Summer House Painting

Planning a bit of DIY house painting this summer?

Maybe you’ve heard the old line -“Ah Summer! Summer at the beach, summer on holiday and summer painting the House!

If you’ve been landed with the job then its wise to plan ahead, so listening to the weather forecast is the first step.

The ideal weather for most house painting is a temperature of around 17°C, a humidity of around 75% and a zephyr like gentle breeze. Some suggest the best time for exterior house painting may be the “shoulder months” of October – November and March – April but that depends on your location. Most of us have the perfect opportunity over the summer holidays to do a spot of painting, so keeping an eye on sun, heat and humidity is important.

New Zealand summers are well known for unpredictability so if rain is expected or has just started then – good news – its your excuse to stop and watch the cricket or tennis on TV instead! However once the water on your paved area outside dries quickly, that’s time to turn off the TV and put on your painting overalls!

A partly cloudy day with a light breeze is ideal painting weather. If the forecast is for fine, calm, hot weather, then plan an early dawn start. Too much sun and wind dries the paint faster so you’ll need to paint sheltered or shady parts of your house first. Aim to break for lunch before the peak of the midday sun. Have a siesta for a couple of hours and then resume painting as the afternoon temperature drops.

For more details on painting in all types of weather, check out this great resource from Resene paints

Finally when painting outside this summer, don’t forget to slip, slop, slap all the painters! Cover up and put on the sunscreen and sunnies to protect yourself and your crew so you can all enjoy many more summers!

Alternatively have a talk to the team at Specialized Painting and Building Maintenance – we’ll give you a great quote so you can leave the work to us and spend more time on the cricket or tennis!