Getting Your Ottawa Home Ready For Selling

When getting your home ready for sale in Ottawa, it isn’t uncommon for the real estate agent to do a walk around with the client. It’s at this time that the agent will make all kinds of recommendations for improvement in order to sell the home quickly and for top dollar. A common recommendation is for the house to be painted either in its entirety or partially. In order for this to be done, all holes must be properly patched in order to be able to apply the paint to it.

That’s where PatchBoyz comes in. While painters are equipped for small dent repairs, they do not have the supplies and often the desire to patch bigger holes in drywall or plaster cracks. Especially when it comes to bigger patches requiring new drywall, tape, and 3 coats of mud. These take a lot of time and are not what the painter specializes in. This delays the painter from doing his regular work, which he knows how to do skillfully and quickly. These last 2 adjectives are of the utmost importance as painters are often paid by contract and not by the hour. Meaning that the quicker they finish, the more money they make per hour/per job.

Painters will often request that the home-owner hire somebody to complete the repairs ahead of time in order for them to come in and do their job. Patchboyz comes in, and in a matter of hours, rather than days, drywalls and patches the holes, sand them and primes them for the painters.

While many handymen claim they are well versed in mudding or plastering or mudding, as it is often called, it’s important to know that it takes thousands of hours of practice for someone to be able to quickly and efficiently apply a quick-hardening compound in the right manner to which minimal sanding is required. While a handyman may be able to leave a decent product with regular mud which takes days to dry, it is often not a perfect finish, especially when the morning or evening light hits the repair. These 2 times of day are what separate the handymen from professional mudders.

Handymen will often not use a finishing blade for their patches, but rather stick to a hoc and trowel or a dish and putty knife for the entire process.

Sometimes the repairs needed are more than just regular wear and tear on the home. Kids may have decided to test the limits of a walls rigidity. Maybe an armoire was knocked over and crashed into an adjacent wall, maybe a door was swung open too fast and the handle damaged the wall behind it. Perhaps the removal of a thermostat or ac unit left a big hole. There are many different reasons for which we are left with big empty holes in our walls. But there is only one solution. Patchboyz is it. This is all we do, nothing else.

We often get the question “do you fix popcorn ceilings?” The answer is Yes, absolutely. Popcorn ceilings are merely drywall with a textured spray, called stipple. To fix these holes, the process is roughly the same with a few exceptions. The first is this. The stipple adjacent to the hole must be scraped in order for us to apply mud in an even fashion. The second is protection. The scraping of the textured ceiling, as well as the application of the stipple, either through use of a pump or a compressor connecter sprayer, leaves a very big mess. It’s for this reason that we create a contained area from the start, in order to minimize the mess. Once the patch has been sprayed and painted, the containment area is taken apart and the plastic is placed in your garbage bin. These materials are harmless and can be disposed of. There is a very important consideration, however. If your home was built in the early 70s and prior, there is a chance that the materials contain Asbestos, a harmful carcinogen that can become airborne. The adverse side effects of asbestos in Ottawa are Asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. We won’t get into the details of these three here, but suffice to say they are life limiting.

Some of our Patchboyz are certified in mould and hazardous materials remediation and are qualified to remove these through a contained area and air-tight procedures. Of course, this comes at a cost. Then again, assuming that the person who created the hole or made the electrical or plumbing repair was a seasoned tradesman, he or she will have alerted you to this fact, long before we show up on site.

If you’ve been calling around for a drywall repair contractor, you’ve certainly come to learn that most contractors aren’t thrilled about fixing your small hole and are after the bigger jobs. You may have heard something along the lines of “I can swing by after my job on Friday night”. You may also have had the unfortunate happening of them not showing up after making you wait several days. We know how it is. It’s unfortunate that this happens, but that’s why we’re here for you, is to solve this exact problem.

On top of the drywaller’s lack of reliability and less than thrilled attitude towards the repair, he would then leave you with a sanded patch that you would need to prime and paint yourself, not to mention all the dust you’d have to clean up after he’s sanded his patch.

With Patchboyz, Our responsibilities don’t end at the mudding. We sand and dust control through the use of either plastic or expensive equipment. Then we prime it and paint it. We can even take care of colour matching if you simply don’t have time to go to an Ottawa paint store with a paint chip from your wall. We’re here to serve and we can cover every aspect of this repair. This is all we do and we get it done in a day whenever possible..

Why did we start PatchBoyz? We started Patchboyz to help those that need their drywall repaired. People that need real service now, not on a Friday afternoon as an afterthought to a bigger job.

If we can help you fix your home, give us a call, we’d love to discuss your repair with you and see if we’re a good fit. If not, our advice is free!