17 Mar How Cold Weather Affects Your Exterior Paint
We all know that the winter season can be hard on our buildings. They must stand up to the swirling snows, heavy sheets of ice, and howling winds that accompany the most bitter winter storms. It’s hard on the roof and the structure of the building, but we don’t often think about how these storms can affect the exterior paint.
A severe winter can impact the way your paint functions and protects your building. For more information on what you could be seeing this spring, let’s take a closer look:
Expansion and Contraction
The weather is never consistent throughout the winter season. We have days where we must bundle up and brave the ice. At other times, the snow thaws and the sun will peek out from behind the grey clouds. The expansion and contraction that comes with these shifts in the weather is perfectly normal. A solid paint job on the outside of your building helps minimize the effects of these natural shifts back and forth between frozen and thawed.
Unfortunately, you can start to see problems when there is damage to the coat of exterior paint. If there are small cracks or chips in the paint, water and snow can find their way between the paint and your building. As the moisture expands and contracts beneath the surface of the paint, it contributes to an even greater issue.
Changing the Bond
As winter moves into spring, you will start to notice that there is even more damage. There are bigger entry points for the water to slip behind the paint and lead to expansion of the wood of your building. In the end, it leads to paint that can literally peel directly off the exterior of your walls.
The issue is magnified if you chose to go with a painting company that tried to sell you on the cheapest product available on the market. Low-quality paints used by inexperienced or disreputable companies often crack, flake, or bubble under the pressure of these changes.
Changing the Colour
When your building was painted, perhaps you chose a beautiful dark grey or navy blue. The colour really caused it to pop on a bright, sunny day. Many people love the way a dark exterior paint colour looks, but you have to be careful with these colours. When you choose to use a low-quality paint, cold temperatures can drastically affect the colour. They leech out those vibrant shades, leaving you with faded colours or a completely white exterior.
Going with Professionals
If you want your exterior paint job to last, it is essential that you choose to go with real professionals in Winnipeg commercial painting. Pinnacle Painting knows what types of paints to use and how to apply them to give you the best chance of success over the winter. With our experience, you can avoid some of these common pitfalls that cold weather brings about for your exterior paint.