When to paint a house exterior in Dover, DE
When to paint in Dover, DE
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 September, at about 15 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, Oct.
- under 1Jan
- under 1Feb
- 1Mar
- 3Apr
- 10May
- 13Jun
- 10Jul
- 14Aug
- 15Sep
- 6Oct
- 1Nov
- under 1Dec
Month by month
| Month | Painting days | Staining days | With low-temp paint | Avg low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | under 1 | under 1 | 2 | 27° / 46°F |
| February | under 1 | under 1 | 2 | 29° / 50°F |
| March | 1 | under 1 | 6 | 35° / 57°F |
| April | 3 | 2 | 13 | 44° / 68°F |
| May | 10 | 8 | 16 | 54° / 76°F |
| June | 13 | 12 | 14 | 63° / 84°F |
| July | 10 | 6 | 10 | 69° / 89°F |
| August | 14 | 9 | 14 | 68° / 87°F |
| September | 15 | 14 | 16 | 62° / 81°F |
| October | 6 | 6 | 17 | 50° / 72°F |
| November | 1 | 1 | 10 | 38° / 61°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | 3 | 32° / 52°F |
Deck stain does best in September. Low-temperature paint adds about 50 days a year here.
Towns near Dover compared
3 get fewer, down to 64 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. Smyrna is read from the same station as Dover, so its numbers match; the real difference is the distance from that station.
| Place | From Dover | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smyrna, DE | 10 mi northwest | 73 | August to September | same station |
| Milford, DE | 18 mi south | 67 | September | Sussex County Airport |
| Middletown, DE | 22 mi northwest | 71 | August to September | New Castle County Airport |
| Bridgeton, NJ | 24 mi northeast | 64 | August to September | Millville Municipal Airport |
| Millville, NJ | 30 mi northeast | 64 | August to September | Millville Municipal Airport |
| Elkton, MD | 35 mi northwest | 71 | August to September | New Castle County Airport |
How Dover ranks in DE
Of 6 DE places with 10,000 people or more, Dover (population 40,191, 2nd largest) ranks 1st for painting days, 2 days above the state median of 71. No place in DE has a longer season. The shortest is Milford at 67. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 50 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Dover Air Force Base Airport (3.5 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.