PaintDays

When to paint a house exterior in Lafayette, CA

When to paint in Lafayette, CA

A normal season: plan the job, do not leave it late. The painting window is August to October, with 5 good months a year. The best month is May, at about 20 painting days. Book a painter by June.

If you want the house done in August to October, call for quotes in June or earlier; a job pushed past October is likely to wait until next year. For a deck, the months with enough staining days to spare are Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct.

  1. 1Jan
  2. under 1Feb
  3. 3Mar
  4. 9Apr
  5. 20May
  6. 16Jun
  7. 11Jul
  8. 13Aug
  9. 16Sep
  10. 15Oct
  11. 3Nov
  12. under 1Dec

Month by month

MonthPainting daysStaining daysWith low-temp paintAvg low / high
January111541° / 61°F
Februaryunder 1under 11741° / 66°F
March312044° / 68°F
April982548° / 75°F
May20162452° / 80°F
June16161657° / 89°F
July11111159° / 93°F
August13101360° / 92°F
September16151658° / 89°F
October15132452° / 82°F
November312243° / 69°F
Decemberunder 1under 11340° / 61°F

Deck stain does best in May. Low-temperature paint adds about 108 days a year here.

Towns near Lafayette compared

2 of the 6 nearest places get more painting days, the most in Moraga (163 a year, 3 miles south). 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. Orinda, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, Martinez are read from the same station as Lafayette, so their numbers match; the real difference is the distance from that station.

PlaceFrom LafayettePainting days a yearWindowStation
Orinda, CA3 mi west106August to Octobersame station
Moraga, CA3 mi south163May to OctoberMetro Oakland International Airport
Walnut Creek, CA4 mi east106August to Octobersame station
Pleasant Hill, CA5 mi northeast106August to Octobersame station
Martinez, CA7 mi north106August to Octobersame station
Piedmont, CA8 mi southwest163May to OctoberMetro Oakland International Airport

How Lafayette ranks in CA

Of 376 CA places with 10,000 people or more, Lafayette (population 25,371, 274th largest) ranks 223rd for painting days, 22 days below the state median of 128. The longest season in the state is Santa Clarita, 269 days, 314 miles southeast. The shortest is Susanville at 4. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 108 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.

Where these numbers come from

Daily records from Buchanan Field Airport (7.8 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.