You want to give the exterior of your house a facelift with a fresh coat of paint. What exactly does this type of project entail, especially if you hire professional painters? Specifically, how many hours or days does it take to paint a house?
The answer is like many answers to questions about home renovations: It depends.
The biggest determining factor for how long it takes a professional to paint the exterior of a home is the size of the house. For an average-sized home, such as a one or two-story with fewer than four bedrooms, it usually takes about four to five days to do it right. For larger houses, it’ll take longer — at least six to seven days.
What Goes Into an Exterior Painting Project?
You may be wondering, what goes into those four to five days for painting an average-sized home? Exterior painting is a complicated, intense job. It presents its own set of challenges that are best tackled by an expert, and here’s why:
Prep Work
At least half of the project time goes to preparation. Exterior painting requires extensive prep work, and sometimes even repair work. Depending on your home’s siding material (wood, Hardie Plank, stucco, etc.) and the length of time it has been since it was last painted, the prep and repair steps could be up to 85% of your project time.
Professional painters know to never skimp on the necessary prep, even if it lengthens the project. If they don’t complete the prep properly, it could compromise the entire paint job. In fact, it could literally shorten the life of your new paint job by years, costing you even more time and money in the long run.
At minimum, most homes will need to have:
- Power washing to clean
- Old paint scraped and removed
- Primer applied to bare wood
- Wood siding replaced or repaired
- Joints, gaps and seams around your entire home caulked
- Tape and tarp to protect surfaces that should not get paint on them
Exterior Painting
Once painting begins, a quality job will usually require at least two full coats of paint with proper dry time. A professional exterior painter will know exactly the right type of paint to use on your home and its specific material, whether it’s aluminum siding, wood, brick, etc. Lastly, professional exterior painters use only the right tools to get the job done quickly and efficiently.
Clean Up
A professional exterior painter won’t leave your home a mess at the end of each day of the project. They take the time and effort to clean up after each day. Also, the pros will always end the project by cleaning up the area and removing all tools and debris. One of the best parts about hiring a professional to do the job is that you’ll never have to worry about cleaning up messes.
While your exterior painting project might last for a little under a week, you won’t have to deal with the monotonous, time-consuming tasks like cleaning up. The time and money saved in this step alone is a main reason many homeowners hire a professional exterior paint expert.
So, How Long Does it Take Pro Painters to Paint a House Exterior?
It usually takes professional painters at least four to five days to paint an average-sized home. Keep in mind that estimates are always weather-dependent. Rain and extreme humidity will delay a project. Plus, too hot surfaces baking in the sun may require a delay, just as too cold air temperatures may extend a project timeline.
But remember: Those pros know your time is valuable, and they’ll work efficiently so your project is finished in a timely manner. The goal is not just a quality paint job, but to finish on time and on budget.
Professional Exterior House Painting Services
Our home painting experts are ready to help you tackle your painting project. We provide interior wall painting services, including prepping and priming to take the workload off your shoulders. Contact us today for a free painting quote.
