When to paint a house exterior in McHenry, IL
When to paint in McHenry, 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
- 1Mar
- 1Apr
- 7May
- 13Jun
- 17Jul
- 18Aug
- 14Sep
- 5Oct
- 1Nov
- under 1Dec
Month by month
| Month | Painting days | Staining days | With low-temp paint | Avg low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 19° / 32°F |
| February | under 1 | under 1 | 2 | 19° / 36°F |
| March | 1 | 1 | 4 | 29° / 46°F |
| April | 1 | 1 | 8 | 37° / 57°F |
| May | 7 | 7 | 15 | 48° / 68°F |
| June | 13 | 11 | 16 | 58° / 79°F |
| July | 17 | 10 | 17 | 64° / 82°F |
| August | 18 | 18 | 18 | 63° / 81°F |
| September | 14 | 14 | 17 | 58° / 76°F |
| October | 5 | 5 | 15 | 45° / 63°F |
| November | 1 | 1 | 8 | 34° / 50°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 26° / 39°F |
Deck stain does best in August. Low-temperature paint adds about 45 days a year here.
Towns near McHenry compared
3 of the 6 nearest places get more painting days, the most in Cary (80 a year, 9 miles south); 1 gets fewer, down to 65 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. Fox Lake, Round Lake are read from the same station as McHenry, so their numbers match; the real difference is the distance from that station.
| Place | From McHenry | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crystal Lake, IL | 7 mi south | 80 | June to September | Dupage Airport |
| Woodstock, IL | 8 mi west | 65 | June to August | Burlington Municipal Airport |
| Fox Lake, IL | 8 mi northeast | 77 | June to September | same station |
| Cary, IL | 9 mi south | 80 | June to September | Palwaukee Municipal Airport |
| Wauconda, IL | 9 mi southeast | 80 | June to September | Palwaukee Municipal Airport |
| Round Lake, IL | 10 mi east | 77 | June to September | same station |
How McHenry ranks in IL
Of 225 IL places with 10,000 people or more, McHenry (population 28,825, 69th largest) ranks 134th for painting days, 1 day below the state median of 77. The longest season in the state is Chicago, 131 days, 46 miles southeast. The shortest is Woodstock at 65. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 45 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Waukegan Regional Airport (22.4 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.