How To Get Optimal Results With Exterior Painting by Optimal Painting
Unless you’d like to repaint the exterior of your house every 7 to 10 years or so, getting a long-lasting result will be imperative. Exterior painting can be a massive job, but it must be a part of maintaining and protecting the house from the elements.
Getting optimal results with exterior painting mean you won’t have to do it again any time soon. As with any project you’d want to do or hire someone to do for your house, you want it to turn out right!
As a house painting contractor in the Cleveland, OH, area, we wanted to share the following tips with you on how to get the best exterior painting results.
Mind The Weather & Try To Plan For Contingencies
Some people rightfully wonder if house painting is a good idea in cold weather or on very humid days. Exterior painting may be better left for warmer or dryer weather. If it’s colder than 35° F or it’s been raining a lot, and rain is still in the forecast.
Latex paint dries much quicker than oil-based, and there are special paints we use, which dry extremely fast. However, cold and wet weather can cause problems. You can’t paint your house when the rain is running down the siding. Likewise, the cold can leave an oil-based paint sticky for weeks.
Humidity levels above 70 percent will lead to slow drying and curing, making the job challenging, but it is still possible. We recommend not painting at humidity levels higher than this unless you're a professional who knows what they're doing, or else the paint won’t have enough time to solidify and will get wavy or very dirty.
Try to plan your exterior painting project when it’s between 50°- 85° F or choose an industrial-grade paint that’s rated for 35° F.
- Cold affects paint drying
- Wet weather and high humidity affects paint drying
Choose The Right Type of Exterior Paint For The Surface
As you paint, you may be painting over different kinds of surfaces such as a metal exterior door, wooden trim work, or aluminum siding. It’s important to know what type of paint you are reapplying and also use the appropriate primer, or there will be peeling, bubbling, and other problems.
If priming is necessary before painting the exterior, make sure you’re using the right kind of primer to go with the paint. Acrylic or water-based primers should be applied underneath water-based paint, and oil-based primer is correct for oil-based paint.
Power Wash Before Exterior Painting
Prep work always takes the longest of any project, but it’s worth doing because it directly affects the outcome. Unless you’ve already had the seasonal house washing done, plan to include it in your exterior painting budget.
While it’s not always necessary, we’ll bet you’ll need power washing before painting. Applying paint over grime will inevitably result in problems because it won’t adhere to the surface.
