Painting House Rain
Having the homes siding clean dry and dull before painting is a key to success which makes questions of when to do an exterior paint job after power washing and rain important.
Painting house rain. The paint and humidity will affect this as will the amount of rain and splash back and the vertical vs. Heres what we watch for. In a perfect world our painting schedule would be full of warm cloudy dry days. Yes you can paint both the exterior and interior of your house when it rains though there are limitations when it comes to painting exteriors.
Paint will dry to the touch in one hour or so depending on the heat of the day. Another reason is that if you paint in rainy weather then it takes extra time in drying and mostly scratches appear on the walls after drying. As long as the interior walls are dry and you do not expect them to get wet you can paint. Too much sun can be detrimental to a paint finish just as too much rain can be.
The only safe way to paint in the rain is to have the areas completely covered and not in danger of taking on any moisture. Fully wet wood siding requires several sunny andor windy days to dry properly before painting according to mark knaebe a chemist at the usda forest products laboratory. Moisture content and exterior painting. After it rains we typically wait a couple of days to make sure that the siding is perfectly dry.
If heavy rain is forecast or several days of rain are coming in the next few days you will need about six hours of good sun to dry the paint thoroughly enough to not be affected. That is because unlike power washing rain doesnt typically soak into the siding of a home allowing for painting shortly after it stops raining. Dont paint on hot days in the rain or during windy weather. There are no reasonable limitations when it comes to painting interior surfaces when it is raining outside.
Another factor is that eaves and soffits help keep rain from even hitting the house keeping the siding dry and ready for paint. If you are using latex acrylic paint you need at least two hours of sun for exterior paint to dry before the rain comes. Unscrupulous painting contractors red eye their paint so that it will dry quicker. That means for most exteriors you would need a giant plastic enclosure protecting your home.
This is a spendy undertaking. If its not quite dry enough or it rains too hard too soon the surface may look pretty bad and y ou may have to sand and repaint. During rain dew or other high moisture conditions the main issue is not the dampness of the air but how this dampness translates to the surface you intend to paint. Hot weather causes the paint to dry too quickly as does direct sun.