When to paint a house exterior in Sumter, SC
When to paint in Sumter, SC
A short season: book early and expect weather delays. The painting window is May, with 2 good months a year. The best month is October, at about 14 painting days. Book a painter by March.
If you want the house done in May, call for quotes in March or earlier; a job pushed past May is likely to wait until next year. For a deck, the months with enough staining days to spare are Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct, Nov.
- 1Jan
- 3Feb
- 6Mar
- 11Apr
- 12May
- 8Jun
- 2Jul
- 5Aug
- 12Sep
- 14Oct
- 4Nov
- 1Dec
Month by month
| Month | Painting days | Staining days | With low-temp paint | Avg low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 1 | 1 | 5 | 35° / 60°F |
| February | 3 | 3 | 9 | 39° / 66°F |
| March | 6 | 5 | 15 | 45° / 72°F |
| April | 11 | 9 | 20 | 51° / 79°F |
| May | 12 | 9 | 15 | 60° / 85°F |
| June | 8 | 6 | 8 | 68° / 91°F |
| July | 2 | under 1 | 2 | 72° / 94°F |
| August | 5 | 3 | 5 | 71° / 92°F |
| September | 12 | 11 | 12 | 66° / 88°F |
| October | 14 | 14 | 23 | 54° / 80°F |
| November | 4 | 4 | 15 | 44° / 70°F |
| December | 1 | 1 | 8 | 39° / 64°F |
Deck stain does best in October. Low-temperature paint adds about 59 days a year here.
Towns near Sumter compared
2 get fewer, down to 71 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.
| Place | From Sumter | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia, SC | 30 mi west | 77 | October | Columbia Owens Downtown Airport |
| Forest Acres, SC | 34 mi west | 77 | October | Columbia Owens Downtown Airport |
| Cayce, SC | 37 mi west | 77 | October | Columbia Owens Downtown Airport |
| Florence, SC | 38 mi northeast | 72 | October | Florence Regional Airport |
| West Columbia, SC | 40 mi west | 71 | October | Columbia Metropolitan Airport |
| Orangeburg, SC | 41 mi southwest | 80 | September to October | Orangeburg Municipal Airport |
How Sumter ranks in SC
Of 42 SC places with 10,000 people or more, Sumter (population 42,958, 10th largest) ranks 29th for painting days, 5 days below the state median of 82. The longest season in the state is Myrtle Beach, 122 days, 88 miles east. The shortest is Tega Cay at 68. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 59 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Shaw Air Force Base (4.5 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.