When to paint a house exterior in Princeton, NJ
When to paint in Princeton, NJ
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
- under 1Mar
- 1Apr
- 8May
- 13Jun
- 11Jul
- 15Aug
- 15Sep
- 4Oct
- 1Nov
- under 1Dec
Month by month
| Month | Painting days | Staining days | With low-temp paint | Avg low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 25° / 43°F |
| February | under 1 | under 1 | 2 | 26° / 48°F |
| March | under 1 | under 1 | 5 | 32° / 55°F |
| April | 1 | 1 | 12 | 41° / 66°F |
| May | 8 | 5 | 15 | 51° / 76°F |
| June | 13 | 9 | 14 | 60° / 83°F |
| July | 11 | 6 | 11 | 67° / 89°F |
| August | 15 | 10 | 15 | 65° / 87°F |
| September | 15 | 11 | 17 | 58° / 80°F |
| October | 4 | 4 | 16 | 46° / 70°F |
| November | 1 | 1 | 8 | 35° / 58°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 29° / 48°F |
Deck stain does best in September. Low-temperature paint adds about 50 days a year here.
Towns near Princeton compared
2 of the 6 nearest places get more painting days, the most in New Brunswick (90 a year, 15 miles northeast); 3 get fewer, down to 51 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. Trenton is read from the same station as Princeton, so its numbers match; the real difference is the distance from that station.
| Place | From Princeton | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trenton, NJ | 11 mi southwest | 68 | August to September | same station |
| Manville, NJ | 13 mi north | 51 | August | Somerset Airport |
| New Brunswick, NJ | 15 mi northeast | 90 | May to September | Linden Airport |
| Somerville, NJ | 15 mi north | 51 | August | Somerset Airport |
| Highland Park, NJ | 16 mi northeast | 90 | May to September | Linden Airport |
| Bound Brook, NJ | 16 mi northeast | 51 | August | Somerset Airport |
How Princeton ranks in NJ
Of 116 NJ places with 10,000 people or more, Princeton (population 31,445, 28th largest) ranks 82nd for painting days, 4 days below the state median of 71. The longest season in the state is Union City, 92 days, 44 miles northeast. The shortest is Manville at 51. 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 Trenton Mercer Airport (9.7 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.