When to paint a house exterior in Lake Forest, IL
When to paint in Lake Forest, IL
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 August, at about 18 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, Oct.
- under 1Jan
- under 1Feb
- under 1Mar
- 2Apr
- 8May
- 14Jun
- 16Jul
- 18Aug
- 16Sep
- 6Oct
- 1Nov
- under 1Dec
Month by month
| Month | Painting days | Staining days | With low-temp paint | Avg low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 21° / 34°F |
| February | under 1 | under 1 | 2 | 21° / 38°F |
| March | under 1 | under 1 | 5 | 31° / 49°F |
| April | 2 | 2 | 11 | 40° / 60°F |
| May | 8 | 7 | 15 | 51° / 72°F |
| June | 14 | 11 | 15 | 61° / 82°F |
| July | 16 | 10 | 16 | 66° / 85°F |
| August | 18 | 15 | 18 | 65° / 84°F |
| September | 16 | 13 | 18 | 60° / 78°F |
| October | 6 | 6 | 16 | 47° / 65°F |
| November | 1 | 1 | 9 | 35° / 51°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | 3 | 27° / 41°F |
Deck stain does best in August. Low-temperature paint adds about 48 days a year here.
Towns near Lake Forest compared
2 get fewer, down to 77 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. Highland Park, Deerfield, Vernon Hills, Buffalo Grove are read from the same station as Lake Forest, so their numbers match; the real difference is the distance from that station.
| Place | From Lake Forest | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highland Park, IL | 4 mi southeast | 80 | June to September | same station |
| Deerfield, IL | 5 mi south | 80 | June to September | same station |
| Vernon Hills, IL | 5 mi west | 80 | June to September | same station |
| North Chicago, IL | 6 mi north | 77 | June to September | Waukegan Regional Airport |
| Libertyville, IL | 7 mi northwest | 77 | June to September | Waukegan Regional Airport |
| Buffalo Grove, IL | 7 mi southwest | 80 | June to September | same station |
How Lake Forest ranks in IL
Of 225 IL places with 10,000 people or more, Lake Forest (population 19,642, 125th largest) ranks 73rd for painting days, 3 days above the state median of 77. The longest season in the state is Chicago, 131 days, 29 miles south. The shortest is Woodstock at 65. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 48 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Palwaukee Municipal Airport (8.3 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.