Temperature plays a key role in any outside painting project.
When is it too hot or too cold to paint? What’s the ideal temperature? Can a paint job be affected by weather? What about too much sunlight, or too little? What is the best temp for exterior painting?
Many homeowners ask themselves questions before starting an exterior painting project, especially during summer and fall. Whether you’re considering a DIY project or budgeting for a professional painter, there are a few factors to consider here.
Let’s explore the optimal exterior painting conditions and what steps a DIYer should take to achieve a long-lasting and attractive finish.
What Is the Best Temperature for Exterior Painting?
When starting your next exterior paint job, consider your climate, region, and area. The ideal temperature range is somewhere between 50°F (10°C) to 85°F (29°C), and most painters will tell you that any day that’s in the ~70°F area is optimal.
In this temperature range, paint can adhere, dry, and provide a smooth and uniform finish.
Is your area dry and humid during the summer months? Paint during the milder seasons with a more moderate temperature range. Does your area experience milder weather but frequent rainfall and humidity? Aim for humidity levels between 40% to 70% to ensure adhesion and prevent a prolonged drying time.
What temperature is best for exterior painting? Your painting projects will be infinitely more effective and achieve exceptional results if you pick a time when the weather, temperature, and humidity are as even as possible.
Why the Right Temperature Is Critical for Exterior Paint Jobs
Temperature affects paint drying, curing, adhesion, and long-term performance.
Applying paint or stain when it’s too hot can lead to quick drying, which will lower adherence and create an uneven finish. If it’s too cold, the paint will take too long to dry, which causes additional issues that can make your finish look uneven and unprofessional.
Temperature isn’t the only thing you must consider. The time of day also affects your painting or siding project. As a rule of thumb, never paint when sunlight is shining directly on your painting surface, such as early in the morning or in the afternoon. Sunlight can cause paints or stains to dry quickly and unevenly.
Inclement weather conditions will also affect your finish. Avoid rainy, windy, or excessively humid weather, as these can make your finish peel, crack, or bubble. While waiting for the proper temperature can be frustrating, it’s crucial to ensure that you don’t waste time or money.
Temperature Influences Paint Application and Performance
Optimal painting temperature falls between 50°F (10°C) to 85°F (29°C). Painting outside this range can lead to poor adhesion, a decrease in durability, and increased viscosity, causing your finished project to peel, crack, or bubble.
Risks of Painting Outside Temperature Guidelines
Extreme temperatures—those that are too hot or too cold—are very likely to affect your exterior painting project. If your summers are hot and humid, and your winters are dry and cold, it can be tough to find any time to paint outside of spring and fall.
It’s important to monitor your weather forecasts and consider tackling your painting project in the milder seasons. Avoid painting on days with extreme temperatures, as they cause paint to dry too fast, which leads to visible imperfections. Low temperatures can prevent paint from drying, causing your exterior coat to peel and flake.
How Weather and Temperature Fluctuations Affect Results
Cold Temperatures Effect On Paints
Cold temperatures majorly impact paint’s consistency, drying time, and finish.
Don’t paint outside when it’s colder than 45 degrees Fahrenheit, both for your safety and the finish. Paint manufacturers commonly suggest a temperature range for their paints, and may suggest a low-temp additive to normalize the project should you have to paint in less-than-optimal conditions. Additives can improve adhesion and resistance to cracking or peeling in the winter.
Impact of Temperatures: Too Hot for Exterior Painting
When it’s too hot, paint can dry too rapidly, compromising adhesion and causing bubbles to appear in the finish. As the paint cures, it could start to peel away from the surface, especially if you painted in very high heat above 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Effects of Humidity on Painting
Humidity can have devastating effects on any painting project. It slows down drying times, prevents proper adhesion, and can make the finished results look unprofessional.
When additional moisture is introduced to a surface, it creates a moisture barrier. This can mess up your exterior painting project, causing it to bubble and peel or even grow mildew.
Humid areas with less sun exposure can cause even more problems, causing the paint to dry improperly.
Best Weather Conditions for Exterior Painting
What is the best weather for exterior painting?
Ideal Painting Weather
Ideal weather conditions might look a little different from what you expect. While you want the temperature to be somewhere between 50°F (10°C) to 85°F (29°C), ideal weather is overcast, cloudy skies with no risk of rain. You don’t want humidity to exceed 80%, with a minimum substrate of 37 degrees above the dew point, so that your paint dries correctly without too much moisture.
What to Avoid
To achieve the results you want, you need to avoid extreme heat and cold. Painting during the milder seasons is ideal, with the best conditions happening in the springtime. Moderate temperatures and balanced humidity levels reduce adherence and drying issues, and the minimized risk of inclement weather means you can plan better for your painting day.
Avoid direct sunlight, high and low temperatures, rain, and overly dewy/foggy mornings. This creates the ideal drying condition and will lead to more professional finishes.
Best Seasons and Months to Paint Outside
When Is the Best Time of Year to Paint?
The best time to tackle exterior painting through the seasons changes based on your area. Autumn and spring have the best conditions for exterior house painting projects. Provided it’s not raining, clear days provide optimal painting environments, with low humidity and wind. Residential painters won’t have to worry about the flaky outcome of high temperatures or the moisture-laden drying caused by wind and rain.
During the spring, mild days and nights coupled with lower temperatures provide a durable and protective finish with normal drying times. Spring allows for superior exterior painting conditions, and painting professionals will often recommend these seasons because of their even, dependable weather that typically lasts for days.
