After you have gathered all your supplies, painting a home is hard to wait on. The prospect of giving your home a new look often pushes homeowners to action. But, exterior painting often requires the right conditions to ensure a quality coating. And, with spring and summer rains as a potential threat to paint drying properly, you want to make sure you know what time to paint after a drizzle.
By working with Van Tuinen Painting, our professionals help you schedule during spring and summer for the perfect painting experience. We know homeowners want their home’s painting done and done right. So, we schedule during the best time of year for guaranteed success upon application. Now, let’s see what makes some of those perfect painting conditions!
How long do I need to wait?
First and foremost, never consider painting a home right after rain. This applies for both painting an unpainted surface or doing a new coat over fully-cured paint. This also applies no matter the amount of rain that has fallen. A wet surface usually means an unpaintable surface if you want a great finished coating.
What effect water has on paint
When done in the proper conditions, paint sets in just a few hours. But, this obviously changes depending on what of paint you’re using for your home and the weather for the day. When painting on a wet surface, you run the risk of peeling and blistering down the road. Depending on the humidity levels of where you live, this could mean waiting even a few days after a hard rain to ensure a dry surface. And, even then, on the day that you want to paint, you want to check the dew point. If the dew paint has stayed consistently closer to “wet” status, then paint might still run into the same problems.
Typically, this means the time you need to wait ranges anywhere from 4-12 hours. Depending on the consistency of humidity and your dewpoint, you may even need to wait 1-2 days to ensure a dry surface. Humidity greatly effects the amount of moisture lingering from rain. You also need to pay attention to non-flat surfaces on the home. Sections that the sun doesn’t regularly hit, cracked areas, holes left from removed nails, and trim all typically need some additional time to dry. So, after a rain, wait the appropriate amount of time depending on the weather, how much sunlight helps to dry your home, and the overall wetness of your siding. At the end of the day, a dry surface stays the best painting surface. And, using the best painting products can also help to fight the elements for the perfect finish.
Always use professional paint
As for type of paint, it’s important to use professional-grade products that guarantee a great finish. Van Tuinen Painting typically paints with Benjamin Moore, Pratt & Lambert and Sherwin Williams. After years of work in the painting business, we’ve come to trust these brands more than most. Once temperatures, humidity and dewpoint, and the dryness of your siding all reach a point of dry that you can trust, using paints such as these make sure that your coating applies smoothly and will then last for years to come.
Ideal conditions for painting a home
When it comes to painting a home, the right conditions make for a more even surface and guaranteed drying. When a surface is wet and paint is applied, the paint doesn’t adhere to the surface correctly. This happens even when a few scattered drops lie on the surface. Freezing conditions as well as overly-hot or humid conditions may also affect the paint surface. That’s why Spring, Summer, and even early Autumn make for a great time to paint. Hot, dry seasons may frustrate lawn lovers out there, but they often make for the perfect painting conditions.
When you schedule with Van Tuinen Painting, you not only guarantee painting done at the right time, but also you ensure correct application of exterior home paint. Through years of experience, our team knows when conditions might lead to a less-than-perfect application. So, contact us today to schedule trusted exterior home painting!
