When to paint a house exterior in Napa, CA
When to paint in Napa, CA
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 July, at about 24 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
- 3Apr
- 10May
- 16Jun
- 24Jul
- 24Aug
- 13Sep
- 5Oct
- 1Nov
- under 1Dec
Month by month
| Month | Painting days | Staining days | With low-temp paint | Avg low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | under 1 | under 1 | 6 | 39° / 60°F |
| February | under 1 | under 1 | 10 | 37° / 64°F |
| March | under 1 | under 1 | 14 | 40° / 66°F |
| April | 3 | 2 | 21 | 42° / 71°F |
| May | 10 | 8 | 26 | 47° / 75°F |
| June | 16 | 16 | 25 | 51° / 81°F |
| July | 24 | 24 | 28 | 53° / 81°F |
| August | 24 | 23 | 27 | 54° / 82°F |
| September | 13 | 13 | 23 | 50° / 84°F |
| October | 5 | 4 | 24 | 46° / 80°F |
| November | 1 | 1 | 12 | 39° / 68°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | 5 | 37° / 60°F |
Deck stain does best in July. Low-temperature paint adds about 124 days a year here.
Towns near Napa compared
3 of the 6 nearest places get more painting days, the most in Fairfield (140 a year, 15 miles east); 1 gets fewer, down to 90 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. American Canyon, Vallejo are read from the same station as Napa, so their numbers match; the real difference is the distance from that station.
| Place | From Napa | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Canyon, CA | 9 mi south | 96 | June to September | same station |
| Sonoma, CA | 9 mi west | 90 | June to September | Petaluma Municipal Airport |
| Vallejo, CA | 13 mi south | 96 | June to September | same station |
| Fairfield, CA | 15 mi east | 140 | May to October | San Francisco Bay Reserve |
| Suisun City, CA | 16 mi east | 140 | May to October | San Francisco Bay Reserve |
| Benicia, CA | 17 mi southeast | 106 | August to October | Buchanan Field Airport |
How Napa ranks in CA
Of 376 CA places with 10,000 people or more, Napa (population 76,921, 115th largest) ranks 240th for painting days, 32 days below the state median of 128. The longest season in the state is Santa Clarita, 269 days, 341 miles southeast. The shortest is Susanville at 4. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 124 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Napa County Airport (6.1 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.