When to paint a house exterior in Salem, VA
When to paint in Salem, VA
A short season: book early and expect weather delays. The painting window is June, with 2 good months a year. The best month is September, at about 13 painting days. Book a painter by April.
If you want the house done in June, call for quotes in April or earlier; a job pushed past June is likely to wait until next year. For a deck, the months with enough staining days to spare are Apr, May, Jun, Aug, Sep, Oct.
- under 1Jan
- 1Feb
- 3Mar
- 6Apr
- 11May
- 13Jun
- 7Jul
- 10Aug
- 13Sep
- 7Oct
- 2Nov
- under 1Dec
Month by month
| Month | Painting days | Staining days | With low-temp paint | Avg low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | under 1 | under 1 | 3 | 28° / 50°F |
| February | 1 | 1 | 5 | 31° / 56°F |
| March | 3 | 3 | 11 | 38° / 64°F |
| April | 6 | 6 | 15 | 46° / 73°F |
| May | 11 | 6 | 15 | 55° / 80°F |
| June | 13 | 10 | 13 | 62° / 86°F |
| July | 7 | 2 | 7 | 68° / 91°F |
| August | 10 | 7 | 10 | 66° / 88°F |
| September | 13 | 12 | 16 | 60° / 83°F |
| October | 7 | 6 | 21 | 49° / 74°F |
| November | 2 | 2 | 11 | 37° / 63°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | 4 | 32° / 55°F |
Deck stain does best in September. Low-temperature paint adds about 58 days a year here.
Towns near Salem compared
1 of the 6 nearest places get more painting days, the most in Radford (76 a year, 30 miles west); 4 get fewer, down to 53 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. Roanoke is read from the same station as Salem, so its numbers match; the real difference is the distance from that station.
| Place | From Salem | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roanoke, VA | 5 mi east | 72 | June | same station |
| Blacksburg, VA | 21 mi west | 61 | June to August | Virginia Tech Airport |
| Christiansburg, VA | 22 mi southwest | 61 | June to August | Virginia Tech Airport |
| Radford, VA | 30 mi west | 76 | June to September | New River Valley Airport |
| Martinsville, VA | 43 mi south | 53 | May to September | Blue Ridge Airport |
| Lynchburg, VA | 48 mi east | 65 | June | Lynchburg Rgnl/Preston Glenn |
How Salem ranks in VA
Of 39 VA places with 10,000 people or more, Salem (population 25,908, 23rd largest) ranks 16th for painting days, 7 days above the state median of 65. The longest season in the state is Williamsburg, 109 days, 184 miles east. The shortest is Front Royal at 49. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 58 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Roanoke Regional/Woodrum Fiel (5 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.