Exterior painting in winter is possible in the Omaha Nebraska area. Circumstances occasionally require that work be done to the exterior of a home of commercial building when the weather is rather cold. Usually when someone requests that paint work be done to the exterior of a home in the winter it is because of a sale of the property. Often when money is escrowed for work to be done at a later date the title company will withhold 1.5 times the estimated cost of the job. Sometimes the extra 50% is more then a seller wants held up in escrow.  On commercial projects it’s often preferred to get it done sooner then later. Usually special arrangements are made for exterior painting like tarping and heating exterior areas for painting.

So this is the foundation of a house that obviously needed attention. I don’t know the details, but I do know that the homeowner wanted it done ASAP and the property was in fact for sale. We got lucky today 1/30/17 and had a day in the lower 50’s. Most exterior paints with a low temp rating will go down to 34 degrees. The paint can usually take the low temperature better then the painter.

Exterior painting in winter is a doable thing. The first and best choice is always to wait for the best weather conditions; however this is not always possible. The biggest danger when painting in the winter (above 34 degrees) is working within the dew point. The dew point is the temperature  at which the air can no longer hold water vapour and a percentage of it starts to form water droplets (condensation).

A safe rule of thumb is to paint when the temperature is at least five degrees above the dew point  and plan your work so the paint has time to cure prior to the temperature dropping within the dew point.