I’m assuming we all had better things to do this summer than paint our houses. What with baseball and rock and roll you may have fruitfully procrastinated the summer away without dipping a brush. The good news is you are now off the hook. If you have exterior painting to do the best thing is to forget about it until spring. However, for the more determined among us there are a few things to keep in mind if you want to squeeze in a paint job.
If you paint a house under poor conditions with crappy paint and no preparation the paint will still stay on the house-for a while. Once it starts failing however, the house will look like Halloween prop in short order. Here’s what you do.
Painting in November requires a little planning. The surface to be painted can’t be too cold - over 50 degrees and dry. Those two things are not easy to come by in November but if you see a break in the weather approaching, grab it. If you need to power wash the house do it on a miserable wet day. That way you won’t waste what sun we have left. I’d stay away from oil based paint of any kind as it will take forever to dry in cold weather. In most cases latex paints are better anyway. Take special care that any unpainted areas are dry before you prime them. Painting wood that is green or wet wrecks more paint jobs than anything else. If your house is sided with aluminum and has never been painted I would think twice before even starting. It is just too cold. Get yourself a hot mug of coffee and rum and sit on your stoop while the leaves fall and plan the spring painting assault. You’ll be in a better mood and it will be a better job.
Have fun painting.
By Joe Adami, Local Painter. Email any questions to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 914-980-7216
