How often do I need to paint my South Shore Exterior?
Chapter 3
Chapter 3. How often do I need to paint my exterior if I live on the South Shore?
Not sure you need to paint? Take this exterior painting quiz. You’ll find out if you need to apply a coat of paint to your South Shore, Plymouth, and Boston-area home for it to stay protected from our harsh New England climate.
The following are just averages – depending on the materials used, your home might need a different painting schedule. Also, if you apply a maintenance coat, you “start the clock” over again when you need to paint.
Wood houses inland every 7-10 years.
- Towns not directly on the coast like Pembroke, Rockland, Hanover, Norwell, Milton, Canton, Avon, Weymouth, Braintree, Randolph Stoughton, Lakeville, Whitman, Hanson etc.
- 2 coats of paint every 7-10 years.
- A possible maintenance coat every 5-6 years to prolong the life of your home and freshen it up.
Wood houses with an ocean view every 5-8 years
- Homes that sit DIRECTLY on the waterfront in towns like Duxbury, Marshfield, Cohasset, Hingham, Hull, Scituate, Quincy, Dartmouth, Plymouth, Marion
- 2 coats of paint every 5-8 years.
- A possible maintenance coat every few years to protect the wood on your home from the coastal wind, cold, and salt air.
Wood houses in coastal towns that do NOT have an ocean view
- Inland homes in towns like Duxbury, Marshfield, Scituate, Cohasset, Hingham, Hull, Quincy
- 2 coats of paint every seven years.
- A possible maintenance coat every 5-6 years to protect the wood.
Vinyl-sided homes: Since vinyl is so durable, you never really need to paint your home unless you want to change its color.
Stucco homes: every 7-10 years
- Most of the time, stucco homes only need painting every 7-10 years or when you start seeing the stucco cracking.
- Stucco Tudors are common in the town of Milton and surrounding towns.
Aluminum-sided homes – possibly every 10-14 years to change color or add protection
- Aluminum siding is extremely durable and usually lasts 40 years.
- You might need to paint if you notice chalking (rub your hand on the siding and notice if “chalk” appears on your hand).
- Applying a maintenance coat of paint to the Aluminum siding every 10-14 years might be a good idea and can freshen up your exterior, but is generally not necessary unless you don’t like the color.
Defining the scope of the exterior painting work:
- Ensure that the specifications you give to the first company are the same ones you give to every subsequent painter who quotes your project.
- For example, if you have the first company quote a “spot prime and one coat,” don’t have the second painting company quote “full prime and two coats” because you won’t be able to compare the price of the two quotes side-by-side.
- Sometimes, the project’s specifications can change when you talk to another painting company (this happens when a painting company has a different approach than the first company that bids). If this happens, have the 2nd painting contractor bid on the original work scope and add the price for the new scope of work as an optional price.
Ways to save you money on your exterior painting project:
- Less surface preparation. This can work nicely for homes going up for sale that simply need a coat of paint to look fresh.
- Spraying the home and back-rolling the paint costs less than rolling the house and provides just as durable of a finish.
- Phasing the painting – doing one side of your home this year and another part of your home next year helps you budget your painting over a few years. This is common in Condominium Communities as they stretch their maintenance budgets.
- If budget is a concern:
- See if you can find ballpark paint pricing online.
- Is there financing?
- You can try DIY exterior painting, but understand that it is time-consuming. It is much better to DIY small pieces of an exterior project, such as deck staining, shutter painting, etc, one area at a time, so if you lose steam in the middle, your home is not left “halfway done.”
