In this post
- How to know your home exteriors need painting?
- How often should you paint your home exteriors?
- What is the best time to repaint?
- Does repainting increase home value?
Are you finding it hard to describe your house? Somehow the pale beige that could be grey in part, is just not an easy cue for the delivery guy to understand? Kids playing in the street are no longer terrified of their big football hitting your walls? You must also be thinking about why your infant keeps looking at that glossy white house canopy across from you. A canopy that shines against the sun so bright, it almost appears as godsend marble. Well, you don’t have to worry about any of this anymore! These are all the signs that you need to repaint your house. A simple white-wash all over your walls of regret.
Most of the houses go through this phase. The in-between waiting for the torrential rains to pass so you can get your house a fresh coat of paint, leaves most houses to appear as cracking under the weight of weather changes. Here’s a list of ways to identify when you need to repaint your house.
How do you know if your house needs painting?
Your house will communicate with you through a myriad of ways to tell you that you need to repaint your house. Here are a list of ways you can detect this is happening:
1. Flaking, bubbling or cracking paint
This can appear as dry rot, wet rot or mold caused by failed weatherproofing. Strong sunlight, harsh winters, extreme humidity, storms, blowing sand and ocean breezes can contribute to the same kind of damage as well. In Pakistan, we see a variety of weather patterns that can contribute to your paint flaking or cracking.
2. Hardened caulk
Caulk or caulking is a material used to seal joints or seams against leakage in various structures and pipings, but as your home is exposed to more extreme weather cycles caulking will lose its elasticity. If the beads appear to be hard, you need to get it checked by a professional and get it fixed, once you repaint the edges.
3. Fading and morphed paint
Sun bleaching is common, and dark hues tend to fade faster than paler shades. Paint morphing is also one reason why your perfect shade of beige appears greyish now. However, fading on shadier sides of the house is typically attributed to water intrusion. This seepage problem has to be inspected by a professional.
With seepage or water intrusion you can only get a repaint job, after the problem has been solved properly. Patching stucco is one way of getting a seepage problem fixed. For this, you have to wait for the stucco to dry. Sometimes after this filling, you might have to change the shade of your paint color. So, be sure to get all things fixed first before proceeding to paint.
If the house looks faded, the trim no longer stands out or there is nothing to make the house ‘pop’ against its surroundings, a fresh coat of paint usually will do the trick, making it look fresh and allowing the value of the home to increase. Also, remember that a fresh coat of paint acts as a barrier against the tortuous sun.
4. Before paint chips or peels
Don’t wait until paint chips are visible from the street to repaint. Painting your house early minimizes damage to the exterior of the home and also minimizes the need for preparatory work, like scraping flaking paint, caulking seals or replacing wood. Minimizing the need for prep work lowers painting costs.
Now that you know the signs of your house screaming it needs a repaint job, you should move towards planning how often this needs to be done. Since this is a big undertaking, you will have to plan it properly to streamline the finances and prepare your family members for what can be a laborious task.
Now, you must also be wondering if you can paint your own house exterior. Yes, you can! This is a laborious task though and you will have to hire help or have your family members work with you. You can take this as a family activity, a thorough family bonding experience as well. You can check our guide on painting exteriors yourself. It has been especially prepared for you!
How often should you repaint the exterior of my home?
In most cases, homes need to be painted every 7 to 10 years, but the actual timeframe varies by material and region. For example, cement fiberboard siding needs repainting every 10 to 15 years, but more traditional cladding needs painting more often. In areas with intense sunlight, stucco, vinyl or aluminum siding should be painted about every five years. Wood siding may need to be painted every three to seven years. In regions where sunlight is less intense, paint should last four to 10 years on wood and 20 years on vinyl or aluminum siding.
It also depends on the kind of paint you are using. Weather-resistant paint will last for much longer than a non-weather resistant one.
But, it also depends on the building materials being used. So, really, this is a multi-faceted problem and by just looking at the aforementioned signs, you can predict when the job needs to be done.
What is the best time to paint the outside of a house?
Yes, you have to take weather into consideration before undertaking a paint job. This is because painting during hot weather can cause latex paint to dry too fast, resulting in brush marks and clumps of paint on the paintbrush. Painting when it’s too cold can cause the paint to not adhere well to the surface, resulting in cracking and peeling.
For this reason, painting your house exteriors is best done in the fall or spring when temperatures are moderate, and the weather isn’t too hot or too cold. The best temperature range for painting outdoors with latex paint is from 50° to 85° F.
Also, knowing and understanding that climate change is a big threat the world over. Try switching to paints with low volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are chemicals released into the air by some paints when they dry. Breathing VOCs isn’t good for your health or the environment. Furthermore, to protect the environment you can take one more initiative, that is painting the roof of your house, white. This will reduce your house’s heat absorption, and significantly reduce the adverse effects of ‘concrete jungles’ on the environment.
Now that we have covered all basics, let’s look at how fixed seepage problems, a fresh coat of paint, and even trims can be of benefit to you in the long run.
Does painting the exterior of your house increase value?
Yes, it can. If you’re putting your property on the market, you should repaint it before you have your first open house. Adding a fresh coat of paint is one of the most cost-effective ways to increase the value of your property. You can get a higher return on investment (ROI) for your house with the right exterior colors.
It gives the impression that the house is well kept and in good condition, ready for the next buyer to call it their home.
You can roughly calculate the amount by which your house’s value will increase by looking at these indicators.
The colors you choose affect your house’s resale value. Exteriors are equally important as are interiors. Light gray, dark gray, blue, or beige color seems to be better home paint colors. Find a way to include these colors in your house for the highest ROI. Focus on a couple of colors instead of overwhelming the eye. Bold, eccentric colors can repel potential buyers, so be sure to use a shade that goes with your overall exteriors.
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