How Long Does It Take to Paint a House Exterior?
By Dunwoody Painters ·
A full exterior repaint typically takes 3 to 6 days, depending on the size of the house, how much prep and carpentry it needs, and the weather. Two customers wrote that their entire exteriors were finished in three days, one with damaged siding repaired and one with the deck stained too. Heavy wood rot, extra coats over dry paint and rain days push a job toward the long end.
What happens on each day of an exterior repaint?
An exterior runs in a fixed order, and each step waits on the one before it. Part of the calendar is drying time between steps, set by the paint maker’s data sheet rather than by how many painters are on the house.
| Step | What happens | What controls the time |
|---|---|---|
| Wash | A power wash strips dirt, mildew, pollen and chalk so the new paint bonds to sound film. | It comes first, a few days before painting. Sherwin-Williams advises letting the house dry at least 24 to 48 hours [3]. |
| Scrape, sand and repair | Loose paint is scraped back to a sound edge, and rotted fascia, trim and siding are replaced. | How much wood is soft. Carpentry is done before paint, never painted over. |
| Caulk and prime | Every joint is caulked and bare wood is spot-primed. | How many open joints and bare spots the house has. |
| Finish coats | Two coats of 100% acrylic on siding, trim, doors and shutters, back-brushed where needed: satin on trim and fascia, semi-gloss on the front door and shutters. | The recoat time between coats, set by temperature and humidity [1] [2]. |
| Walkthrough | We walk the full exterior with you and address any final details. | Nothing is invoiced until this walk is done. |
Between coats, the recoat time is the main wait. Sherwin-Williams lists Duration, one of the exterior paints we use, as dry to the touch in 1 hour and ready to recoat in 4 hours above 45°F at 50% relative humidity. Between 35 and 45°F that stretches to 2 hours to touch and 24 to 48 hours to recoat [1]. Benjamin Moore lists Aura Exterior at 1 hour to touch and 4 hours to recoat at 77°F, and says high humidity and cool temperatures lengthen dry, recoat and service times [2].
What makes an exterior take longer?
These three move a job from the short end of the range toward the long end.
- Carpentry. We replace rotted fascia, trim and siding so the new paint has a sound surface. Press a screwdriver into sills and trim corners before the walkthrough: any give is rot that needs carpentry before paint.
- Size and trim. A larger home with a lot of trim sits toward the longer end. Two- and three-story elevations, gables and high fascia also need staging and ladder safety planned in from the first step.
- Dry old paint. One customer’s house needed more coats than estimated because the existing paint was so dry, and every extra coat brings its own recoat wait.
How does Georgia weather change the schedule?
Temperature and moisture decide which days can be painting days. Before Duration goes on, Sherwin-Williams says the air, the surface and the paint must all be above 35°F and at least 5° above the dew point, and that it should not be applied when temperatures may drop below 35°F within 48 hours [1]. The company’s homeowner guidance is more cautious, advising against painting below 50°F or above 90°F [3]. Its contractor guidance adds that most products need at least 4 hours of dry time before moisture can settle on the surface [4], so a coat has to go on early enough to beat evening dew.
We pause for rain so every coat cures properly. When a wet spell stretches on, the schedule moves with it and we keep you informed: one customer’s exterior and wood rot repair ran into an extended stretch of rain, and their review notes they were kept informed of scheduling. Our guide to how Georgia’s climate affects exterior painting covers heat, humidity and pollen in more depth.
What can you do to keep the job on schedule?
Three things on your side keep the crew painting once it arrives:
- Settle colors before the start date. We brush large samples on more than one side of the house and check them in direct sun and in shade, and help with HOA color approval is included.
- Point out problem spots at the walkthrough. Soft wood, peeling corners and open caulk joints you show us go into the line-by-line written estimate, which also sets out the expected timeline.
- Leave the outside to us. The crew masks around cars and landscaping before any spraying and cleans up at the end of every day, so you can stay home while the work goes on.
Every exterior painting job is backed by our written 2-year workmanship warranty, and you pay nothing until the work is finished and you have walked it with us. More exterior questions are answered in our painting guides.
Book a free exterior estimate and we will put the timeline for your house in writing.
Sources
- Duration Exterior Acrylic Latex Satin K33, Product Data Sheet 102.14B, Sherwin-Williams.
- Aura Waterborne Exterior Low Lustre N634, Technical Data Sheet, Benjamin Moore.
- Exterior Painting How-Tos, Sherwin-Williams.
- Exterior Product Application FAQs, Sherwin-Williams.
Sherwin-Williams’ data sheet for Duration says not to apply it if rain is expected within 2 to 3 hours, and its contractor guidance says most products need at least 4 hours of dry time before evening dew or other moisture settles on the surface. Its homeowner guidance is stricter, at 24 hours for paint to fully cure before rain. We schedule coats around temperature and humidity and pause for rain so each coat cures properly.
Not a whole house done properly. The wash needs at least 24 to 48 hours to dry, rotted wood is replaced before any paint goes on, and the second finish coat waits out the first coat’s recoat time. Two of our whole-exterior jobs took three days, the short end of the 3 to 6 day range.
Plan to be there for two walks: the walkthrough for your estimate and the final walk around the finished house, since nothing is invoiced until that one is done. In between, the work happens outside, so you can stay home while the crew paints.
Late April through early June and September through early November are the best painting windows in metro Atlanta. Pollen season in late March and early April makes clean exterior work difficult, because fresh paint holds whatever lands on it.