In wintertime, you may have more time to take care of chores than in summer. Painting indoors is a good wintertime task. What about your garage, though? Is it possible to paint your garage in the winter? In this article, we explore this question and provide tips and tricks to help you tackle outdoor and semi-outdoor paint jobs successfully read on to learn more.
What You'll Learn Today
Garages, Wintertime & Painting
The main thing to keep in mind when painting the interior or exterior walls of your garage, or any other building, in the wintertime is the temperature. Depending on whether you are using latex paint or oil based paint, you’ll need temperatures above freezing.
For oil based paints, you can successfully paint at temperatures ranging from 40 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. If you are using latex paint, you’ll need temperatures ranging from 50 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
Temperature Affects Both Bonding And Drying Times
If it’s very cold, you may end up with a splotchy, water spotted finish with latex paint. Oil paints may become very thick, making it difficult to apply the product smoothly to the walls.
With either oil or latex based paints, the paint may not bond well with the surface you’re trying to cover. No matter what, in cold temperatures, it takes quite a bit longer for paint to dry.
To prevent these problems, you can paint the exterior of your garage on milder winter days when there’s a light breeze, the sun is shining and the temperature does not drop below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you are painting inside, you’ll need to be able to keep the temperature consistently above the lowest stated temperature on the product you are using. Be advised that some instructions list temperatures down to 35 degrees Fahrenheit, but it’s always better to err on the side of caution.
You’ll always get better results at temperatures higher than 45F. Be sure to check the temperature of the walls before you start painting. Just because the air in the room is at 45F doesn’t mean that the walls are that warm.
Remember that the walls must stay warm for at least 48 hours after you finish applying the paint.
Be sure that fresh air can get in while you are painting. Good ventilation is always essential when painting indoors. If it’s very cold, keep a heater equipped with a fan running. Keeping the air moving gently will help with drying time.
How To Keep Paint From Freezing In The Garage
There really isn’t a way to keep paint from freezing in an unheated garage if you live in an area where temperatures drop to or below freezing in the wintertime. Even if it doesn’t freeze in your garage, extremely cold temperatures can ruin your paint. If it’s very cold, your paint may gel or separate.
If you absolutely must store your paint in an unheated garage in winter, you could construct a little room-within-a-room or a small insulated box heated by a reptile heater or a heat lamp to keep warm just for your paint.
This scheme seems a bit extreme, though, and it may end up costing you more to keep your paint warm than to replace it. If this is the case, you are probably better off just donating your paint to a worthy cause and starting over when warm weather arrives.
You are best off to move your paint out of your garage before the first freeze. If you have a basement, that’s the ideal place to keep paint in the wintertime, and indeed, all year round. As with all potentially toxic materials, keep your paint out of the reach of kids and pets.
What is the suitable temperature to pain the garage? And how long should it last?