When to paint a house exterior in Charleston, WV
When to paint in Charleston, WV
A short season: book early and expect weather delays. The painting window is May to September, and even that is thin, with 0 good months a year. The best month is September, at about 12 painting days. Book a painter by March.
If you want the house done in May to September, call for quotes in March 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 Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep.
- under 1Jan
- 1Feb
- 1Mar
- 4Apr
- 9May
- 11Jun
- 10Jul
- 11Aug
- 12Sep
- 5Oct
- 1Nov
- under 1Dec
Month by month
| Month | Painting days | Staining days | With low-temp paint | Avg low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | under 1 | under 1 | 2 | 26° / 47°F |
| February | 1 | 1 | 2 | 29° / 53°F |
| March | 1 | 1 | 6 | 35° / 62°F |
| April | 4 | 2 | 11 | 43° / 72°F |
| May | 9 | 4 | 14 | 53° / 80°F |
| June | 11 | 6 | 13 | 60° / 85°F |
| July | 10 | 6 | 10 | 65° / 89°F |
| August | 11 | 5 | 11 | 64° / 88°F |
| September | 12 | 10 | 15 | 58° / 84°F |
| October | 5 | 3 | 15 | 46° / 73°F |
| November | 1 | 1 | 6 | 35° / 61°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | 3 | 31° / 53°F |
Deck stain does best in September. Low-temperature paint adds about 44 days a year here.
Towns near Charleston compared
4 of the 6 nearest places get more painting days, the most in Beckley (75 a year, 47 miles southeast). 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. South Charleston, St. Albans are read from the same station as Charleston, so their numbers match; the real difference is the distance from that station.
| Place | From Charleston | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Charleston, WV | 4 mi west | 64 | May to September | same station |
| St. Albans, WV | 10 mi west | 64 | May to September | same station |
| Huntington, WV | 44 mi west | 72 | August to September | Tri-State/M.J.Fergus |
| Beckley, WV | 47 mi southeast | 75 | July to September | Raleigh County Memorial Airport |
| Ashland, KY | 55 mi west | 72 | August to September | Tri-State/M.J.Fergus |
| Ironton, OH | 58 mi west | 69 | August to September | Ashland Rgnl |
How Charleston ranks in WV
Of 13 WV places with 10,000 people or more, Charleston (population 46,482, 1st largest) ranks 10th for painting days, 5 days below the state median of 69. The longest season in the state is Wheeling, 79 days, 129 miles northeast. The shortest is Martinsburg at 58. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 44 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Yeager Airport (3.1 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.