When to paint a house exterior in Cedar Rapids, IA
When to paint in Cedar Rapids, IA
A normal season: plan the job, do not leave it late. The painting window is June to September, with 4 good months a year. The best month is July, at about 16 painting days. Book a painter by April.
If you want the house done in June to September, call for quotes in April or earlier; a job pushed past September is likely to wait until next year. For a deck, the months with enough staining days to spare are May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep.
- under 1Jan
- under 1Feb
- under 1Mar
- 2Apr
- 7May
- 13Jun
- 16Jul
- 15Aug
- 13Sep
- 3Oct
- 1Nov
- under 1Dec
Month by month
| Month | Painting days | Staining days | With low-temp paint | Avg low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | under 1 | under 1 | under 1 | 14° / 30°F |
| February | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 15° / 35°F |
| March | under 1 | under 1 | 3 | 29° / 49°F |
| April | 2 | 2 | 11 | 38° / 62°F |
| May | 7 | 6 | 14 | 51° / 73°F |
| June | 13 | 9 | 14 | 61° / 83°F |
| July | 16 | 13 | 16 | 64° / 84°F |
| August | 15 | 15 | 16 | 61° / 82°F |
| September | 13 | 13 | 19 | 56° / 79°F |
| October | 3 | 3 | 13 | 42° / 64°F |
| November | 1 | 1 | 5 | 30° / 49°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | under 1 | 22° / 38°F |
Deck stain does best in August. Low-temperature paint adds about 42 days a year here.
Towns near Cedar Rapids compared
4 of the 6 nearest places get more painting days, the most in Muscatine (86 a year, 49 miles southeast); 1 gets fewer, down to 62 a year. A gap like that between towns is usually elevation, a coast or a lake, which is why a painter from a few towns over can be on a different schedule. Marion is read from the same station as Cedar Rapids, so its numbers match; the real difference is the distance from that station.
| Place | From Cedar Rapids | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marion, IA | 7 mi northeast | 70 | June to September | same station |
| North Liberty, IA | 16 mi south | 78 | June to September | Iowa City Municipal Airport |
| Coralville, IA | 19 mi south | 78 | June to September | Iowa City Municipal Airport |
| Iowa City, IA | 23 mi south | 78 | June to September | Iowa City Municipal Airport |
| Muscatine, IA | 49 mi southeast | 86 | June to September | Davenport Municipal Airpt |
| Waterloo, IA | 50 mi northwest | 62 | July to August | Waterloo Municipal Airport |
How Cedar Rapids ranks in IA
Of 41 IA places with 10,000 people or more, Cedar Rapids (population 137,904, 2nd largest) ranks 25th for painting days, 2 days below the state median of 72. The longest season in the state is Council Bluffs, 118 days, 221 miles west. The shortest is Le Mars at 54. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 42 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from The Eastern Iowa Airport (5.9 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.