Morning All,
Looking to determine what would be the best, and worse, times of the year to have my house repaited by professionals. I live in Buford, Georgia (30519) and have a two-story house with two-story porch elevation and dormer windows above (functional ornament windows on roof). While the front elevation is brick, there is a lot of painted wood surfaces (porches, windows & doors, bay window, ledgers, etc.).
The other three sides (non-front) are Hardiplank, and the backside of the home is actually three-stories tall due to a daylight (walk-out) basement. Trying to determine what portion(s) of the calendar year is (are) good my my area to paint a house. I would be looking for pressure-washing, re-caulking and sealing, etc. and then painting.
The Hardiplank is holding up fine (current, original paint is at least four years old contractor/builder paint), but the non-Hardi wood items were not primered and with builder paint is coming off like a 2-week old bad sunburn. The past 3-4 Springs have shown a tremendous pollenating condition in the North Georgia area and I think this needs to be put into consideration, too.
Suggestions, advice? Just trying to make sure someone passing themselves off as a professional does come and suggest a re-paint during the time of year most FH’ers would say is a bad time of the year. Thanks in advance!
Replies
For a DIY job, whenever you have the time (and it's not raining) is the right time.
Otherwise, there are several considerations:
-- You shouldn't paint when it's too hot. Precisely how hot is too hot depends on other factors, but when temps start tickling 90 it's not good for either paint or painter.
-- You shouldn't paint when it's too cold. For most paints about 50 is the lower limit -- you shouldn't paint when temps may drop below 50 in the next 4-8 hours.
-- You shouldn't paint when it's too wet. With oil paints you need everything to be perfectly dry, and for some you need relatively low humidity. With latex it actually helps if the surface is ever so slightly damp, but additional moisture, especially in the form of dew or rain within the next 4-8 hours, can make a mess of things. (So those spring and fall days when it's dewy in the morning or may get dewy at night may not be ideal, even though the temps are right.)
-- You shouldn't paint when it's too dry. Low humidity isn't a big deal with oils, but if latex paints dry out too quickly they don't "set" properly.
-- You shouldn't paint when it's too windy. Dries out the paint too quickly and blows trash into the wet paint, plus makes ladder work more dangerous.
-- You shouldn't paint in the sun. Dries out the paint too quickly. (It helps to plan things so you can paint on the shady side of the house. For a pure southern exposure you may have to wait for a cloudy day, or do it first thing in the morning or at dusk.)
-- You shouldn't paint when it's cloudy. Well, not totally true, but if you're washing the house it's good to have some sun to help it dry before you paint. Sometimes you can plan so that you wash the sunny side and it dries in the sun before that side gets shaded, at which time you can paint.
Keep in mind, though, that much of the effort that goes into a good paint job is the preparation, and most of that can be done any time the weather is bearable for the worker.
Hmm, best time is one of those eternal questions. It's the same time as when it is best to roof, too <g>
You can try checking this site out: http://www.dryday.com/30dayWeather/US/Georgia/Buford.html
No guarantees (it is the weather), but some science can help (I hope).