Should You Paint Your Home in the Winter?
Painting your home is a fantastic way to refresh its look, improve its value, and protect it from the elements. People often underestimate the difference that a new paint job makes to the look and value of a house.
While many people think house painting is strictly a summer project, the truth is that winter can be an excellent time to paint your home and hire residential house painters to transform your space.
With the right approach, the cooler months offer unique advantages for both interior and exterior painting.
Why Winter is a Great Time for House Painting
Preparation for the Spring
Spring and Summer are often the busier seasons of the year. Improving the look and feel of your home during the winter allows you to enjoy those months more and prepares you for your warmer-month plans. It’s also a less-intrusive way of improving your home than full-scale renovations.
House painting during the winter also improves the value of the home in time for the Spring housing market, if you’re thinking about selling or renting your home. As this is the busiest time of the year in terms of housing sales, completing a new paint job is a cost-effective and time-efficient method of improving the value of your house in time to list on the market.
Flexible Scheduling with Professional Painters
During the winter, many professional painters experience a slower season. This means you can often schedule your project more easily and potentially secure better rates. Whether you’re working with home painters for your living room or hiring interior house painters for a full-house makeover, winter availability can work in your favour.
Faster Drying Times Indoors
Modern paint formulas are designed to dry quickly, and the lower humidity levels of winter can accelerate this process indoors. Running your home’s heating system helps maintain a consistent temperature, ensuring smooth and even paint application.
Prepare for Holiday Gatherings
If you’re hosting family and friends during the winter holidays, a freshly painted home can make a great impression. A professional painting job can brighten up your space and create a warm, inviting atmosphere. People often respond with “you only painted!?” when it seems like a full-on renovation occurred (that’s the power of a professional paint job!).
Tips for Interior House Painting in Winter
Now that we’ve settled the fact that it’s a good idea to do house painting in the winter, here are a few tips to do so:
1. Choose the Right Paint
The type of paint you use matters, especially during winter. Look for low-VOC or no-VOC paints to minimize odors and ensure a healthier indoor environment. These paints are ideal for use when windows can’t be left open for extended periods.
At Precision Painting, we use Dulux’s low-VOC Diamond Paint for our interior painting projects. This paint is perfect for all the rooms inside your home – bathroom, living room, kitchen, bedroom, basement, and more. They also have exterior paint that works well in the Southern Ontario climate.
2. Optimize Ventilation
Even during the winter months, ventilation is crucial. Use fans or open windows slightly to allow fresh air to circulate while your interior house painters work. This prevents the buildup of fumes and helps the paint cure properly, which improves the durability and look.
3. Work Room by Room
Divide your house painting project into manageable sections. Tackle one room at a time to minimize disruption to your daily life. Professional home painters can help you plan the project efficiently to keep your home functional during the process.
Check out our blog for more house painting tips – colours, trends, to-do’s, guides, and resources.
Can You Paint the Exterior of Your House in Winter?
While winter isn’t the ideal season for exterior painting in some regions, it’s still possible under certain conditions. Here’s what you need to know about winter exterior house painting in Southern Ontario:
Weather Matters
Exterior painting requires temperatures above freezing (recommended above 2°C) for optimal results. Paint manufacturers often include specific temperature guidelines on their products.
Alongside the temperature, you should make sure that precipitation is not expected. Mild winter days without snow or rain can be suitable for exterior projects.
Use Winter-Specific Paints
Modern paint formulations can withstand colder temperatures, making it easier for residential house painters to work during winter. Look for paints labeled for cold-weather application, like Dulux’s Diamond Exterior Paint.
These paints are made specifically for the Canadian climate, lasting and durable for years. Don’t make the mistake of using non-winter optimized paint because it won’t last.
Plan for Extra Drying Time
Cooler temperatures can extend drying times. Be patient and follow the manufacturer’s recommendations to ensure a durable, long-lasting finish.
This is particularly important if you’re applying multiple layers of paint. Never begin a new layer on paint that hasn’t dried – that will show in the end results (and be quite noticeable).
The Benefits of Hiring Professional House Painters in Winter
While the cold winter months might seem like a good time for you to DIY your painting project, depending on the complexity and size, it might save you money (and lots of time) to hire professional painters (like us!). 3 reasons why:
1. Expert Knowledge and Techniques
Experienced home painters understand the challenges of painting during the winter and know how to adapt their methods to achieve excellent results. We use the right tools, paints, and techniques to ensure your house painting project goes smoothly.
We’ve been professional house painters for 13+ years, exclusively serving Southern Ontario. We’ve learned a lot in that time, and we put that experience into every roll for every project.
2. Avoid DIY Mishaps
Painting might seem simple, but achieving a professional-quality finish takes skill and experience. We can’t even tell you the number of times we’ve taken over a DIY project that went wrong. After hundreds of dollars spent in paint and supplies, they needed to get it done professionally anyway.
Hiring residential house painters eliminates the risk of spending hundreds needlessly and doing a poor paint job that doesn’t actually improve the value of your home. Uneven coats, drips, and other common DIY mistakes are noticeable to inspectors and potential homebuyers.
3. Save Money, Time and Energy
Winter can be a busy season. Letting professionals handle the painting allows you to focus on other priorities while still achieving beautiful results.
Many people don’t realize that professional painters get paint at lower cost than you can get yourself. It doesn’t save you money to provide the paint. We can get the highest-quality paint at lower cost than the general public.
And at Precision Painting, we don’t upcharge because we get paint cheaper. Our lower paint costs are passed onto you. That’s included in our free consultations.
Essential Painting Tips for Winter Projects
1. Prep Your Space
Preparation is key to any painting project, regardless of season. Clean walls thoroughly to remove dust and grime and repair any cracks or holes before painting begins. We can do that for you of course to save you time, and that will be reflected in the free estimate.
For exterior house painting projects, ensure surfaces are accessible for our house painters, and that they are also dry and free of snow or ice.
2. Invest in Quality Supplies
High-quality paints and brushes make a significant difference in the final result. Professional interior house painters use top-tier products to ensure durability and a flawless finish.
Like we mentioned above, we use Dulux Diamond Paint. It’s among the highest-quality (for look, durability, and lasting) you can get for all house paints.
3. Test Paint Colours First
Winter lighting can differ from summer’s natural light, so it’s essential to test your chosen colours in various conditions. Apply small patches of paint to see how they look at different times of day.
If you want some colour inspiration as we close out 2024, you can check out the trending paint colours for this year.
Conclusion: Embrace Winter Painting Projects
Painting your home during the winter months is not only feasible but can also offer several benefits. With the help of professional painters, you can achieve stunning results while taking advantage of flexible scheduling and potential cost savings.
Get prepared for the Spring and Summer. Take advantage of a slower season. And avoid DIY mistakes that can be quite costly.
Whether you’re refreshing your living room or tackling an exterior project, winter house painting is an opportunity to enhance your home’s beauty and value.
If you’re ready to start your winter painting project, contact Precision Painting today. Our team of skilled residential house painters and interior house painters is here to bring your vision to life with expert craftsmanship and attention to detail.
