Can You Paint Your Home's Interior in Winter?

Is winter a good time to paint the inside of your house?

Yes, for most homes. The house is heated and closed up, so conditions indoors stay steady from one day to the next. Indoor air is also dry in winter, and water-based paint dries as its water evaporates, so dry air helps.

The calendar helps too. Exterior painting in the GTA winds down in the fall, once nights get too cold for outdoor paint. Many painters move indoors for the winter, so interior dates can be easier to book. If you plan to sell in the spring, a winter paint job is finished and aired out well before the listing photos.

The trade-offs are small but real. Days are short, so there is less daylight for judging colour. Snow and salt come in on boots. And some rooms run colder than the thermostat suggests. Each of these has a simple fix, covered below.

How warm does your house need to be for painting?

Warm enough that the air, the wall and the paint are all above the minimum on the paint's data sheet. For many interior latex paints, that minimum is 10°C. A home heated to a normal room temperature clears it easily. The risk is in spots that run colder than the room.

Minimum application temperature:

the lowest air and surface temperature at which a paint will still dry and bond properly, listed on its data sheet.

Keep the heat at your usual daytime setting while the paint goes on, and for a day or two after. Skip the overnight setback on those nights. Paint makers note that cool temperatures stretch drying and recoat times.

If you own an infrared thermometer, point it at the coldest wall before it's painted. A wall near the paint's minimum, often 10°C, needs more heat first.

The paint needs protecting as well. Keep the cans in the heated part of the house, never in an unheated garage or a car overnight. Latex paint that freezes can be ruined.

Which rooms and surfaces run too cold in winter?

Most rooms in a heated home are fine. The trouble spots are surfaces that touch the outside, and spaces the furnace barely reaches. Older homes, where walls often have little insulation, tend to have more of them.

Where	Why it runs cold	What to do
Outside walls and corners	Cold air on the far side, often less insulation	Clear things off them a day early so warm air reaches the wall
Closets on outside walls	The doors stay shut and little heat gets in	Open the doors the day before painting
Window sills and sashes	Cold glass and condensation	Wipe the glass dry, and paint when no moisture is forming
Basements	Cooler walls and floors	Turn up the heat there a day ahead
Garages, sunrooms and three-season porches	Often unheated	Heat the space above the data sheet's minimum, or wait for spring
Front hall	Cold air every time the door opens	Use another door while the paint dries, if you can

Condensation deserves a note. Water beading on cold glass can run onto a freshly painted sill and streak it. If you run a humidifier, keep it in the normal range: Health Canada suggests 30% to 50% indoor humidity. Higher humidity slows drying and adds condensation on windows.

Does paint take longer to dry in winter?

Not much, indoors. Cool air slows drying, but dry winter air speeds it up. A heated room is close to the conditions most paint labels are written for.

Data sheets usually give drying times at about 25°C and 50% relative humidity. Under those conditions, one premium wall paint lists about an hour to dry to the touch. It lists one to two hours before the second coat. Cooler rooms and damper air stretch both times.

Recoat time:

how long a coat must dry before the next coat can go on, as listed on the paint's data sheet.

Full cure is slower in any season. The same data sheet says to wait two weeks before washing the walls. So treat new paint gently at first, whatever the weather. The guide to how long paint takes to dry and cure covers each stage.

Very dry air has one quirk. It shortens the time the edge of the paint stays wet. That can leave lap marks where fresh paint overlaps paint that has started to dry. Painters handle it by keeping a wet edge and finishing one wall at a time, corner to corner.

How do you ventilate when it's too cold to open the windows?

Open them anyway, just not for long. Health Canada advises opening windows or running exhaust fans during and after renovation projects. Paint data sheets also ask for fresh air while paint goes on and while it dries.

In winter, short bursts of fresh air work well with the heat left on:

• Open a window in the room being painted, or two on opposite sides of the house, for short periods through the day.
• Run the bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans.
• If your home has an HRV or ERV, turn it up while the work is on. It brings in fresh air while keeping much of the heat.
• Leave the furnace fan running so air keeps moving through the house.
• Choose a low-VOC paint. Health Canada suggests products labelled "low emission" or "low VOC", as they may give off fewer VOCs.

VOCs:

volatile organic compounds, carbon-based chemicals that evaporate into the air from paint as it dries and from many other household products.

If someone at home is sensitive to smells, paint the bedrooms early in the day. That gives them hours to air out before bedtime. Keep pets out of freshly painted rooms until the paint is dry to the touch.

How should you get your home ready for a winter paint job?

A little preparation keeps the job moving and your floors clean. Most of it happens the day before the crew arrives.

1. Clear snow and ice from the driveway, walkway and steps, and leave space to park and unload.
2. Put a boot tray and a mat by the door, so salt and slush stop at the entry.
3. Keep the heat at your usual setting from the day before until a day or two after the last coat.
4. Open closet doors so they warm up, and clear small items off shelves near outside walls.
5. Take down curtains, blinds, art and wall hangings in the rooms being painted.
6. Decide which windows can open for fresh air, and where pets will stay.
7. Look at colour samples in morning and evening light. Winter light is short and often grey, and colours shift under lamps.

On a Great North job, the crew moves and covers the furniture and protects the floors as part of the price. The work area is cleaned up at the end of every day. If you're still choosing colours, see what happens in a colour consultation.

How do you price and book a winter interior paint job?

Start with a price range, then send photos. Before the 13% HST, Great North's published interior prices start from $450 for a bedroom's walls. A whole 3-bedroom interior runs $4,800–$9,500. Jobs under one crew-day are billed at the $750 + HST minimum.

Get My Estimate gives you a range in about a minute. A crew lead quotes from your photos, and your written, itemized quote arrives within 24 hours of seeing the job. It names the paint by brand and line and sets the dates. The work carries a 5-year written workmanship warranty.

For what's included, see interior painting. For more prices by room, see the interior painting cost guide.