The exterior of your home makes a memorable first impression—for all the right or all the wrong reasons! Every homeowner wants their house to be at its best at all times, and that occasionally means a new exterior paint job to keep everything clean, beautiful, and welcoming…not to mention protected from the elements. Whether you’re planning to sell your home, just want to freshen things up, or you’re finally ready to paint your home in your dream color, exterior painting is on your mind…and you’re likely wondering, “How long does it take to paint a house exterior?”
Luckily, the answer can easily be, “Not very long at all!” Read on for a comprehensive look at the factors that contribute to how long it takes to paint a house exterior, and start your paint-planning today.
Why A Good Exterior Paint Job Matters
There are many things you can do for your home’s maintenance yourself, but an exterior paint job is generally best left to professionals. A time-consuming, challenging, and occasionally-hazardous necessity, exterior painting is critical for the longevity and upkeep of your home, but difficult to accomplish properly without the proper skills, know-how, and equipment.
You want the absolute best for your house’s exterior paint job to ensure it remains lovely and durable for years to come; it may require a small investment of time and money to accomplish this task, but happily, a good painter or painting crew will usually be able to accomplish this within an efficient window of time.
Let’s look at the steps and factors that will help determine how long it takes to paint your home’s exterior!
Steps to Consider
There are a few common steps in the process that affect how long it takes to paint a house exterior. You can review them below and find average timing estimates to help you lay out your timeline for painting the exterior of your house!
Cleaning
Before the exterior of your house can be painted, it must be pressure washed. This step removes dirt, mold and mildew, pollen, loose paint, and anything else that may contaminate the outside of your home. While this step usually doesn’t take too long—anywhere from a few to several hours depending on the height and general size of your home—the exterior needs to fully dry afterward. Altogether, this step usually takes one full day, though you can allow for up to two days depending on the exterior woodwork and weather conditions at the time of washing.
Prepping
The length of the prepping stage can vary depending on several factors, such as how much stripping and priming your exterior requires and how much, if any, repair is needed to the home before painting begins. This step usually takes one full day, even for an average two-story home, but if the exterior is in a state of disrepair, this can extend to several days.
Spraying Siding
If your home is of average size and does not require intensive painting or special care, the step of spraying siding usually averages two to three days. The painter or painting crew will begin by priming all bare wood, metal rust, Hardie board, and any high-gloss surfaces, and will then proceed to spray-paint the exterior with two coats of high-quality paint.
Painting Trim
Once the two coats of exterior paint are completed, the painter or painting crew will tackle the trim. This step can involve either hand-painting (with a brush and roller) or spray-painting, depending on the size of your home and the architecture of the trim. Because this is more intense, detailed work, it averages at a rate of three to five days.
Touch Ups and Clean Up
With the exterior finished and usually when the paint is fully or mostly dry, your painter or painting crew will often spend an additional one to two days touching up their work, gathering their supplies and any trash or litter created during the job, and ensuring everything is returned to its proper place around the exterior of the home.
Other Contributing Factors
You can do your absolute best to plan for your home’s exterior paint job based on the common steps listed above, but there are always contributing factors to take into account as well. Check them out below and make sure you factor in these possibilities when you’re planning for your home’s exterior paint job!
Weather
When deciding to have your home’s exterior painted, timing is absolutely key. You’ll want to pursue this process at a time of year where your region is as dry as possible—low rain chances and low humidity. Plan in advance and make sure you give yourself plenty of leeway in any renovation or moving timelines for your painting date to be pushed back due to inclement weather.
The Size of Your Home
It’s no surprise that the size of the house being painted will be a considerable variable in how long the project takes to complete. While most average-sized homes—either one or two stories with up to four bedrooms—can be completed within a two-to-four day timeframe, a larger house with more rooms, additions, or specialty architecture can take longer and may extend into a full week or beyond.
The Size of Your Crew
A crew is a vital part of seeing any exterior painting job through to completion! The more capable hands you have on deck, the quicker the project will go—especially on a larger house, where a multitude of people can tackle different steps on different parts of the exterior at once. However, there are many professional painters who work just as well solo, so this is not necessarily a make-or-break factor; it all depends on the work speed and efficiency of a specific crew or individual.
Washing
While it can be tempting at times to skip this step because your home’s exterior seems “clean enough”, power washing is vital to ensuring the longevity of your new paint job. The average timing on this step can vary depending on the amount of washing your home needs; some homes in areas with high spring pollination counts, or those in damper climates with stubborn mildew, for example, may take longer to be rid of these mitigating factors before painting can begin.
Woodwork
The state of your home’s exterior woodwork may not be something you’re familiar with before you begin your exterior paint job, but it can be a defining factor on the length of your project. You’ll want to make note of any areas of rot, as these will nullify even the best paint job in the long run. Also, keep an eye out for any wood-burrowing insects or vermin, as their places of entrance may be particular problem-spots you’ll want to solve before beginning your brand-new paint job.
Adding it All Up: How Long Does It Take To Paint A House Exterior
With all these steps taken into account, and with consideration to your home’s specific needs, design, and other contributing factors, you can estimate a rough timeframe of one to two weeks from start to finish for your exterior to be painted.
While different painters and companies may average or even guarantee a shorter or longer timeframe, this estimate can give you a general idea of what to expect so you can begin laying out your timeline, contacting companies or painters, and preparing your home for its beautiful new paint job!
Tips For Homeowners to Expedite The Painting Process
While the above factors will largely decide the length of time your exterior paint job requires, there are a few things you can do in preparation to ensure that once the painter or painting crew is on sight, things go as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Step 1: Take stock of your exterior. Note any “problem spots” where there may be issues with accessibility to parts of the exterior that need to be painted, and address these with your painter or painting crew beforehand.
Step 2: If there is any foliage that touches the house, consider trimming it back or tying it off in such a way that the leaves, branches, etc. will not come into contact with wet paint; this would be detrimental both to the quality of the final outcome as well as the health of your plants.
Step 3: Ensure as clean a workspace environment as possible. Remove any hazardous or loose landscaping, avoid waste or mess near the house, and place any outdoor toys in a safe, out-of-the-way location. This will enable painters to move more efficiently without having to pause and address these matters during the process.
Wrapping Up How Long It Takes To Paint An Exterior
An exterior paint job done right can raise the value of your home, extend its life, and bring a sense of comfort to any homeowner’s life—making it well worth the investment of time to do the job properly! Whatever the season, now is a great time to begin planning for the paint job that will make your home shine!
If you’re in the Minneapolis, MN area and on the hunt for an exterior painting job you can trust to last, reach out to us here at the Minneapolis Painting Company and request a quote today!