Two NOAA records for Anniston
NOAA publishes two sets of figures that help with planning paint work in Anniston. Its 1991-2020 normals for Anniston Metropolitan Airport give 1,971 cooling degree days and 2,634 heating degree days a year (base 65 °F), with highs of 90 °F or more on about 59.5 days a year. Its engineering weather data for the Anniston/Calhoun station adds the rest: in an average year at Anniston/Calhoun, NOAA counts about 1,200 hours with the wet-bulb temperature above 73°F and about 2,826 hours above 67°F, and it lists a 50-year basic wind speed of 90 mph (3-second gust at 33 feet), a 100-year rainfall rate of 3.8 inches per hour and about 38 freeze-thaw cycles in an average year.
Degree days measure how much a building needs cooling or heating over a year, and both of these counts run into the thousands. When the air conditioning or the heat is running, interior paint generally dries in more predictable conditions than outdoor paint does, which is why outdoor work needs more care in picking its days.
Days at 90 °F or more
On a hot afternoon, a wall in full sun can be far hotter than the air, and latex paint on it flashes dry before it levels. A crew can schedule the sunny faces of the house for the cooler part of the morning and leave the rest for later, or move indoors for the afternoon. Ask what maximum surface temperature the product label allows and how the painter checks it.
Wet-bulb hours and drying
High wet-bulb hours are the opposite trouble: air already full of moisture slows evaporation, so coats stay soft longer and recoat times stretch. Paint that's still soft when dew forms can streak or stay tacky. The answer is patience in the schedule, not a thicker coat. Thick coats dry slower still and can wrinkle.
Freeze-thaw cycles and the cracks they open
Each freeze-thaw cycle gives water in a crack the chance to freeze and widen it. Window sills, stair treads, porch rails and the tops of fence posts hold water and show it first. For those surfaces, ask whether the painter will scrape back to sound paint, fill or caulk the cracks with a flexible product, and prime before the topcoat.
Hard rain and splashback
A rainfall rate like 3.8 inches per hour is a design figure, used to size drainage for a severe storm. When rain that heavy falls, it splashes soil and water onto the bottom of walls and pours off any gutter that overflows. Paint failing along the lowest course of siding, or in a stripe below a gutter corner, usually points to water, not to the paint. Fix the water source before repainting the stripe.
Stucco, masonry, wood and metal
- Stucco and masonry need cleaning, crack repair and a coating made for masonry, which lets moisture out of the wall.
- Wood siding and trim need loose paint scraped, bare spots primed and joints sealed.
- Metal railings and doors need rust removed and a primer meant for metal before the finish coat.
Our exterior painting page explains each surface's prep, and interior painting covers rooms.
Questions for an Anniston painter
- Which sides of the house will you paint at which time of day?
- What preparation do sills, rails and steps get?
- What product will you use on stucco or masonry, if there is any?
- How do you treat rust on metal?
- What happens to the schedule on a rainy day?