Paint House Exterior

How Long does it Take to Paint House Exterior?

Last Updated: 2022-02-16By

How long does it take to paint house exterior depends on many factors. First of all, it is important to understand what material the house is made of and its dimensions. For example, modern houses can be made of combined materials and some of them do not need painting.

For exterior painting of a 2000 sq ft house, two professional painters will need 7 – 8 days. If the house is very high or non-standard form, this can increase the time it takes to paint the house. DIY exterior painting of such a house can take up to a three weeks of work.

How Long does it Take to Paint House Exterior

2 PaintersDIY with friend
House Washing1 day1 day
Preparing Stage1 – 2 days3 – 5 days
Trimming Surfaces2 days4 days
Painting Walls2 days 4 days
Cleaning1 day 2 – 3 days
Total7 -8 days14 – 17 days
Exterior painting of a 2000 sq ft house.

The information in the table will give you a rough idea of how much each house exterior painting process can take. It should be understood that each house is unique, and you can only know exactly the required time for painting if you know all the details.

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Stages of Painting a House Exterior

Exterior house painting is a set of many processes, each of which will take a lot of time and effort. To have a detailed idea of how long does it take to paint house exterior, it is worthwhile to understand each of them in detail.

House Washing

All preparatory work must be done before painting the house. A lot of dust and dirt accumulates on the walls of the house, so you should wash it before painting the house.

Painters will need a whole day to clean a house of 2000 sq ft. The absence of dirt and dust will allow you to see all the damage that could occur in the walls of the house over the years of operation.

Preparing Stage

The second step for any painting is preparation, and this is important for exterior painting. If this is not a new home, then remove any peeling paint. Since during this process all the debris will fall to the ground, it is necessary to first put a special canvas on the ground.

If there are shrubs around the house, they also need to be covered, pieces of paint falling on them will ruin the whole appearance of your house. It is also necessary to cover with a protective masking tape all surfaces that border the painting area.

Also, during preparation, it is necessary to close up all irregularities and holes with putty or sealant. Depending on the damage to the walls of the house and finishing surfaces, this process can take 1 – 2 days. If the walls are in good condition, then two painters will need one day to complete all the preparatory work.

Trimming Surfaces

After the preparatory work is over, it’s time to start painting. The first step is to paint the finishing surfaces. This process will take up to two days for professional painters, depending on the complexity of the structure of the house.

Also at this stage, paint over the edging of the walls. This allows you to simplify the painting of the main surfaces of the walls, without going beyond them.

Painting Walls

Wall painting can be done in two ways. Depending on the type of home, a spray gun or paint roller may be used. Using a sprayer can significantly affect how long does it take to paint house exterior and speed up the process.

For high-quality painting of the outer part of the walls, two layers of paint are used. It will take 1-2 days for painters to paint one coat of paint in a 2000 sq ft house.

The speed of painting the walls also depends on the material from which they are made. For example, the slowest process will be to paint wood surfaces. Since they have an uneven surface, a wide brush is used to paint such walls. This greatly slows down the process and the painting of such a house can double.

Cleaning

The final step in painting the house will be cleaning. All debris and materials that have been used to protect surfaces from paint must be removed. The cleaning process is quite laborious and takes a whole day to complete.

What effects time to paint house exterior

  • House Height
  • Complexity of Construction
  • Painting the House During the Cold Season

House Height

Many factors affect the time of painting the outside of the house. First of all, the height of the house affects the duration of painting a house. A house with high ceilings is much more difficult to paint because painters will have to use high stairs. Constant climbing on leaders slows down the painting process significantly.

Complexity of Construction

How long does it take to paint house exterior also depends on the shape of the house. Modern houses come in completely different shapes, so the painting will take longer if the house is made in a non-standard form, with many protrusions and additional elements.

Painting the House During the Cold Season

If you decide to paint your house, then you should take care of what time of year it is best to do it. Since drying of the paint plays an important factor in the speed of painting a house, this process should take place as quickly as possible.

The optimum temperature for painting is 25 -28 degrees Celsius, with a relative humidity of 50%. Therefore, the optimal period for painting a house is from late spring to mid-autumn. If you paint at home during the colder season, the process can be significantly delayed.

