Winter painting

Winter painting and productivity

In an ideal world, painters are busy on exteriors in summer and have enough interior work to cover them for the winter months. But we all know the world isn’t perfect.

We know this better than most at Resene, and often the chat beside the ColorShop coffee machine is around how much ‘inside work’ everyone has – or hasn’t – got on the go.

We know this better than most at Resene, and often the chat beside the ColorShop coffee machine is around how much 'inside work' everyone has – or hasn't – got on the go.

There are some clever products we can provide which can help if you find yourselves outside in the cooler months, trying to get that southern elevation completed so that final invoice can be delivered. These innovative products may even keep productivity levels closer to where they need to be to keep the customer (and the boss) happy.

To this end, our suggestions would be:

1. Change the timing of your workday, especially on exterior jobs. Start later and finish earlier to avoid dew points and the coldest part of the day, and reschedule or reduce lunch and coffee breaks. An hour or even half an hour break for lunch will likely be during the best time of the day for painting.

2. When you can, and when the conditions dictate, use Resene Wintergrade Additive. It can only be used in cool/cold conditions, but waterborne paints will dry down to 3°C.

3. Use waterborne enamels for exterior joinery, not solventborne. As a rule, they dry quicker and also become a little easier to apply in colder conditions.

4. Invest in a dehumidifier for inside work, particularly on new builds. If you are spraying out a home or commercial job, the paint will need to release around half its volume in water into the internal atmosphere, resulting in high humidity. This, combined with colder temperatures, means paint simply will not dry.

5. If applying exterior paint when a shower is possible, use Resene Umbrella Additive. It is able to resist a light shower after only 10 minutes – potentially saving your paintwork and, importantly, giving you the confidence to get started! (Note: You can’t use Resene Wintergrade and Umbrella Additives in the same paint).

6. Use a leaf blower to remove moisture and dry exterior surfaces, easy and very effective!

What this all means is that with a little bit of thought, a lot of pre-planning and a touch of technology, painting in winter need not be a productivity (or a pay packet) killer.