Can It Be Too Hot to Paint?

Most homeowners worry about rain, but extreme heat can be just as damaging to a paint job. In this episode, Jeff explains how high temperatures affect paint application, drying times, adhesion, and the overall finish. Learn when it’s too hot to paint, the problems that can arise, and how professional painters adjust their process to achieve lasting results even during the hottest days of the year. If you're planning a painting project this summer, this is information you won't want to miss. 

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Welcome to Inside a Perfect Paint Job. I'm Jeff Adkins, your host, and thank you very much for joining us today. Today I want to talk about is it too hot to paint? Last week's episode was uh can it be too humid? Today, can it be too hot? And the answer is yes. Uh paint does not need to just dry, it needs to bond and cure. Um the cure is the probably the most important thing there because if it doesn't cure properly, it can't bond. So air temperature and surface temperature are not the same. A wall in direct sunlight can be much hotter than the weather app tells you. Um the air temperature is just one thing that we look at. Um there's um dark siding, doors, shutters, and anything metal heats up faster and will get hotter. Uh if the surface is too hot, paint can dry too quickly, which is not good because it did not cure. Um fast drying can cause lap marks, brush marks, roller marks, uh poor adhesion, uh blistering. Uh paint cannot just look dry, it has to properly cure. Direct sunlight is one of the biggest problems. That's why you'll see painters chase the shade. Um they'll work here on a wall and finish it and work on another wall and just kind of move out of the sun as much as possible. Oh direct sunlight is one of the biggest problems. We just touched on that one. But um, wind can make paint dry fast too, and that's not even good. Uh high humidity can slow drying and curing times. We've talked about that in our last episode. But low humidity and high heat can make the paint flash, which is not good. When it flashes, you will see spots here and there. It'll look like a different sheen or something of that nature. Um the morning time is usually better, uh, but not if there's dew. Um, there's a lot of things that uh you got to look at. Um you may have to wait until the surface is dry if you start too early. Um, afternoon or early evening may be too hot, especially on the sunny sides in the sunny area. Um we often work around the house and follow the shade. We talked about that. Uh north, south, east, and west uh may all paint differently in the same day depending on the temperature and what's in the sun and what's not. Metal doors get too hot quickly. Vinyl siding expands and contracts with the heat. One of the reasons why I don't like painting vinyl siding is because when it expands and contracts, you can see lines occasionally where it wasn't painted because it was not on the surface to be painted, and then it expands, and guess what? There it is. Um wood can absorb paint differently when it's hot. Brick and masonry can hold heat. Deck boards get extremely hot in the sun. Uh product specs matter. Check the product specs. If you're not painting every day, uh look and see what the paint can says. Um every paint has an application temperature range, uh both high and low. Uh it can be too cold as well. Premium paint helps because they have higher tolerances, but it's not it does not take away from bad conditions. Um the can label matters, the can the forecast matters, surface moisture matters, temperatures overnight matter, paint can fail when temperatures drop too low after applications, rain starts, uh, etc. Um if it feels dry, it might not be cured. A professional painter checks more than just sunshine, air temperature, surface temperature, humidity, wind, direct sunlight, chance of rain, overnight lows. Um we have to know all of these things in order to use the right products if there is a product that we can use under some circumstances. Uh sometimes the right call is to wait. Waiting is not laziness. Waiting protects the customer and it protects the warranty. I said this before. We do not want to use our warranty, but if we have to, that's what it's there for. And the main reason we don't use it as much as at very much at all, actually, is the fact that we wait and we do it when it's right and the proper procedures are used. Uh a rush paint job can cost more later, everybody knows that. Bad conditions can shorten the life of the paint job. You don't want to shorten the life, you want as long as possible because the labor is the most expensive thing here. The goal is not to just make it look good. We want to make it last. The goal is to make it last. That's the end result that we want. This is why we schedule exterior painting can be tricky. Uh summer heat does not mean every day is paintable. Spring and fall are not automatically perfect either. Conditions change without without the day. Um the other side of the house may be ready while this side is not. Homeowners should ask their painter how they decide when to paint. If a painting contractor, if a contractor paints, no matter what the conditions are, this is a red flag. Um a real professional knows when not to paint. Our three-year warranty on workmanship starts with making the different decisions on the day the paint goes on. Um and I think you all uh will catch on to this sooner or later. Um it's not always about speed. Some guys say I did this in two days, I did this in three days. Uh we say that on occasion too, but our crew size uh justifies that. Not everybody has the crew to do that, and not everybody should be promising I'll get this done today when it's more than a day's work. Um would you rather move the schedule or the risk for a bad finish? I think you know the answer to that one. Uh the best paint job starts before the brush ever hits the wall. We make sure all of these conditions are right. We make sure it's prepped. We make sure that everything is as good as we can get it before we start painting your home. We want the paint that we put on your home to last as long as the paint that was on your home. Painting is not something that everybody wants to do every few years if possible. That's why I highly recommend using the best paint that you can afford, because the better paint has a longer warranty in itself. But if you guys have any questions, please email Jeff at Jeff AdkinsPainting.com. I'll be glad to help you if I can. Please like, share, and follow. And thank you for joining Inside a Perfect Paint Job.