Summer Tips for Painting Your Home
Do you need to paint your home due to fading or chipping paint? Perhaps you just want to give your home a new look? When painting your home during the hot summer months these 5 tips can help you get the job done more easily and with less stress.
Let’s look at 5 tips for painting your home in the summer:
1. Reconstitute Your Paint
When painting outside in the sun with high temperatures, your paint will most likely be adversely affected. The water in your paint can evaporate causing it to act in unusual ways. To keep this from happening, you will need to reconstitute it. This means you have to put the water back into the paint.
How do you do that?
To start, you want to add a maximum of 10% of the paint volume when replenishing the moisture. You also want to make sure to reconstitute small batches of paint, so you aren’t continuously adding water to the larger container. This will cause the paint to become too watered down and can cause even more problems.
There are products made specifically for reconstituting paint by the manufacturer of the paint you are using. If you don’t feel comfortable adding water to the paint, these products can help you do it quickly and easily with no guesswork.
2. Monitor Sun Location and Temperature
You don’t want your drying paint to be exposed to direct sunlight. Direct sunlight can cause the paint to dry inconsistently as well as other issues. If you start painting early in the day, you can follow the sun around your home; starting to paint on the shaded south side before the sun is high and working your way around ending on the east side. This gives the paint a chance to dry before the sun bakes it.
It’s a good idea to start painting in the early morning. It will be cooler at that time of day and makes it easier for you as well since you won’t be out there working in the heat. You can always take a break to hydrate when it gets too warm and continue painting in the early evening once it cools down.
3. Use an Ice Bath
Much of the reason why paint loses so much water is the heat, not necessarily direct sunlight. You can help slow down the evaporation process by adding ice to the paint tray. Layer ice at the bottom of the paint tray and set a disposable liner on top of it to hold the paint. By doing this and keeping the paint out of direct sunlight, the cool paint won’t lose as much water over time.
4. Prepare Surfaces Properly
If you spend the proper amount of time prepping the surfaces you will be painting, your paint job will look even better. This step is crucial when deciding to paint your home. Every type of siding requires a different method of surface prep. Some types of exterior siding are easier to prep than others. For example, stucco will take much longer to prep than vinyl siding. However, the hard work you put into prepping the exterior walls will pay off when you see a perfect paint job.
5. Use Quality Paint
When painting your home, you want to make sure your hard work isn’t wasted when it starts fading quickly, or even if the paint starts chipping. To prevent this from happening prematurely, you not only need to prep the surfaces correctly, but also need to use quality paint. By spending a few extra bucks on the right paint, you can ensure the paint will look it’s absolute best for as long as possible.
Shopping for paint doesn’t have to be a chore. You can talk to someone at Arizona Painting Company about the types of paint that work well in our climate and they can even help you choose the right color or color combinations for your home.
Ready to Give Your Home a Fresh, New Look?
Just because it’s summer doesn’t mean you can’t knock this home improvement project off your to-do list. Planning your work, slowing down the evaporation process, and reconstituting the paint when necessary are all very important.
By following the tips above so you can boost the curb appeal of your home with a fresh look, even in the summer months. If you would like to talk to an experienced painting professional about how you can paint your home at any time of year, call Arizona Painting Company. You might even want to have someone come out to give you a free estimate.