One of the most striking and reasonably priced improvements you can do is paint the outside of your house. A brand-new exterior paint job may instantly give your home a modern, clean, and welcoming appearance.
But when is the right time to undertake exterior house painting? And what factors should you consider when deciding whether your home’s exterior paint is due for a refresh? This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know.
Why Bother Painting Your House Exterior?
Before diving into the specifics of when and how to paint your home's exterior, it's helpful to review the key reasons for doing so in the first place:
Curb Appeal & Resale Value A new, well-done paint job is one of the simplest ways to boost your home’s curb appeal dramatically. Exterior paint coats the surfaces that people see when they drive by or come to visit your home. Fresh, clean, stylish exterior paint makes an excellent first impression and makes your house more attractive to potential home buyers.
Weather Protection Exterior paint serves an important weatherproofing function. It provides a protective barrier between your home’s outer materials (siding, trim, etc.) and the elements like sun, rain, snow, wind, pollution, and temperature fluctuations. Quality exterior paint formulations are designed to expand and contract along with your home’s materials, so it doesn’t crack or peel.
Preventing Damage & Decay Regarding weather protection, a sound exterior paint job prevents moisture from seeping into cracks, joints, and porous building materials. This moisture protection minimizes rot, mold growth, infections from pests/insects, and other deterioration issues. Catching and re-coating paint flaws quickly extends the lifespan of your home’s siding, trim, window frames, and other underlying structures.
Lower Energy Costs Surprisingly, a fresh coat of light, reflective exterior house paint can modestly improve your home’s energy efficiency. By reflecting rather than absorbing solar radiation, exterior paint helps reduce heat transfer into and out of your home. This puts less demand on heating/cooling systems. Proper exterior paint also provides an added layer of insulation.
When Should You Paint Your House Exterior?
Now that you know the main reasons for exterior painting, how do you know when it's time to break out the paint brushes for your own home?
1. Visible Exterior Paint Damage or Wear
As your home’s exterior paint reaches the end of its functional lifespan, certain telltale signs of damage begin to appear. These include:
- Flaking, cracking, or peeling sections of paint
- Fading or dullness compared to the original color/finish
- Visible discoloration from pollution, mold, mildew buildup
- Areas where paint film has worn off entirely exposing bare wood or other material
If you notice more than a few small areas with symptoms like these, your exterior siding and trim likely need repainting soon. Catching this early prevents more costly repairs later.
2. It Has Been Over 7-10 Years Since Last Painted
As a general guideline, you should plan on repainting your home’s exterior every 7-10 years. Higher-quality exterior paints formulated specifically for homes may last 10-15 years. While some exteriors hold up fine beyond this timeframe, the 7-10 year mark is a good rule of thumb for when to evaluate condition and spot check for early warning signs listed above.
If it has been over 10 years since your home’s last exterior paint job, start looking closely for any flaws, damage, or fading to determine if repainting this season makes sense.
3. You Notice Early Signs of Wood Damage Beneath Paint
If you begin noticing exterior damage like soft, spongy, or warped sections of wood siding or trim, inspect to see if these areas correspond to flaws in the paint coat above. Early deterioration of underlying wood typically results from moisture seeping through compromised areas of failing paint. Addressing this promptly by prep, priming, and repainting is critical to avoid further decay or insect infestations beneath the surface.
Best Time of Year for Exterior House Painting So when exactly should you pinpoint for tackling the process of exterior painting? The ideal months differ slightly by climate:
Summer In warmer climates without harsh winters, early summer can work nicely for exterior home painting once temperatures are warm enough for paint to cure properly above 50°F. Just avoid mid-summer's hottest weeks when the blistering sun bakes the house surface all day.
Fall
For regions with cold snowy winters, scheduling exterior paint jobs in the early fall months brings generally comfortable average temps in the 60-75°F range along with low humidity. This climate combo is perfect for paint application and ample drying time before winter.
