When to paint a house exterior in Seattle, WA
When to paint in Seattle, WA
A normal season: plan the job, do not leave it late. The painting window is May to September, with 5 good months a year. The best month is July, at about 26 painting days. Book a painter by March.
If you want the house done in May to September, call for quotes in March 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.
- under 1Jan
- under 1Feb
- under 1Mar
- 2Apr
- 13May
- 19Jun
- 26Jul
- 26Aug
- 18Sep
- 4Oct
- under 1Nov
- under 1Dec
Month by month
| Month | Painting days | Staining days | With low-temp paint | Avg low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | under 1 | under 1 | 2 | 36° / 50°F |
| February | under 1 | under 1 | 5 | 36° / 51°F |
| March | under 1 | under 1 | 9 | 38° / 56°F |
| April | 2 | 1 | 15 | 43° / 62°F |
| May | 13 | 7 | 22 | 49° / 70°F |
| June | 19 | 16 | 21 | 54° / 75°F |
| July | 26 | 24 | 26 | 59° / 81°F |
| August | 26 | 22 | 26 | 59° / 81°F |
| September | 18 | 18 | 22 | 54° / 74°F |
| October | 4 | 4 | 14 | 46° / 63°F |
| November | under 1 | under 1 | 4 | 40° / 54°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | 2 | 36° / 49°F |
Deck stain does best in July. Low-temperature paint adds about 60 days a year here.
Towns near Seattle compared
3 get fewer, down to 92 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. Mercer Island, Bainbridge Island, Kirkland are read from the same station as Seattle, so their numbers match; the real difference is the distance from that station.
| Place | From Seattle | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercer Island, WA | 7 mi southeast | 108 | May to September | same station |
| Bainbridge Island, WA | 7 mi west | 108 | May to September | same station |
| Kirkland, WA | 9 mi northeast | 108 | May to September | same station |
| Bellevue, WA | 9 mi east | 104 | May to September | Renton Municipal Airport |
| Shoreline, WA | 10 mi north | 92 | June to September | Snohomish County (Paine Fd) Airport |
| Burien, WA | 10 mi south | 93 | June to September | Seattle-Tacoma International |
How Seattle ranks in WA
Of 91 WA places with 10,000 people or more, Seattle (population 780,995, 1st largest) ranks 1st for painting days, 37 days above the state median of 71. No place in WA has a longer season. The shortest is Sunnyside at 27. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 60 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Boeing Field/King County International Airport (6.6 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.