Warmer weather means that snow melts and moisture accumulates, so it’s a good practice to inspect the outside of your home. This ensure you can catch little problems before they become big ones.

As you walk around the outside of your home pay attention to these areas:

Wooden window sills – snow and water can accumulate on these, so they are usually the first place where paint starts to peel

Decks and railings – snow and rain can accumulate on these areas as well so they generally need a lot of maintenance

Foundations – look for any cracks in your foundation, when snow melts and water expands it can cause hairline cracks to get worse

Shady areas and areas of low ventilation – these are prime areas of mold and mildew growth

Eaves and downspouts – if ice has formed in these over the winter, as the ice thaws it expands and can damage both eaves and downspouts

The exterior painting season at CAM Painters

As the temperature rises we often think about all the outside projects we have to do, and painting is usually one of them. Well, at CAM Painters we’re gearing up for the exterior painting season, BUT we can’t rush things…

Why? Most surfaces need time to thoroughly dry after the spring thaw, and this can take a few weeks. Wooden surfaces especially can hold on to moisture for weeks!

2 things we look for before starting exterior painting:

Temperatures stay above 5C at night

Moisture content is at an appropriate level (for wood this means less than 15%)

This usually means that we don’t start exterior painting until mid May and we stop exterior painting usually in late September. This only gives us 4 and a half months of exterior painting, and then we have to deal with rain delays too!

So the prudent thing to do is, if you’re thinking of doing some exterior painting this year, now is the time to get an estimate and book the work in!