If You Stain a House

April 02, 2022 Post a Comment

06 April How Oft to Pigment or Stain Your House Outside

Whether you're a new homeowner or a seasoned ane, y'all probably have questions around how often and when to paint or stain the exterior of your dwelling. How often? What time of year? What product? Why?

The frequency with which to take your exterior washed is entirely dependent upon what sort of product it requires. If your home is painted, your exterior is probable siding. If your exterior is stained then it is a shingle outside, a log exterior, or cedar siding. It is common to have a mix of the two: A painted home with shingled gables.

The usual time gap between repainting and re-staining depends on what products have been used on your dwelling house too as the climate and weather atmospheric condition. See the quick guide below for our recommendations.

Quick Guide

Paint: 8-12 years.

Solid Stain: Every 5-10 years.

Semi-Transparent Stain: 3-5 years

Why Do I Demand to Repaint/Restain My Abode?

Ultimately, paint and stain on the outside of a business firm serve two purposes: Protection and aesthetics. But like nearly everything else in the earth, paint and stain have expiration dates. They are only capable of lasting a certain corporeality of time earlier paint or stain should be reapplied. Equally pigment and stain protect your habitation from pelting, snow, and exposure to sun, it is these elements that wear the products downwards over time.

Rain

Here in the Pacific Northwest, it'southward very of import that nosotros recoat our homes is due to our excessive amount of rain. The extra moisture causes many varieties of mold and mildew to grow in unwanted places, such equally on our buildings. The process of prepping and painting or staining includes the cleaning off of mold, mildew, and other forms of dirt and moss. Paint and stains, once practical, also have anti-mold attributes. Not just is your blanket a protective layer between the raw wood of your business firm and the elements, but it'due south actively protecting your dwelling house from potentially invasive elements.

Ultraviolet Rays

Fifty-fifty though we don't see the sun as an issue very often here in Washington, ultraviolet rays clothing down the coatings on your firm. When it comes to paint, UV rays tin can cause your paint to fade, especially on the South facing side of your firm. Overexposure to sunlight and dramatic fluctuation in temperature causes the wood of your house to expand, which results in cracked paint. Not only is cracked paint unsightly, only it allows water to seep into those cracks which volition cause further harm to your siding if non taken care of immediately.

An essential part of our painting training process at Amsberry'due south Painting is to scrape and and so sand downwards areas where paint has croaky. Those areas are then primed and painted, making what was previously dry and cracked similar new.

Every bit far as stain goes, UV lite tin can exist very damaging to woods. Past nature of the stain preserving the natural appearance of the wood, it is less protectant to the elements, and needs to be redone more often. Constant exposure to the sun causes aging, graying, and premature degradation in the wood. Consistent renewal of the stain, which acts every bit a protectant, helps forestall this from happening.

Why the Difference?

Solid stains and semi-transparent stains have different re-staining fourth dimension frames because of their differing levels of protection. When applied, semi-transparent stain sinks into the wood, providing a protecting layer between the wood and the elements while also beautifully displaying the natural grain of the wood. Solid stain is very like to paint in that it sits on top of the wood, bringing its own color to the wood. All forms of stain, however, are more than susceptible to the elements than paint is. Paint lasts the longest because information technology'south a very thick layer, while stains naturally deteriorate faster due to the nature of their purpose of not concealing the natural wood. Both solid and semi-transparent stain exist in the medium between being thick and durable enough to protect your exterior for years and being thin and calorie-free enough to bring out the natural beauty of the forest.

Timing Matters

Painting

Not only is it important that you lot repaint or restain before the coating expires, but the time of year during which your recoat is something to consider likewise. When you pigment your business firm depends less on the seasons and more on the moisture and temperature levels. The surfaces that are existence painted need to be clean and dry out at the time of painting, and they demand sufficient time after application to dry. When y'all are considering recoating the exterior of your home, there is a very of import series of questions to ask:

Is the surface that I intend to paint moisture?
Volition the surface exist rained on in the adjacent 8-x hours?
Is the temperature below the recommended temperature on my paint can?
Is the forecast predicting that the temperature will drop below the recommended temperature for the product that I've chosen?

We encounter it all the time in the Pacific Northwest on poorly timed outside paint projects – Rain on newly applied pigment causes streak marks to appear. Not but that, it's also a poor conclusion to pigment an exterior during a winter dry spell. Temperatures below 34 degrees (the absolute everyman that any paint product could dry out properly at) cause sagging, bubbling, and groovy in fresh paint.

Staining

Temperature plays a huge part in the timing of your re-staining project besides. The platonic temperature to recoat a stain is 70 degrees Fahrenheit, just anywhere from 50-90 degrees is generally safe to practice and so. Similar pigment, this depends on the specific product, so always cheque the label before applying whatsoever product to your house. With staining, there is a different series of questions:

Is information technology betwixt 50-xc degrees Fahrenheit?
Is the temperature predicted to dramatically driblet or rise in the next 24 hours?
Has it rained recently enough for the wood to be moist?
Will the surface exist rained on in the next 8-ten hours?
Is the surface that I intend to stain in direct sunlight?

If the climate is too wet or cold, the drying time of your stain can more double. In extreme cases, the stain tin remain completely wet and but sit on top of your wood until the temperature rises. If it's too warm, 100 degrees or more, information technology can cause the stain to dry too fast and could atomic number 82 to lap marks or an uneven stain surface.

Gear up to Become Started?

Here in the Pacific Northwest we're headed toward spring, which is the starting time of perfect weather to paint and stain exteriors. Despite our reputation for rain, our beautiful weather often lasts until belatedly September. Here at Amsberry's Painting, business is picking upward as people brainstorm to schedule outside painting and staining jobs. Is it time to recoat your exterior and show your habitation some love? Schedule a free estimate today.

Become a Free Estimate

Writer Bio: Ellen Coy

Ellen is the Office Banana, and resident blogger, at Amsberry's Painting. She loves reading, writing, photography, and The Pacific Northwest. She can usually exist found with a loving cup of tea.

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