When is the best time of year to paint your home’s exterior? In the north Houston region, that time is coming up pretty soon. Autumn is typically a great season for exterior paint because of the cooler temperatures, but also important is the lower humidity.
When you’re painting the interior of your home, you can easily control the conditions by adjusting your thermostat to get the best possible environment for the paint to cure (dry). But, when it comes to painting outdoors, unfortunately, you have no control over the weather.
Paint should only be applied to a clean, dry surface. Otherwise, you’ll have problems like streaking, peeling, or even mold growth beneath the paint’s surface. If it has recently rained, wait a full day before applying paint outside and be sure to check each area is totally dry before you begin.
The chances of an unexpected afternoon thunderstorm are dwindling as we move later into September and October. Decreased heat and humidity make the outdoors not only more tolerable for the painter, but for the paint as well. And lower humidity will mean drier surfaces.
Painting under hot, direct sunlight could cause the paint to dry too quickly – it can dry during application and not adhere properly. Most paint products recommend application in temperatures below 85-90 degrees. Conversely, painting when it is very cold, say, less than 45 degrees, will also alter the drying speed, giving you less-than-optimal results.
These guidelines apply to most exterior surfaces, such as siding, brick, stucco, and wood. If you only need to paint decorative shutters, for example, you could remove them and bring them indoors for painting where you can control the temperature.
The experts at Spear Paint are ready to paint your home’s exterior. We want you to love where you live and are here to help you achieve this goal. Call us today at 713-664-5150 so that we can get started on your project.