Worried you’ve missed out on the chance to paint your home’s exterior this summer? Relax, exterior house painting in winter is no problem if you follow these tips.
Hopefully, you spent this summer enjoying time on the beach, having barbecues with friends and taking some time out to relax. While you were enjoying chilled out summer days, the task of organising a painter to repaint your house might have gone on the backburner. And now, in the rush before the weather cools down, it may be slightly worrying to find most painting contractors all booked up.
Maintaining the exterior paintwork of your house is vitally important for long-lasting performance and preserving a tidy appearance. Contrary to popular belief, you can paint your house throughout the year, even in the cold winter months.
Homeowners often have concerns about cold temperatures affecting the quality of exterior house painting. While there are some challenges, painting your house in the cooler months can be done successfully if you work with a skilled painting contractor using the right products.
If you’d like to spend next summer enjoying your home (rather than looking at unsightly paintwork), get the job done over winter. Here are 3 reasons why it’s no problem to paint during the colder months.
1. Winter days are mostly dry days
Let’s face it, New Zealand’s winter temperatures are pretty mild compared to many parts of the world. In Auckland, winter temperatures rarely drop below 10C during the day. We use Predict Weather for long-range forecasts.
2. Wintergrade paints
Paint companies have made great advances in paints that perform well at low temperatures. These “low temperature compatible” products address the challenges of winter painting and make the effects of cold weather on application and performance a thing of the past.
Wall Treats use the Resene Wintergrade range of products. These paints cure at a very low temperature (down to 2°C). While normal paint can’t form a proper film at low temperatures (and in some cases the paint film can crack or dry to a powder), the technology of wintergrade products ensures that optimum performance is maintained.
3. Painting in winter doesn’t have to be more expensive
Working with a professional house painting company who can efficiently manage projects and scaffolding time will go a long way to ensuring winter projects come in at about the same cost as summer projects.
A savvy house painter knows the best way to manage the longer drying times of winter. It is best to start painting after 9am to avoid the morning dew and stop painting before late afternoon to allow plenty of drying time before the temperature drops.
A note about scaffolding.
Customers often have concerns about increased scaffolding hire costs because of the shorter working days of winter. The biggest cost in scaffolding is the setting up. We recently had a customer receive a scaffolding quote for $5,800+GST. After breaking down the costs of the setting up and initial two-week hire, the subsequent scaffolding hire portion came in at just $360+GST per week.
As a leading Auckland house painting company, Wall Treats has procedures in place to ensure projects are carried out as efficiently as possible. We do this to help minimise timeframes and scaffolding hire time on all projects.
Still hesitating about whether to undertake exterior house painting in winter?
We’ll leave the last word to our fantastic clients, Gregor and Heather, who engaged Wall Treats to deliver their exterior painting last winter:
“We were also appreciative of the professional manner in which you approached the quotation process and monitored progress with the work, maintaining good communication at all times. Your painters were excellent and maintained a high commitment to the job. We were not faced with unexpected absences.”
Professor and Mrs Gregor Coster
Keen to paint your home's exterior this winter? Contact us now to book a consultation.
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