It’s nice to be able to go inside and find protection from the elements when it’s raining, snowing, extremely windy, or even really hot. Even though it’s obvious, and maybe a little silly to point it out, your home’s siding is never able to escape from the weather. Through all of the different seasons, through all of the rain and hours of intense sun, the siding and the paint on your home has to endure it all.
The Winnipeg area sees it all, plenty of rain and snow in the fall and winter, and lots of sun in the spring and summer. Depending on how old your home is or how long it’s been since it’s been painted, years may have passed under these conditions, allowing plenty of time for damage to occur. In general, there are two harsh elements that can do the most damage to your home’s siding and paint: sun and moisture, whether it’s snow, rain, sleet, or hail. In today’s post, we’re going to discuss how these elements actually cause damage and what you, as the homeowner, can do about it.
If you have noticed that your home’s paint has been damaged due to years of facing weather conditions, get in touch with the house painters at Integrity Painting. Whether your paint is peeling, fading, or cracking, we will be able to determine the underlying problem and offer the best solution for repairing your home’s paint. We offer honest and thorough service throughout the Winnipeg area.
How Weather Damages Your Home’s Paint
Whether it’s the hot sun in the summer, or rain and snow during the rest of the year, these weather conditions generally cause similar issues with your home’s paint. Below are some of the problems you may notice with the paint, so keep reading to learn more about how it happens.
Blistering
As you probably learned in high school science class, dark colours absorb more sunlight and heat and lighter colours reflect light, keeping them cooler. If your home is painted with a darker colour, it will have more significant blistering problems than houses with lighter colours. Blistering occurs because the surface of the paint gets very hot when under direct sunlight. When paint reaches certain temperatures, the paint can begin to blister, resulting in unsightly patches of bare siding. Since there’s nothing homeowners can do about how hot the sun gets in the summer, the best solution is for your house painters to use high-quality paint and make sure the conditions are right before actually painting the house.
Peeling
When paint begins to peel, it’s often due to a combination of conditions, including heat, wind, and moisture. It often starts when the paint blisters, creating gaps in the paint. Wind and rain can then tear the paint, making the gaps even larger. Additional sunlight will continue to wear down the paint, causing it to detach from the siding and peel away. To repair peeling paint, it typically requires a professional house painter to scrape away damaged paint and to give the house a fresh coat.
Fading
Unfortunately, fading can occur on dark and light-coloured homes and on the exterior and interior walls. What makes fading paint even more frustrating is that homeowners often don’t notice that the colour has faded until they hire a house painter to fix other issues that have developed. Paint will fade when it has been exposed to sunlight, or ultraviolet (UV) rays, after a few years. Depending on the quality of the paint used, paint may begin to fade even sooner than a few years. When it comes to exterior paint, homeowners will need to hire a house painter to give the home a fresh coat when they have noticed the paint has faded. To protect interior paint, homeowners can install window treatments that will block sunlight. This is especially important when there are south-facing windows, which are hit with the most sunlight throughout the year.
Chalking
Over time, a thin layer of powder, or chalk can develop on the surface of the paint. This occurs as the paint is exposed to various weather and the pigment in the paint begins to break down. The chalk-like powder is more likely to build up when a poor-quality paint was used, or when a porous surface, like stucco, wasn’t properly sealed before painting. There is plenty of rain in the Winnipeg area to keep the chalk from building up too much, but in drier climates, the chalk can cause other issues to arise. When there is a significant build up of the powder, rain will rinse the chalk off, staining the surrounding construction and landscaping.
Cracking
Long-term exposure to sunlight can cause paint to crack. Cracking paint often resembles the skin of certain reptiles, so you may hear this issue referred to as alligatoring. While this issue generally occurs due to the natural aging of paint as well as exposure to weather, cracking can also develop when the house painters incorrectly applied the paint in the beginning. Some application issues include painting a second coat when the first layer hadn’t completely dried yet, when wood siding has contracted and expanded over time, or when two different types of paint were used.
Moisture-Related Issues
In the spring or summer, when there is a lot of rain or humidity, there are certain issues that homeowners should be aware of.
- Surfactant Leaching: This is an issue that causes brown or white discolouration of the paint. This can occur when the paint is exposed to high levels of humidity.
- Wood Siding: If your home has wood siding, house painters need to be especially careful when applying paint and humidity levels are high. A lot of moisture in the air can prevent the paint from correctly adhering to the wood, often resulting in peeling or bubbling.
- Excess Moisture: Regardless of the type of siding, excess moisture in the air can compromise a fresh coat of paint by reintroducing water into paint that hasn’t dried completely.
Temperature-Related Issues
Certain issues can occur when house painters apply paint when the temperature is either too hot or too cold. When the weather is too cold, the paint may not dry at all. When the weather is too hot, it can cause a film of paint to develop that prevents lower layers from being able to dry at all. Paint that dries too quickly can develop blistering, cracking, and discolouration. The type of paint and how long the temperature remains too hot or cold can also impact the quality of the finished project. Temperatures should remain at or above 10°C for water-based paints, and should be 5°C or above for oil-based paints.
Even though we wish we could control what the weather does, there’s nothing homeowners can do when there are days and days of rain, snow, or high temperatures. But there are things that homeowners can do to protect their exterior paint. One of the best things a homeowner can do is hire a team of professional house painters. Contractors who have the necessary experience and skill will be able to take these factors into consideration and will complete the job correctly, reducing the chance of these issues from occurring.
At Integrity Painting, we take pride in the work we’ve completed throughout the Winnipeg area. Since 1992, we have provided exceptional service, using only the best paints, and never cutting corners. Whether you’re looking for interior or exterior painting, you can trust that we’ll do it right. Just like our name suggests, we have always worked with the highest level of integrity. Contact our team today for a free quote.
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