When to paint a house exterior in Columbia, PA
When to paint in Columbia, PA
A normal season: plan the job, do not leave it late. The painting window is August to September, with 3 good months a year. The best month is August, at about 13 painting days. Book a painter by June.
If you want the house done in August to September, call for quotes in June 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
- 8May
- 13Jun
- 11Jul
- 13Aug
- 12Sep
- 3Oct
- under 1Nov
- under 1Dec
Month by month
| Month | Painting days | Staining days | With low-temp paint | Avg low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 24° / 43°F |
| February | under 1 | under 1 | 2 | 25° / 47°F |
| March | under 1 | under 1 | 3 | 31° / 55°F |
| April | 2 | 2 | 11 | 41° / 67°F |
| May | 8 | 5 | 16 | 51° / 77°F |
| June | 13 | 9 | 14 | 60° / 84°F |
| July | 11 | 5 | 11 | 66° / 89°F |
| August | 13 | 8 | 13 | 64° / 87°F |
| September | 12 | 10 | 16 | 58° / 81°F |
| October | 3 | 3 | 16 | 46° / 70°F |
| November | under 1 | under 1 | 6 | 34° / 58°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 28° / 48°F |
Deck stain does best in September. Low-temperature paint adds about 47 days a year here.
Towns near Columbia compared
1 gets fewer, down to 57 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. Lancaster, Ephrata are read from the same station as Columbia, so their numbers match; the real difference is the distance from that station.
| Place | From Columbia | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elizabethtown, PA | 10 mi northwest | 66 | August to September | Harrisburg International Airport |
| Lancaster, PA | 10 mi east | 63 | August to September | same station |
| York, PA | 13 mi west | 63 | July to August | York Airport |
| Ephrata, PA | 19 mi northeast | 63 | August to September | same station |
| Lebanon, PA | 22 mi north | 57 | August | Muir Army Airfield (Fort Indi |
| Harrisburg, PA | 26 mi northwest | 63 | September | Capital City Airport |
How Columbia ranks in PA
Of 68 PA places with 10,000 people or more, Columbia (population 10,399, 65th largest) ranks 46th for painting days, 2 days below the state median of 65. The longest season in the state is Indiana, 109 days, 146 miles west. The shortest is St. Marys at 39. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 47 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Lancaster Airport (12.2 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.