Exterior Painting and the Health of Your Home

When it comes to improving the look of your house, you will undoubtedly spend much of your time working on the interior. For example, you might renovate each room and choose a decor or style that best meets your needs and tastes.

You may even spend some time improving the look of your backyard or front lawn. But have you thought much about painting your home’s exterior? It might have occurred to you that painting the outside of your house will raise its curb appeal.

 

The thing is, exterior painting offers a whole host of health benefits to your abode. Whether you paint your home’s exterior yourself or pay someone else to do it for you, here’s why it’s a good move other than for aesthetic reasons:

Protects Your House From the Weather

Arguably the most significant advantage of painting your home’s exterior is that you protect it from the elements. Rain, sunshine, wind, and snow can wreak havoc on a house’s exterior after a while, and you could end up paying hefty repair bills as a result.

If you want to make your house’s exterior more weather-proof, it makes sense to paint it. Exterior paints contain chemicals that, when dry, create a protective layer or coating against the weather. 

Exterior paints often last for several years, so you won’t need to add top-up coats each year.

Blocks Mold From Forming Inside the House

Another reason you should put serious consideration into painting your home’s exterior is because you want to stop mold from forming inside of it. As you might know, mold can cause a whole host of health problems for people living in moldy homes.

The following statistics prove that painting your home’s exterior to keep your house healthy will also ensure good health for its inhabitants:

• Mold causes 93% of people to suffer from chronic sinus infections;
• 4.6 million cases of asthma are directly attributable to mold exposure in the home;
• 40% of asthma attacks get caused by exposure to triggers such as mold;
• Water damage from exposed exterior bricks or walls can accelerate mold growth.

Keeps Your Home’s Interior Cool

Another way to make the health of everyone living in your house a priority is by regulating the ambient temperature. Some homeowners opt for air conditioning systems, and they are good for interior climate control and filtering allergens in the air.

Unfortunately, running air conditioning systems can be expensive – especially during the summer months. One way to keep your home’s interior cool is by painting the exterior white or a similarly light color.

That’s because light colors like white reflect heat from the sun, helping to keep interior rooms cooler naturally (and cheaply).

Increases Siding Lifespan

Some houses have sidings affixed to the exterior walls. While it’s easy to assume that sidings are merely for decorative purposes, they also have a practical use. Sidings help protect the exterior walls from weathering.

Sidings can last for several decades, depending on the materials used. However, you still need to protect the sidings so they can efficiently protect the exterior of your home. Painting your sidings is, by far, the most effective way to achieve that goal.

Helps Prevent Wood From Rotting

If the exterior of your house partially or wholly contains wood, protecting that wood should be high on your list of maintenance priorities. There’s no denying that wood is a useful and durable building material and one used by builders for hundreds of years.

Yet, one major disadvantage of wood is that it can rot easily when exposed to the elements. Even if exterior wood gets treated before installation, the rotting process can still occur; it’ll just happen over a longer period.

Painting all exterior wood creates an instant protective layer on all exposed surfaces.

Helps Prevent Termite Damage

Lastly, if your house does have some exterior wood, rotting from the elements isn’t the only damage that it could have. Insects and bugs such as termites can inflict a lot of damage to exposed wood, irrespective of whether the wood is indoors or outdoors.

Naturally, the risk of damage to exterior wood from termites is significantly higher than wood inside your house. If you paint all exposed exterior wood with a protective coating, especially down to ground level, you’ll greatly reduce the risk of termite damage.