How Often Should You Repaint the Exterior of Your Home?
Painting your home is on the never-ending list of house maintenance items. Fortunately, with the right crew, it does not have to be a hassle! From bringing the proper professional painting tools to estimating the correct amount of paint (raise your hand if you’ve gotten halfway done painting a room, only to have to make another trip to the store), hiring a professional painter makes this daunting task so simple.
How Long Will Your Paint Job Last?
Your exterior coat of paint will need touch ups more frequently than the interior since it’s not fully protected from the elements. Think about the sun beating down, the rain creating moisture on the surface, humidity, dirt, and the wind slowly wearing down layers of paint. Our homes protect us from all of these elements, but we’ve got to stay on top of protecting our homes so they’ll continue to serve their purpose.
How Often You Should Repaint the Exterior of Your House
This depends on your climate, whether your home is shaded, the type of paint that was used, how the surface was prepared, what the surface material is, and what the weather has been like. Some environments are harsher on exterior paint than others, such as coastal areas. The sun, salt, sand, and wind all play a part in diminishing that shine of a fresh paint job, so much that you may need to repaint every one or two years. Houses in more mild climates can go much longer between painting the exterior, between five and twelve years depending on a few factors.
How the Quality of Paint Impacts How Often You Need to Repaint Your House
The quality of your paint plays a huge role in how often exterior painting is needed. This is why it’s important to spend a little more for the materials up front so that you won’t have to repeat the painting process sooner than you’d like. Therefore at Paint Smart, we always use high-quality, trusted materials so that your hard-earned money doesn’t go to waste.
How Long Paint Lasts on Different Materials
The material your exterior is made of greatly impacts how long your paint will last. Here’s a simple outline that will help you determine how to plan for your future painting needs.
- Brick: 10-12 years
- Stucco: 6-8 years
- Wood Siding: 3-7 years
- Aluminum Siding: 5-10 years
- Mixed Materials: 7-12 years
How to Help Your Exterior Paint Last Longer
While painting is a big item on your home-maintenance list, there are a lot of little things you can regularly do to increase the lifespan of your exterior paint.
- Wash
- Washing away dirt, mold, and debris from your exterior walls is a great way to freshen up the look of your home as well as encourage longevity of your paint job.
- Touch up
- When you touch up areas that are chipping away, it prevents moisture from building up under the surface, causing rot and more chipping.
- Landscaping
- Cut away branches or shrubbery that are touching the house so that the walls are free from scratches and sap.
- Caulk
- Caulking cracks is a great way to avoid moisture build up and keep the edges of your paint job crisp.
Repainting your entire exterior is a big job, and we’d love to help give you a long-lasting protective layer to protect your home and, in turn, you and your family.