What Do You Need to Know Before Attempting Wintertime Exterior Painting?

With the right tools, tech­niques, and prod­ucts, almost any­thing is possible.

Below is a look at an exte­ri­or paint­ing project we fin­ished in Novem­ber for a client in Waltham, MA. They were repo­si­tion­ing their prop­er­ty for either lease or sale; this can be a fan­tas­tic strat­e­gy for adding func­tion­al­i­ty and appeal to old­er com­mer­cial spaces. In this case, we were asked to paint the win­dows on the store­front, refresh­ing the curb­side image.

While ​“exte­ri­or paint­ing” and ​“Novem­ber” aren’t often words you find in the same sen­tence in Mass­a­chu­setts, this project was com­plete­ly pos­si­ble thanks to the prod­ucts we chose.

What Hap­pens If You Choose the Wrong Coat­ing for Cold Weather?

Typ­i­cal­ly, win­ter weath­er brings not only a cold­er tem­per­a­ture here in New Eng­land, but also a high­er mois­ture con­tent. This com­bi­na­tion can be harm­ful to paint prod­ucts that require con­sis­tent­ly warmer air and a dry sur­face to cure prop­er­ly, lead­ing to poor adhe­sion and com­pro­mised quality/​longevity.

Can Exte­ri­or Paint­ing Be Done in the Winter?

In short, yes. The impor­tant thing is to make sure that the sur­face is com­plete­ly dry, and that the prod­uct you choose is devel­oped for use in that spe­cif­ic temperature.

Cir­cling back to our project in Waltham, our goal was to com­plete­ly trans­form the exist­ing, black exte­ri­or win­dows by paint­ing them to look like anodized aluminum.

We began by pro­tect­ing the adja­cent sur­faces with plas­tic, then clean­ing and prepar­ing the win­dows before priming/​painting.

With the cold weath­er and unique coat­ing goals in mind, we used two qual­i­ty prod­ucts: Tne­mec Series 27 Typoxy and Tne­mec Series 73 Endurashield.

Tne­mec Series 27 Typoxy is a polyamide epoxy coat­ing that we used as tie-coat (essen­tial­ly a primer), offer­ing sev­er­al key benefits:

• Ide­al for cold-weath­er application
• Water resis­tance
• Cures quick­ly
• Offers excel­lent adhesion
• Applies eas­i­ly
• Is firm but flexible

Tne­mec Series 73 Endurashield is a durable, weath­er-resis­tant paint (Aliphat­ic Acrylic Polyurethane). Much like the Series 27 Typoxy, this for­mu­la is tough, flex­i­ble, and can with­stand both mois­ture and ultra­vi­o­let rays. Meet­ing our need for cold-weath­er paint­ing, this option adheres beau­ti­ful­ly to sur­faces with a tem­per­a­ture of 35 degrees.

To help com­plete the look of anodized alu­minum for these win­dows, we chose the col­or Alu­minum 57GR.

Using an HVLP Paint Sprayer — Work­ing Neat­ly and Efficiently

Because we were work­ing around care­ful­ly-pro­tect­ed win­dows and oth­er exte­ri­or sur­faces, we used an HVLP (high vol­ume-low pres­sure) paint sprayer. This spe­cial­ized paint equip­ment allows more paint to reach the sur­face with low­er air pres­sure behind it, increas­ing con­trol and reduc­ing overspray.

Find a Pro­fes­sion­al Painter with Exten­sive Prod­uct Knowledge

At the end of the day, regard­less of your com­mer­cial or indus­tri­al paint­ing need, the key is to find a paint­ing com­pa­ny with true prod­uct and appli­ca­tion exper­tise. Every sur­face and sit­u­a­tion is a lit­tle dif­fer­ent, requir­ing the abil­i­ty to adapt creatively.

If you have any ques­tions for us at Kaloutas, we hope that you’ll con­tact us direct­ly. It would be our plea­sure to serve you.

Kaloutas is New Eng­land’s pre­mier con­trac­tor for com­mer­cial & indus­tri­al paint­ing, floor­ing, and relat­ed ser­vices. Estab­lished in 1987, Kaloutas has become a trust­ed resource for gen­er­al con­trac­tors, facil­i­ties man­agers, and build­ing own­ers from Con­necti­cut to Maine. Our team prides itself on high qual­i­ty work­man­ship, jobs done on time & bud­get, and tack­ling com­plex projects that oth­er con­trac­tors don’t have the expe­ri­ence or resources to han­dle. Con­tact us today for a paint­ing or floor­ing esti­mate, or give us a call at 978−532−1414 to learn more.