As a homeowner, it’s likely that you’re going to want to have the exterior of your home painted every now and then to enhance its appearance. When you first think about painting the exterior of your home, you may think that summertime is the best time to do so. There’s less inclement weather to deal with and the sun will dry that paint up really fast, right?
A Closer Look at the Drying Process
Before we dive into why overly hot temperatures can be bad for exterior home painting services, we need to provide you with some insight into the paint drying process. After paint application, it will typically be dry to the touch within a couple of hours. This is referred to as paint drying, and it isn’t the whole story.
Paint curing is a necessary part of the exterior painting process that helps to ensure a great, long-lasting look. It’s crucial to realize that paint curing actually takes about two weeks to finish. When your paint is properly cured, it has reached its ultimate hardness level and is 100% dry throughout all layers. Once properly cured, you can wash your home without any worries about destroying your new exterior paint job.
How Can Overly Hot Weather Affect Paint
When weather conditions are too hot, they can wreak havoc on the exterior of your home. Instead of allowing your paint to cure properly over two weeks, the heat will penetrate the layers of paint and cause it to dry too quickly. When the paint isn’t allowed proper curing time, it can result in unwanted discoloration, blisters, lifting, cracks, and bumps. Contrary to popular thought, it’s best to paint in cooler temperatures to ensure a properly cured paint job. Faster isn’t better when it comes to painting!
When Should I Schedule Exterior Painting Services?
The best time of year to plan on having your home painted is in the springtime. Latex paint is recommended to be applied at temperatures ranging from 50 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Other paints can be applied at temperatures between 60 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. However, you can’t just use the outside temperature as your gauge for ideal paint application conditions. It’s a bit more complicated than that.
It’s essential to realize that the exterior of your home can get up to 20 degrees warmer than the outside air temperature. This happens when a side of your home is in the direct sunlight. You must take that temperature increase into consideration when determining whether or not the temperature is too hot to paint. For example, let’s say that it’s 85 degrees Fahrenheit outside. If any side of your home receives direct sunlight, its surface temperature can actually be 105 degrees Fahrenheit. That is way too hot to be applying paint as it will dry too quickly and mess up the necessary curing process.
Humidity Plays a Large Role Too
Anyone that has lived in Oakland County MI for a summer knows that humidity levels can get quite high. That mugginess is not only unbearable to work in, but it can greatly impact the overall quality of your exterior paint job. When excess moisture gets trapped in the air, it will seep into the paint as it’s applied. Suddenly, the solvent to water ratio in the paint is much different from what the manufacturer intended.
This thinner paint mixture will actually extend the overall drying time needed. Also, if you have a wood exterior on your home or even wood fascia or soffit boards, moisture can wreak havoc on them as well. You’ll find that overly humid wood will cause bubbling and peeling of paint after application.
The Best Way to Avoid These Problems
Probably the best way to avoid having problems with your exterior paint job is to call in a professional. Don’t waste your time searching for ‘ painters near me ‘. At LRM Painting in Oakland County MI, we actively monitor the weather and temperature conditions to ensure that we only paint when we know that the paint will turn out with a beautiful finish. We’ll assess your home and its position with respect to the sun to determine how and when the ideal paint job can take place.
It’s best to give us a call to schedule your exterior painting job. You can rely on our painting team to provide you with a free estimate and consultation to help determine the best colors to enhance the exterior look of your home.
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