Does anyone know the actual negative consequences of painting in cold weather? My can of Pratt and Lambert acrylic latex house paint has instructions saying not to paint when the temperature will be below 50 degrees farenheit within 24 hours.
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Time of season to move to SW's Duration line. Can paint in a lot cooler temps.
Ditto to what rez says ......... also SW's SuperPaint has the same technology as Duration and is usually less $.
thanks rez and jc, I was getting answers before I even left the website. I'll visit a Sherwin Williams store.
i just painted with s.w superpaint today. can says something like 36 degrees, i didn't know that until today, i thought you had to go to duration below 50.i don't know if they just changed formulas or it's been like that for a while. larry
........ did a small Hardiplank job a year ago with Superpaint. Temps in the high 30's and low 40's ......... went on well and still looks good.
The consequence is the paint will fall off.
"Latex" paints consist of an emulsion of latex or acrylic in water (along with many additives). An emulsion is a mixture of very fine particles of one substance in another in which it does not dissolve. For example, oil and water don't mix, but if oil is broken down into fine enough particles it can stay suspended for a time. Substances called emulsifiers can extend the time indefinitely. Mayonnaise is an emulsion of oil and water, with eggs as the emulsifier. Chocolate uses milk as an emulsifier.
When a latex paint is applied to a surface, the water evaporates and the particles of latex (and/or acrylic) slowly come together and form an film. Below a certain temperature, which is about 50°F for standard paints, the water evaporates, but the particles don't come together to form a film. So, the paint dries, that is, the water leaves, but it never becomes a durable finish. The paint will weather off quickly.
By the way, you may have noticed that on British decorating shows, latex paints are called emulsion paints.
If the temps are consistently below 50F, I wouldn't try to paint. We just finished stripping latex paint from some door frames that were done by "professional painters" last Spring. They painted on a day where the temperature topped out at 45F followed by a hard freeze overnight. The frames looked OK, but then the paint started peeling a few months later. I'm just glad the problem was limited to the frames -- it would have been a nightmare on the siding.