Repainting the exterior of your house is the fastest and cheapest way of giving your home a remarkable face-lift. Whether you’re improving the curb appeal of your home for market listing or simply want a well-kept home, hiring a painting contractor to repaint your home will always offer great value for your money.
But, how often should you repaint your home’s exterior? This depends on a wide range of factors such as the material of your home’s exterior, type of paint previously used among others. Let’s take a detailed look at some of these factors, which we believe we answer your question.
Siding Material used
Different siding materials have varying durability rates and react differently to wear and tear brought about by weather element. For this reason, different homes need customized repainting intervals as per the siding material. Wood siding, for instance, should be repainted every three to seven years, or stained approximately every four years.
Aluminum siding, on the other hand, can go about five years between paint jobs, and stucco five to six years. There’re other newer types of materials that need less frequent repainting. For instance, cement fiberboard siding requires repainting after every 10 to 15 years. Unpainted brick will only require cleaning, but of course, you will need to repaint the trim. Painted bricks can maintain their beauty for well over 12 years without requiring repainting.
Newer types of materials require less frequent touchups; for example, cement fiberboard siding should need painting only about once in 10-15 years. The only upkeep for unpainted brick is cleaning, although you will need to paint the trim, of course. If you do choose to paint the brick itself, a good quality job will last 15-20 years.
Other than the above general recommendations, your HOA standards and the general look and feel of your neighborhood will also dictate how often you repaint. However, the bottom line on this is that you should never postpone painting when signs of repainting show up. Doing so will only make the prep work harder, with more potential repairs to do and ultimately a more expensive paint job.
Factors affecting the durability of your exterior paint
Climate is one of the most influential factors that affect how long a paint job can last. Thankfully, San Diego doesn’t experience crazy weather extremities, but, if you live in an area with remarkably hot, sunny summers or your home is unsheltered by trees, the strong sunshine will cause paint to bubble and fade more quickly. This is even more noticeable with the darker hues, oil-based paint, and synthetic pigments. Harsh winters, frequent storms, extreme humidity, blowing sand, or salty ocean breezes can also age your home pretty fast.
Another very important factor that affects how soon you will repaint your house is the quality and color of the paint used during the previous paint job, as well as the quality of the paint job itself. The number of paint coats used is also a great determining factor.
High quality, lighter shades of paint tend to last longer. Additionally, applying two or three coats will last longer than a single coat paint job. One hundred percent acrylic paint is the most durable and resistant to fading. Thorough preparation all the way from washing, sanding, stripping, caulking to repairing where necessary along with an application of the right primer makes the paint job last much longer.
The last factor that affects the durability of a paint job is maintenance. If you take good care of your home and do regular maintenance, you will definitely add a couple of years to your paint job. Regularly inspect your exterior for rot, dampness, termite and other bug infestation, chalking and peeling. Apply touchups to these areas as soon as necessary, and if the signs are significant, it’s time for a new paint job.
Conclusion
As you can see, the above are just general recommendations on how often you should repaint your home’s exterior. There is no standard set period as each home is different. This means that even if the recommended paint durability is not yet over, you should consider repainting your exterior if you notice any signs of paint fading, peeling, chalking, etc. If you need expert painting services, call us today and we will be happy to talk more about your project.