Spring is coming – it’s time to paint and decorate outdoors in London!

At Ignas we are very happy that the weather is slowly but steadily improving! Why is it so important to us? Apart from the fact that we love the sun, these are also perfect conditions for painting and decorating the outside of buildings!

The impact of weather on painting and decorating

Many of our customers ask us how the weather affects exterior wall painting. The most common questions are – what is the best weather for painting? Under what conditions does the coating dry best? When are paints best applied? That’s perfectly understandable – customers who choose to paint and decorate their homes themselves, usually do so in their spare time, and this doesn’t always conveniently line up with when the weather is just right for painting – especially considering that the weather in London can be fickle.

The conditions under which we paint affect not only the comfort of painting – although this is of course also an important factor for our customers – but also the effect. The properties of the paint coating formed during painting vary depending on the temperature during painting and the weather  conditions when the paint dries off. We believe that the ideal temperature is 15-20 ° C. However, it is not only the temperature that impacts the effect – air humidity and wind intensity are just as important. In our experience as painters and decorators in London, the ideal conditions are around 70-80% for humidity and a very light wind. Of course, this does not mean that you cannot paint under different conditions – it just requires a slightly different approach and more experience.

Apart from the humidity, wind intensity and temperature mentioned, the sun and the associated UV radiation also play an important role. Strong, direct sunlight will affect the properties of the paint binder, causing the coating to erode. Of course, some types of paints are more resistant to this weather factor – for example, water-based paints offer more resistant binders, as opposed to solvent-based paints, which decompose harder under the influence of UV radiation.

How to find out if the weather in London is good for painting exterior walls?

Of course, our clients rarely have professional equipment that allows for accurate measurement of weather parameters such as humidity or sun intensity. Luckily, we’re here to share some useful tips on how to figure that out the old-fashioned way:

• Moisten some concrete floor – if it doesn’t dry out in 15 minutes, postpone the painting.
• Hang out the laundry – does it dry up? If not, the paint may have a problem with that too!
• If you feel that the wind is strong – it is better to postpone the painting, because the paint drying too quickly due to the wind is also not optimal.
• Do you feel strong sun on you? Better not to paint this facade element right away, because too strong UV rays can decompose the paint.
• If it is not raining, nor is it forecasted, and there is a slight cloud cover in the sky – this is the perfect time to paint!
• If the temperature is above 10 ° C, it’s a good time to apply water-based paints.
• Read the labels! – on the paint cans you will find out what conditions a particular paint requires when painting.

Of course, you can also save yourself all those troubles and hire professionals to paint and decorate your home or office in London! We are not afraid of any weather, but we are still happy about the upcoming spring – it is the best time of the year to paint in London.