How to Speed Up the House Exterior Painting Process

As you may have noticed, a lot of details can affect the time it takes to paint a house exterior. If you have a tight time frame and need to know exactly how long does it take to paint your house, then the best solution would be to invite experts for an estimate.

A professional team will be able to evaluate all the details and will tell you exactly how long the painting will take. When the time of painting the house plays an important role, it is worth contacting at least three companies to estimate the work.

When talking with a contractor, it is worth focusing on the deadlines and what solutions they can offer to speed up the painting of the house exterior. Such solutions can be an increase in the number of workers or a painting technique.

However, it is worth noting that speeding up the painting process can significantly increase the cost of work. After receiving their answers, you will be able to choose the ideal offer for you of work time and price.

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Each building has some sort of driveway or at least should have. The main reason is for vehicles to come closer without need to walk all the way. Some homes are residential with small driveway for their car to come in and park before garage or front entrance, and others can be large commercial buildings with loading docks, delivery entrances and casual parking entrances. On Point Remodeling was asked for suggestions on residential driveway for new home construction, and we decided to write detailed article for all our readers. Using this guide you can select the material for your driveway and see what works for your budget. Here are the materials for driveway we will be discussing in our guide:
  • Asphalt
  • Concrete
  • Paver Stone
  • Crushed stone
  • Brick
  • Seashell
  • Gravel
To find good contractor for your driveway, you can either ask our team by email or try to find someone local that worked with neighbors or nearby buildings.

Installation process of any material surface on your driveway

a) Demolition and Excavation – Before anything is done, your contractor will get heavy machinery and scratch off old layer of driveway. They need to go down at least 5-6 inches to insure proper layering before your final layer of material is installed. b) Material Purchase and Delivery – At this point your contract is signed and you already know how the surface will look. Contracting company purchases necessary materials and delivers them to site. Double check if material is correct and not damaged. c) Preparation of Sublevel – Whatever you place as final material, it cannot just be installed directly on top soil. Gravel is the first choice of material that goes down at this stage. Other preferred material is screen sand that can go on top of gravel and works better with stone and bricks. d) Compaction of Ground – To prevent your driveway from moving and changing shapes, all the layers from bottom up have to be properly compacted. Do not leave any spot untouched while doing this or you can get small holes and cracks in driveway after installation. E) Final Installation – This is when all the magic happens. After all preparations and dirty work the final installation is made literally within hours and you can enjoy new driveway. Stone and brick is set up by hand, while other materials require some sort of machinery with manual labor to even out surface.

1. Asphalt

Probably the most used material for road top surfaces as well as driveways is asphalt. This is a mix of gravel and sand that is mixed in and combined by asphalt cement with crude oil. Pros of Asphalt Driveway
  • Very popular and easy to find materials/contractor
  • Completed in 1 day and you can drive on it after
  • Patches and small holes can be fixed fast
Cons of Asphalt Driveway
  • Easy to damage and cracks appear in few years
  • Almost everyone else has same surface
  • Oily surface and chemicals used in mix
Prepared for asphalt driveway will cost you around $5 per square foot to finish. The contractors that take care of entire process from taking out old driveway surface, install subsurface and compact the ground with new asphalt on top, will charge on average $5500 per regular size driveway at single home property.

2. Concrete

What we call concrete is a mixture of Portland cement, aggregate as well as sand with gravel. Suggested thickness of concrete for driveway is 6 inches. The mixture needs to cure without being touched or driven on top for several days. Pros of Concrete Driveway
  • Durable material for large weights
  • Long lifespan if installed properly
  • Winter and summer friendly
Cons of Concrete Driveway
  • Has marks and stains over time
  • Hard to repair without replacement
  • Super hard to DIY
To hire contractors for concrete driveway it will cost around $7-$9 per square foot. This will include site preparation with gravel spread and new concrete installation. They will order full truck of concrete (or several for larger driveways) to pour inside forming. Smoothening and curing is required after installation.

