How Often Should I Repaint My House?

Home care and maintenance are important. When doing repairs and do-it-yourself fixes around the home, it usually involves having to give attention to something broken.

You don’t always pay attention to the aesthetic of your home, and you might even let slide a few imperfections, especially if it is not structural, a crack here, a scratch there. 

The repairs to these things seem almost unnecessary. One thing you might overlook frequently is the need for a new paint job to the exterior of your home.

If you are wondering how often you should paint your house, or if you are due for a new coat of paint, these helpful tips should help guide you to have an idea if it’s time to look into a fresh palette.

These are some of the things you should check to see if your home needs a fresh coat of paint:

• Surface: A big factor in determining the frequency you need to paint or repaint your home’s exterior is the surface material of your house. Different materials will require different care, and the timeline on different walls will change that.

• Wood: Wood exteriors have a wide range in terms of how frequently they may need to be tended to. These can vary from 3 to 7 years, while stained wood would lean more towards needing touch-ups every 4 years.

• Aluminum: Aluminum exteriors have a more consistent required retouching time frame, needing one about every 5 years or so.

• Stucco: Stucco lasts for about 5 to 6 years so it should be repainted accordingly.

• Cement fiberboard: Newer materials like cement fiberboard don’t need as many frequent touch-ups, and can get away with not having to tend to it between10 to 15 years.

• Brick: If your brick walls are not painted, they don’t need much more attention aside from the occasional cleaning. If the brick is painted, however, it will still last longer, but you’ll have to clean it once every 15 to 20 years or so.

Evaluate

When painting or repainting your home, quickly take into consideration the size of your home, your budget and the price you can afford to spend on it. If your home is rather large, and you have a sizable budget to spend on painting, you can invest in larger, paint sprayers.

Spray painting is time-efficient and perfect for getting larger jobs done. Purchasing the right equipment to do the job is vitally important, as you want a paint sprayer that is not only reliable and versatile but it also has to be durable and affordable.

This paint job comes especially handy if you are restricted by time. Alternatively, if you have more time, and less money to spend, or even small jobs, rolling brushes is also a great idea to get the job done.

Durability

Knowing the material of the walls your home is built with is a good baseline to know when to schedule retouching and painting. But what you need to consider, and what may have more variables involved that you won’t be able to account for is the durability of the wall.

Things that you’ll factor in are the last layer of the paint job, the weather that is frequently in the area, and the long term maintenance of your home and its exterior.  

Previous Paint Job

You’ll want to check to see if the previous owner or the previous paint job was done with quality. Professional painters or higher priced paints may leave your walls in a good shape and not needing touch-ups quite as frequently.

Climate and Weather

The climate and weather in your area will affect how long you can typically wait before repainting your home. The areas most susceptible to storms and harsh weather may deteriorate your walls faster and likely require new paint in small time frames, whereas a more consistent and less harsh area will allow you to get away with your paint jobs and extend their lifetime.

Exterior Maintenance

You’ll want to examine and evaluate the maintenance of your home. Moisture buildup can cause damage to walls, which will result in peeling and cracking.

In these cases, you’ll not only have to get a new paint job but will require the proper repairs beforehand.  Check your exterior frequently and tend to problems as soon as they arise. This can add years to the life of your paint job. 

Although there may be an ideal time to paint your home, there isn’t much holding you back to give it more attention as you see fit. If you think your home could use a new coat for repairs, or you’re just feeling a fresh or new look, feel free to do so as you please.

The thing to keep in mind about painting early and often is that the cost can get up there.  But aside from that, there’s really nothing stopping you from repainting your home’s exterior.

CLICK HERE FOR BREVARD COUNTY NEWS

Similar Stories