We have a lot of homeowners asking about fall painting ideas and when it is a good time to consider painting a home. Can you paint in the cold weather? Should you wait until spring or summer to paint? Painting in cold weather is unavoidable and as a professional painting company, we have the tools and equipment needed to do the job correctly.
What Happens to Paint in Cold Weather
To understand if you should or should not paint the exterior of your home in the cold weather, it helps to understand how cold can impact your paint application. Paint can be altered by temperature as it changes the drying pattern, which can impact the overall characteristics and performance of paint. Depending upon the paint, some of them will become extremely thick when exposed to colder temperatures. Latex paint actually freezes at low temperatures and will need additives to improve the freeze resistance in paint.
Is the Paint Bad?
While we recommend purchasing new paint before painting a home, we do have some homeowners with old paint that just need to touch up some areas on the exterior of the home. Old paint can freeze and thaw if it isn’t stored properly over the years, which means an old gallon of latex paint can be lumpy and unusable.
Painting in Cold Weather
One of the things you need to worry about with cold weather is the drying time. If you paint in cold, you need to be prepared for the recoat time frame difference. A recoat time for latex paint at an average of 75 degrees is about four hours. When you are dealing with colder temperatures the drying time can be extended upwards of six to eight hours. However, cold temperatures below 50 degrees can take two days to dry. Some of the reasons why cold weather painting can be problematic is due to the following issues:
- Cracking film
- Improper drying
- Poor stain resistance
- Color uniformity problems
- Poor touch ups
- Water spotting problems
- Powdery film caused by improper film formation
If you need assistance with your exterior home painting, call Brush Brothers Painting today!