3. Paver Stone

The most luxurious material that you can use to create driveway path with is paver stone. It is made out of natural stone with uneven rough shapes that have different line patterns. Paver stones are very heavy and are perfect for weights on top of them. Almost every city in Europe has roads and walks made out of stone that were installed centuries ago. Pros of Paver Stone Driveway
  • Creative designs can be done
  • Personal looks, can match the house
  • Can replace single stone in minutes
Cons of Paver Stone Driveway
  • Weeds growing through
  • Stone can move over time
  • Most expensive material
There is wide selection of stone that can be purchased for your driveway. On average we recommend settling with $17-$20 per square foot for stone with installation included. Working with this material is very intense labor and we recommend hiring professionals that do this type of work every day.

4. Crushed Stone

Our readers sometimes mistake crushed stone with gravel, but this is not the same material. Crushed stone material is achieved when machine is mechanically crushing larger pieces of unused stone for this specific purpose. It is larger than gravel and can have smooth finish. Crushed stone can also have a mix of colors, which is much pleasant to eyes than gravel. Pros of Crushed Stone Driveway
  • Low maintenance required
  • Fits rural area style
  • Can be reused for other purposes
Cons of Crushed Stone Driveway
  • Gets very hot during summer
  • Can be messy after many drives
  • Hard to remove snow and ice
Buying crushed stone and installing it on your driveway is as easy as it gets. Similar to other rough materials discussed in this post, only small tools like shovels, dolly and buckets are required to spread it on the road. The cost of crushed stone driveway is between $4 and $6 per square foot from professional local contractors that can finish the job in several days.

5. Brick

The same brick we see being used in wall construction can be installed as top driveway surface. Brick is manufactured by compressing clay with plastic mass. It is heated to extreme temperature and dried up to become as solid as you know it. Pros of Brick Driveway
  • Variety of selections in shapes and shades
  • Bricks are recyclable
  • Slip resistant with rough top part
Cons of Brick Driveway
  • Needs regular maintenance
  • Change color over time
  • Old fashion looking
Installing brick on driveway costs $10 per square foot, which is not too far from masonry brick laying as part of the wall. To save money you can use or purchase old brick, that was part of a wall before. Do not mix these two jobs and contact landscaping professionals instead of masonry contractors that work with bricks.

6. Seashell

This material is popular on the coast line where shells can be found near the water. Construction companies use seashells to add in other materials as well as spread them on driveway in rough condition, without adding anything else. It usually comes in white or pearl color and darkens within year because of mixing with sand and dirt. Pros of Seashell Driveway
  • Environmentally friendly
  • Has natural drainage
  • Creates worm vibe of beach house
Cons of Seashell Driveway
  • Break and crack under light weight
  • Sharp and very hard to walk on
  • Gets stuck in shoes and tires
To deliver and spread seashells on driveways costs below $4, which is only slightly more expensive than rough gravel. As you go further from coast line, cost of material increases due to delivery. This material is elegant and very soft. We recommend adding edge lines with darker color landscape material to create visual path.

7. Gravel

This material is used in other construction mixes and underlayment systems. It’s literally fragments and small crushed stones that are put on top of soil. It is easily spread out by hands and anyone can do it. Pros of Gravel Driveway
  • Cheapest of them all
  • Easy DIY Job
  • Can install another material on top
Cons of Gravel Driveway
  • Needs to be graded very often
  • Will mix with dirt and leaves
  • Washes up with heavy rains
It is rough material and can be purchased in bulk (by metric tons or cubic meters). The cost of driveway with gravel should not exceed $3 per square foot, but you can save tons of money by purchasing materials and doings installation by yourself. You do not require specific tools or heavy equipment for the job and delivery of gravel can be arranged directly to your project.

Conclusion

To properly finish any and all of these driveways requires skills and experience. There is no way you can complete any of these projects without heavy equipment and tools that regular home owner’s just store in their garages. Most of those who will read this post will prefer to install asphalt driveway, because of its popularity and low costs. We want to encourage home owners to go for personal preference and what matches your house, rather than getting the most affordable and popular items. Driveway jobs have to be completed fast; otherwise you will need to park elsewhere while the project is running. To not overpay, ask us for quotation sample on material you prefer in specific region where the work need to be done and our team can provide some numbers.

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