I caulked all my wood trim, but I am wondering if it is getting too cold for painting. We should be seeing 50s in the day and mid-30s at night, with a fair amount of dew.

I am looking at using Sherwin Williams paint, which they say will be usable to 35, but I'd rather it not come off in 2 years especially at the prices they charge, even at contractor prices.

We never painted the ship unless it was over 50°. The paint can should have working temps on the can .

You can build a scaffold and wrap it in plastic and heat up the exterior wall you are working on.

Over 50 degrees and low humidity should be fine.

I may be way off base here, but have you considered solid stain?

a general rule of thumb is that oil-based paint can be applied when the temperatures are between 40°- 90° F and latex between 50°- 85° F. The best drying will occur when the relative humidity is 40% to 70%.

Too high or low a temperature can cause the paint to not bind together properly, which can lead to cracking and peeling. Latex can also be difficult to apply at high temperatures since it will dry too quickly to brush out properly.

When you’re painting outside, work your way around the house during the day so that you’re not painting in the sun, since the actual temperature on a sunny surface will be much higher than the weather forecast “in the shade” temperature.

"A friend" tells me he's learned the hard/expensive way, to wait until spring temperatures are adequate.

quote:

When is it too cold to paint the exterior of a house?

When a can of beer freezes before you can finish it.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodman:

quote:

When is it too cold to paint the exterior of a house?

When a can of beer freezes before you can finish it.

My first thought was when you had to put on a parka and mukluks.

flashguy

I just finished painting my house. I stopped painting
early enough. That the paint would have 3 hours dry time
at 65 degrees before the nightly temps dropped.

I use Behr Premium Plus for my exterior house painting. Says it's good for 35-90 degrees as long as it'll remain in that range for at least 4 hours after painting. That said, I've never actually tried it lower than about 50 degrees.

Your fine painting within the recommended temperature range

Those temps are surface, not air

I have complaints from people during the summer constantly about their paint peeling. “It was 88 out today”. Yes, but the side of your house was 120 with the sun beating down on it for hours so it flash dried

In cooler temps, start on the sunny side
In hotter temps. Follow the sun

Modern paint has a 30 day cure time

I would be a bit concerned about the cure time at this point. If forecast shows night temps won't go below freezing for next couple weeks you are probably fine. Link below explains further. I always finish up any exterior painting by mid September myself.

http://www.masterbrushpainting...eather-affect-paint/

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
You can build a scaffold and wrap it in plastic and heat up the exterior wall you are working on.

When I was in Alaska one of the crews on the North Slope (i.e. Arctic Circle) working for me scaffolded off a piece of equipment, wrapped the scaffold in visqueen, and pumped in hot air from an intrinsically safe heater. Quality Control department was right there the entire time taking surface temps before allowing painting to start and afterward to make sure the crew left the heated shelter in place long enough. I knew it worked in the lower 48, but it surprised the crap out of me how well it worked in the Arctic Circle.

Latex paint doesn't coalesce (good film formation) well at lower temperatures, the "low temp" paints seem to address this, but I would read their labels closely, there is most likely a caveat to that claim.

Additionally, just because the air temperature is above 50°, doesn't mean the surface you are painting/staining is at 50°, what ever the surface temp is, your paint will become that temp also. You are better off waiting till overnight lows are above 65°.

I too have been working like crazy the last week and a half, caulking and painting. Hoping to get it done before cold sets in.