A spring painting checklist for Wisconsin homes

Start with the weather, not the date

The median date of Madison's last 32°F reading is May 2, according to The Weather Guys at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, using 1981 to 2010 records. By May 20 the chance of another freeze has fallen to 10 percent. April's normal high is 56.9°F but its normal low is only 35.8°F, and April and May average 3.78 and 4.10 inches of precipitation, according to the Wisconsin State Climatology Office.

So spring means chilly nights, damp wood and frequent rain. A warm Saturday in April isn't always a painting day. The National Park Service says that once moisture problems are solved, the wood must be allowed to dry out thoroughly, and our post on Madison's outdoor painting season explains the temperature limits paint makers set.

Walk the outside

Pick a dry day once the snow is gone. Take photos as you go, so you can compare them with the fall. Here is what to look for:

• Cracking, bubbling or peeling paint at board ends and joints, where Purdue says paint normally fails first.
• Stains or peeling under roof edges and valleys, where runoff and ice dams wet the wall.
• Gaps or crumbling caulk around windows, doors and trim.
• Gutters that leak, overflow or have pulled away from the house.
• Shrubs touching painted wood, which keep it damp.
• Door bottoms, sills and thresholds with bare, swollen or soft wood.
• Deck boards that look gray, rough or splintered, or where the stain has worn away.

Look hardest at the sides that take the most weather. Purdue says the parts of a house that get the most sun and rain, usually the south and west sides, wear out fastest, while paint failure from moisture is worst on the side that faces the prevailing wind and rain.

Fix the water source first

The National Park Service says there is no sense in repainting before dealing with moisture, because new paint will simply fail. Its list of things to correct first is a good checklist on its own: faulty flashing, leaking gutters, defective roof shingles, cracks and holes in trim, deteriorated caulking, and shrubs growing too close to painted wood.

Some of those belong to other trades. Flashing, shingles and gutters are for a roofer or gutter company, and the same goes for attic insulation and ventilation, which Purdue says can reduce or eliminate ice dams. Fixing them first means the paint we put on is not fighting a leak. Our post on freeze-thaw damage explains how water does its work over a Wisconsin winter.

Touch-up or repaint?

Not everything you find calls for a full repaint. This table sorts the usual spring findings:

Purdue's guidance supports the first and third rows: for isolated failures, scrape and sand to a smooth edge, treat and prime the bare wood, then caulk large cracks after priming. Our guide to fixing peeling paint covers the steps in more detail.

A sensible order of work

Spring jobs go wrong when the steps get shuffled. This is the order that protects the paint:

1. Inspect on a dry day and photograph everything you find.
2. Fix the water sources: roof, gutters, flashing, fans and vents.
3. Give the wood time to dry out thoroughly.
4. Prep the surface: scrape loose paint, sand the edges, clean, and prime bare wood.
5. Caulk large cracks and openings after priming.
6. Paint or stain across a stretch of dry days, with the air and surface above the minimum on the label.
7. Walk the finished work and note anything to watch next spring.

The order matters more than the speed. Paint over wet wood or an unfixed leak just gives you a fresh coat to scrape off next year.

Doors, trim and entryways

Front doors, garage doors and trim take sun, rain and slush all year, and spring is when the damage becomes visible. We paint exterior doors, garage doors, entryways and trim, and we schedule that work around dry weather. Smaller exterior projects usually take one to three days.

Diamond Vogel's technical bulletin says exterior latex paint shouldn't be applied below 50°F in the air or on the surface, and that it shouldn't drop below 50°F for at least eight hours afterward. That is why a day that reaches 60°F can still be the wrong day if the night will dip into the 30s. Our guides to painting a front door, exterior trim and garage doors walk through each.

Decks after winter

A deck takes more weather than anything else on the house. In spring, look for stain that has worn off, boards that have turned gray or rough, and any spots where water sat over the winter. Don't stain a wet deck. Wood that is still damp from snowmelt will not take a finish the way dry wood does.

Cleaning and sanding come before stain, and the weather has to hold across the whole job. Our guides on preparing a deck for staining and the best time to stain a deck cover both. We stain and refinish decks, and the decks and exterior painting page lists what we do.

Inside: a short spring list

• Look at ceilings and the tops of walls under the roofline for new stains from winter melt or ice dams.
• Check around bathrooms, laundry rooms and kitchens for peeling or blistering paint, which can signal too much moisture. Purdue says a family of four can add about three gallons of water a day to the indoor air.
• Run the bathroom and kitchen fans, and confirm they vent outdoors.
• Note any cracks that opened over the dry heating season, so you can discuss them when you plan interior work.
• Sort last year's leftover paint. Dried latex goes in the trash, and liquid or oil-based paint goes to Clean Sweep. See our post on disposing of paint in Dane County.

When to call

If your walk-around turns up a door, some trim or a deck that needs work, ask for a free estimate. Every job starts with a phone call, and George visits if he needs to see the space. You get a written quote with a start date, and we cover floors and everything nearby before any paint comes out. Photos from your walk-around and a short list of what you'd like done, such as a door, some trim or the deck, help George give an accurate quote. We serve homes across Madison and Dane County.