ravine streets above Queen. Shingle and clapboard sit next to brick, and many houses have been added onto more than once: a kitchen bumped out the back in the 1950s, a sunroom in the 1970s, a second-floor bedroom over the porch later still. The renovation questions here are usually about keeping what people bought the house for, such as wide pine or oak floors, deep trim, the front porch and the stair, while getting a kitchen and bathrooms that work for a family. Lots closer to the lake sit on sandy soil with a high water table in places, so we check the basement for water history before finishing anything below grade.
Price ranges: Toronto · cost guide
Proof of work
Recent projects in The Beaches and Toronto
One project on this site was completed in The Beaches and is shown first. The rest are elsewhere in Toronto, labelled with where they were built. See all Toronto projects.
Beaches pockets, from the boardwalk to Kingston Road
Kew Beach
Older detached houses and winterized cottages close to the boardwalk and Kew Gardens. Interiors reworked around years of additions, with floors that change level at each join. Basements are often partial, a crawlspace under one section and a cellar under another, so we test both for moisture first.
Balmy Beach
The east end near the club, with larger detached homes and a few surviving early cottages. Wood siding and porches mean the house moves with the seasons. Inside, kitchens and primary suites are reworked, and we keep original doors and hardware wherever owners ask.
Glen Manor & the ravine streets
Larger houses on sloped lots near Glen Stewart Ravine. Kitchens joined to a rear deck door and walk-out lower levels fitted out as family space. Slopes put water against the uphill basement wall, which we deal with before anything is framed down there.
Upper Beaches & Kingston Road
Semis and smaller detached homes north of Kingston Road, mostly brick, on tighter lots. Main-floor openings, rebuilt bathrooms, and basements with a three-piece bath added. These houses are more uniform, so we can quote them faster than the older lots by the water.
Queen Street East
Houses and flats above shops along and just off Queen. Narrow access, street parking that is hard to book, and older mixed-use buildings. We plan deliveries early in the morning and use a permitted street bin, and price the extra carrying into the quote.
Tying three additions into one Beaches house
A Beaches renovation often starts with a puzzle: the original cottage, a 1950s rear kitchen, and a later sunroom, each on its own foundation and at its own height. We open the joins first. Where floors meet at different levels, we either sister and shim the joists to bring them flush or keep a deliberate step and make it look intended. Old framing at the junctions is checked for rot, and each addition’s footing is looked at from below. Then the kitchen is rebuilt across what used to be two rooms, with a beam where the old exterior wall stood. Wiring in additions is usually a different age in each section, so it is replaced as a whole. Pine floors are patched with reclaimed boards and refinished. The basement under the original house is waterproofed if it needs it before anything is finished. Four to six months is typical.
People also ask
Home Renovation questions - The Beaches
What drives the cost of a home renovation in The Beaches?
The additions and the soil. Most Beaches houses have been added onto at least once, so floors are levelled and framing repaired where the sections meet. Sandy lots near the lake mean we check the basement for water first, and waterproofing, when needed, is a fixed $8,000–$25,000 line. The drive from Mississauga is the longest in our Toronto area, but it carries no surcharge.
Have you worked in the Beaches?
Yes. A full home renovation in the Beaches is on our projects page, with photos, and it appears first on this page ahead of our other Toronto work. It is the same crew and the same drive from our Mississauga shop that you would get. The Beaches sits inside our regular Toronto service area, so there is no travel charge even though it is one of the longer drives we make.
My Beaches house has had several additions. Is that a problem?
It is common here, and it mostly means floor levels that do not line up and older framing at each join. We open those junctions carefully, level floors where they meet, and check that each addition’s foundation and roof tie-in is sound before finishing over it. If a roof joint leaks, that repair goes to a roofer before our interior work closes the ceiling. None of it is unusual; it simply needs to be in the plan.
Let’s talk
Contact Osoba Renos & Design
Planning a home renovation in The Beaches? Book a free in-home estimate.
- Phone647-562-4275
- E-mailosobarenos@gmail.com
- Service areaMississauga & GTA