Spring
Late spring and early summer tend to offer the best overall weather nationwide for exterior home painting once the rainy season ends. Temperatures are mild, rainfall tapers off, and humidity remains relatively low during spring in most years. Just watch weather forecasts for the 10-14 total dry days needed.
Inspect Everything Closely, Make Repairs
Walk around your home and scrutinize all exterior surfaces to get painted. Repair issues like loose shutters or siding, damaged trim, cracks wider than a pencil, rotting sections of wood, and pooling water spots. Replace any materials too far gone to mend.
Use caulk and filler products to fix smaller flaws in siding, brickwork, and areas around windows/doors/vents. Make sure any new exterior materials added have time to properly cure before priming and painting.
Wash & Degrease Every Surface
Plan to hire an experienced professional house washer for this demanding job or rent a serious power washer if DIYing. Work methodically around the house washing from top to bottom. Pay special attention to especially dirty areas around vents, under eaves, porch ceilings, and areas with mildew growth.
Let all washed exterior surfaces dry out completely over 2-3 sunny days before continuing with other prep work and priming/painting.
Scrape, Sand, and tape Off Surrounding Areas
Once washed/dried, manually scrape peeling areas down to an intact paint layer or bare surface. Use palm sanders with 60-80 grit sandpaper to shiny finishes for optimal paint bonding. Apply painter’s tape around windows, trim and any items not getting painted. Protect plants against overspray using fabric drop cloths secured to your home. Consider renting a paint spray containment enclosure.
Spot Prime Bare Wood & Patched Areas
Use high-quality oil or shellac-based exterior primer to lock bare wood surfaces. Be sure to spot prime recent repairs and naked areas where paint scraped off. This prevents moisture intrusion plus topcoat repaints bond optimally to primer instead of raw wood or patching materials.
Give primer coats ample drying time based on product instructions before painting!
DIY Exterior House Painting
If hiring pro painters exceeds your budget or sweat equity ranks high on your priorities, carefully weigh undertaking the exterior painting yourself or alongside helpful friends and family. Some key pointers:
Establish a Multi-Day Gameplan
Realistic timeframe accounting for a thorough 7-10 full prep workdays PLUS another week of all-day painting time for a typical single-family house. Adjust estimates longer for multi-story homes, elaborate decorative details, and additional outbuildings getting painted.
Organize Material Staging, Storage & Disposal
Map out space for delivering, mixing, and staging painting materials away from home entrances so fumes don’t overwhelm interior spaces. Set up tarps below work areas and arrange debris disposal bins, and wagons for transporting heavy items.
Invest in Pro-Grade Equipment
Upgrading to commercial painter’s caulk guns, sprayers, ladders, lighting, scaffolds, and lifts makes achieving professional quality results much more realistic on expansive exteriors. Don’t skimp here!
Apply Primer & Paint Methodically Section-by-Section
Map out segmented painting orders around your home for the smoothest logistics, adequate drying crossover time, and easiest touchups. Stick to the system of washing, scraping, priming, and painting in sequence one facade area at a time. Consider a separate paint team focused just on trim details.
Inspect Progress Frequently
QA work in progress every few hours for consistency of coverage, quality of cut-lines, uniform wet-edges between batches, and other flaws needing immediate correction like drips down glass. Rework problem spots ASAP before moving the listing to the next section.
Allow Ample Total Cure Time
Remember, exterior paint reaches rock-hard “full cure” only after 30-90 days post-application. Avoid activities that could damage the paint surface like placing ladders or moving furniture against freshly painted walls during this initial curing phase.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this detailed overview gives you confidence in determining when exterior painting is warranted for protecting your home as well as making it look its best. Pay attention to telltale signs of existing paint beginning to fail, allow for proper timing of weather conditions in your area, stick to proven preparation essentials, invest in top-quality painting materials, and adopt productivity techniques used by professionals. If done right, you can expect your home’s fresh exterior paint job to last beautifully for years before needing attention again!