Exterior & Interior Parging

Exterior parging is the cement coat that covers the exposed part of your foundation, the strip of wall between the soil line and your brick or siding. It does two jobs. It seals the block or poured concrete underneath against rain, snow and our freeze-thaw winters, and it gives the base of the house a clean, finished look. When that coat cracks, flakes or lets go, water gets in behind it and every winter makes things worse.

We apply new parge coats and redo tired ones on homes across the GTA. Some jobs are a full wrap around the foundation. Others are a single wall that took a beating from a leaky downspout. Either way, the prep and the materials are the same, done properly so the new coat bonds tight and stays put. If the damage is patchy rather than widespread, our parging repair service may be the better fit, and we will tell you so at the quote stage.

What's included in our exterior parging service

No two walls arrive in the same condition, so we start with an honest assessment before anyone mixes a bag. A typical exterior job includes:

• Full surface prep. We chip away loose, hollow and flaking parging down to sound material, then clean the wall so nothing weak is left underneath.
• Bonding agent. A proper bonding coat so the new parge grips the old wall instead of sitting on top of it.
• Cement-based parge coat. Applied by trowel and finished to the texture you want, smooth or lightly floated.
• Clean edges and lines. Tidy transitions at the brick line, corners, steps and grade.
• Full cleanup. We haul away the debris and leave your garden beds and walkways the way we found them.

How we apply a parge coat that lasts

Most parging fails for one of two reasons: it went over a dirty or unstable surface, or it was mixed and cured wrong. We control both. The wall is prepped and dampened, the mix is a proper cement-based parge blend rather than a thin slurry, and we apply it at the right thickness so it cures strong instead of cracking as it dries.

Timing matters too. Fresh parging needs above-freezing temperatures to cure, so we schedule exterior work for the warmer months and keep the coat moist in hot, dry spells. Done this way, a parge coat shrugs off freeze-thaw cycles for years instead of peeling by spring.

Interior parging for basement walls

The same coating works indoors. A parge coat over a rough block or rubble basement wall evens out the surface, cuts down on dust and brightens the room. It is a common step before finishing a basement, and a quick way to make a storage or laundry area easier to keep clean. See our basement parging page for the interior side, and if the exposed foundation itself is the concern, our foundation parging service covers that in depth.

Working on a house in the city itself? Toronto's older housing stock comes with its own quirks, so we built a page just for it. See exterior parging in Toronto.

Why homeowners choose us

We are a local crew that treats your home like our own. We show up when we say we will, we explain what the wall needs and what it does not, and we stand behind the work.

• 5-year workmanship warranty on every parge coat
• Free, same-day quotes with no pressure
• 5.0 Google rating from local homeowners
• Honest advice on repair versus recoat before you spend a dollar

Getting started is simple. Send a few photos through the quote form and we will usually have a number back to you the same day. You can read about how our process works from first call to final walkthrough, and check our service areas to confirm we cover your neighbourhood. We work across Toronto and the surrounding GTA, including Etobicoke, North York and Mississauga.