Interior paint is fairly lenient when it comes to the need for a new coat. As long as you are happy with how it looks, just leave it! That is not the case, however, with exterior paint. Because it faces more difficult environmental conditions, it has a limited lifespan. Additionally, exterior house paint needs to protect your home against water and pest intrusion, so there can be serious consequences if you let it go too long. So how long does exterior paint last? How do you know when your house need a new coat of exterior paint?
Here in New Jersey, exterior house paint tends to last 5 to 7 years. This number can help you as a general guideline, but there is more you should know so that you can take the best care of your home.
What Makes Exterior House Paint Last Longer?
You can save a good bit of money by extending the length of time between full exterior repaints. There are several ways you can maximize the lifespan of your exterior paint:
- Thorough surface preparation – This ensures a sound surface and excellent paint adhesion. Begin by cleaning the surface, repairing any damaged areas, removing any failing paint, and priming where needed.
- High quality paint – This adds only a marginal amount of cost to your project, but it can add years to the length of time the paint lasts
- Multiple coats of paint – Again, the materials cost is minimal compared to the time and money spent on exterior painting. Applying a second (or third) coat of paint will add more to the lifespan of the paint than it does to the cost of your project.
Why You Can’t Wait Too Long
It can be tempting to keep delaying exterior painting until the need becomes desperate. It is important to realize that once the paint has begun to deteriorate, you might be looking at expensive remediation before you can repaint.
If your exterior paint has begun to split, peel, bubble, flake, or fade, this paint failure will continue even after you add new paint. This will shorten the lifespan of all subsequent paint jobs. In this case, you would need to remove all failing paint before you can begin the new paint job, which is difficult and expensive.
On the other hand, if you do the repainting before the first signs of paint failure occur, the project goes much more quickly and easily.
Cherry Hill Painting
When your New Jersey home needs exterior repainting, you can trust Cherry Hill Painting to do the job right! We provide exceptional customer service and unbeatable craftsmanship, so that you can have peace of mind, knowing your home is in good hands.
In addition to exterior painting, we also provide New Jersey residents with interior painting, wallpaper removal, cabinet refinishing, and more. Contact our office or use our online contact form (below) to arrange your free estimate for exterior house painting today!