Regional Climate Considerations
You need to consider your area’s climate factors. If you live in the Pacific Northwest, you will typically deal with moderate temperatures, medium humidity, and occasional onsets of rain. Dryer regional areas with higher temperatures will require additional painting considerations.
Rain, humidity, UV levels, and paint durability are all factors to consider. If you know your area, you want to paint during times of average temperatures, avoid extreme heat and cold spells, and consider the average humidity levels in your area. Rainfall and arid/damp conditions can affect the outcome of your painting project.
Hot climates, for example, can make exterior paint peel, fade, blister, and crack. When it’s overly windy, dirt and dust can collect, making surfaces appear grimy. In colder climates, paint can lift and freeze, making the finished paint brittle.
Paint Type Matters for Exterior Painting
Latex (Water-Based) Paints
Latex paints are one of the most common choices for exterior house painting. These water-based paints are better for you and the environment, with low VOCs, ease of use, and a faster drying time. They’re also easier to clean if you have a spill.
Because of their ease of use, latex paints are the most recommended for exterior painting. Latex paints are self-priming, durable, resistant to mold and mildew, and thick enough for a single coat, making them ideal for DIYers who don’t have a lot of time.
Acrylic Paint
Acrylic paint is sometimes preferred to latex for big projects because of its durability and elasticity. While latex paints are easy to apply, acrylic paints can withstand direct sunlight, making them more durable in specific environments.
Unlike latex paints, acrylic is chemical-based, which can make it harder to handle and clean up. You’ll need paint thinners and chemical-based products for the clean-up phase of an acrylic paint project. Acrylic paints also have chemical fumes and require more coats, so even though they’re more affordable, they’re not recommended for first time painters.
Oil-Based Paints
Alkyd or oil-based paints are made with a strong resin, increasing their durability against sun damage and weathering. Like acrylic paints, alkyd paints are difficult to handle and require certain knowledge and care.
These paints are recommended for more specific applications, and the strong chemicals in alkyd products can be personally and environmentally harmful. You must take proper measures for disposal.
Alkyd paints are designed to endure harsh weather, such as rain and wind. It will also protect your home’s exterior from mildew and mold. It also results in a smooth finish that covers hairline cracks because of the 100% acrylic formulation. While oil-based paints might be tempting for your project, they’re better left to the professionals.
Why ProServ Painters Gets It Right Every Time
When you need professional painters, ProServ has your back. Our team of experts has decades of experience painting local residences and businesses in all weather types, including temperature-sensitive paint jobs during the off-seasons.
We Know the Local Climate
Our team’s experience with regional weather patterns means we know how to plan for optimal conditions. When hiring professional painters, it’s important to go with experts and contractors who live in the area and know how to properly judge inclement weather, potential temperature changes, and regional climate shifts.
We Use the Right Paint for the Right Conditions
ProServ selects paint formulations suited for each job’s specific climate, surface, and seasonal timing. Do you need a painting project done, but you don’t have time to wait for fall/spring? ProServ will work within your schedule and effectively use our time and skills to apply the right paint for the right conditions.
Conclusion: Plan Your Exterior Paint Job Around the Best Temperature
Nothing is more important to an exterior paint job than timing and preparation. ProServ Painters will always do our best to accomplish your exterior paint job within a timeframe that works for you. If you’re tackling a project yourself, you’ll need to plan for weather changes, rain, sun, and humidity, ensuring conditions are ideal or you have the right products and materials for your particular climate.
Unhappy with your home’s current paint job? Do you need your fence repainted or your deck stained? We are the best team of local contractors and painters in the area and are highly recommended by many happy homeowners.
FAQs About Exterior Painting Temperatures
While some paints, like oil-based paints, have a lower limit of 40 degrees Fahrenheit, lower temperatures are a concern because these paints react negatively to cold weather. Oil-based and latex paints won’t adhere properly, causing paint to peel or crack over time. Colder temperatures make paint take longer to dry, which can delay your painting project.
Professional painters like ProServ are adept at handling challenges like cold weather, and we can offer guidance on the right temperature for exterior painting.
High temperatures bake paints, causing them to dry too fast. When a surface is too hot, the paint can’t adhere properly and will leave you with peeling, cracked, or blistered exteriors.
ProServ Painters knows our area, and our painting experts know how to consider precipitation, humidity, wind speed, and temperature when planning for a project.
High humidity can have noticeable, devastating effects on a freshly-painted surface.
Water vapor increases the amount of time it takes paint to dry, meaning that if you’re thinking about applying a second coat in a humid environment, you’ll need to wait longer for the first coat.
High humidity levels and direct sunlight can heat the surface temperatures of your home, and even if the temperature outside is mild, this can cause bubbling and blistering in the paint. Humidity is also a breeding ground for bacteria, and even if your paint job looks initially perfect, black spots can grow along your painted surfaces over time.
The only way to accomplish a professional paint job is to consider the temperature. Most professional painters prefer to paint when the air temperature is above 50 degrees Fahrenheit and avoid drops below freezing.
Save yourself time, money, and headaches by understanding how temperature affects paint. When it’s too cold, your paint will cure improperly and crack, peel, or chip. Some exterior paints will thicken too much in the cold, resulting in uneven coats and an unprofessional finish that sags. Plus, applying paint to a freezing surface can cause adhesion problems.
What is the best temperature for exterior painting? The ideal temperature range for painting outside is 50 degrees F to 85 degrees F. This temperature range is optimal for exterior painting projects, allowing paint to properly adhere and dry. This results in a smooth, uniform finish.
Remember, you also need to consider climate, humidity, and weather. Even if it seems like the perfect day to paint temperature-wise, you could end up with an unprofessional, uneven finish because of these other factors.
