Can You Paint When It Rains? (What You Need To Know)

In an ideal world, you would simply avoid exterior painting your house if there's any rainy weather in the forecast, but that's not always realistic, as the weather forecast can change in the blink of an eye. 

It's possible to continue working on exterior walls, but there are a few things you have to consider to make sure your project doesn’t get ruined. 

Paint won’t stick properly to a wet surface, so it’s important to make sure that the house has fully dried before you start applying paint.

Luckily, rainy weather doesn’t typically soak too deep into the house's exterior, so even if it rains in the morning, you should be able to start painting a few hours later. 

If you’re unsure, try the sidewalk test. If your sidewalks are completely dry, the siding of your house likely is as well. 

The short answer: Probably. Even if it rains pretty soon after you’ve painted the house's exterior siding, it should be alright. 

Modern paint dries pretty quickly – in about two hours – and the eaves and awnings on the house should also provide some protection from the rain. 

If the rain does cause any streaks in your paint, you should be able to spot-treat it once it’s dry again. 

You definitely can’t paint wet wood. But you can tackle a wood spray painting project within a few hours of the rain. 

If it’s in direct sunlight, the wood should be dry enough to paint in about four hours if you need to paint it that soon. But if you can, it’s best to try and wait a whole day to be sure that all the moisture is gone. 

You can’t paint the exterior of your home while it’s actively raining, and there’s no way around that. But you don’t necessarily have to cancel your entire painting project when you see rain in the forecast. 

Yes, rain shouldn’t make it impossible to paint the interior walls of your house. But there are a few things to take into consideration. 

Proper ventilation is essential when painting indoors (interior painting), and open windows are a common solution. But if it’s raining outside, you need to be careful. Rain does not splash through onto painted window sills or walls.

You may be able to open windows for ventilation to paint while it's raining inside; just make sure that the water doesn't splatter through the window or screen and onto the surface you're interior painting. Another option is to use fans to circulate the air while keeping the windows closed. 

You’ll also need to consider the increased humidity when it rains. 

The humidity caused by a rainy day can make paint take longer to dry, even inside the house. In addition, relative humidity increases the moisture in the air and on the 

painted surfaces, which will ultimately affect the paint job. 

Too much humidity can damage the paint, so you should avoid painting when it’s higher than 85% humidity, but some humidity is necessary for the drying process. The optimal painting humidity is somewhere between 40% and 50%.  

For paint indoors and outdoor painting process or painting on the exterior and interior surfaces or flat surfaces on a rainy weather, avoid using oil paints. Water can ruin an oil paint quickly. Try using latex paint instead of oil paint, as it’s safe to use on wet surfaces. 

Expect longer drying times if you’re going to paint inside on a rainy day. The moisture has to evaporate for the paint to dry, and humidity makes that process more difficult. So the more humid it is, the longer your paint will take to dry. 

Yes, you can paint the outside of your house after it rains – possibly even later that day, depending on the weather (rainy weather)! Direct sunlight will help dry the house's siding more quickly, and you should be able to paint the house after a few hours of direct sunlight. 

Remember the sidewalk trick – if your sidewalks are completely dry, the exterior of your house should be too. 

If the surface is dry to the touch, you can generally use acrylic paint because it will allow any remaining moisture to evaporate through the coating.

But be careful not to paint a damp exterior walls. Too much moisture will prevent the paint from adhering properly, and you could end up with a streaky or bubbly finish. 

It’s essential to ensure that whatever surface you’re painting – whether siding or wood – is sufficiently dry before you begin painting to provide a high-quality paint job. 

Make sure you keep an eye on the forecast because if it rains too soon after you paint the house, your entire effort could be for nothing. While the paint dries relatively quickly and the eaves and awnings of the house should provide some protection, you could end up with streaks. 

Try to plan around the rain as best you can – it’s best to let the paint dry for at least a day, but newly painted surface may be able to withstand the rain after about four hours. 

Good news! The rain doesn’t have to put a damper on your painting project, so long as you take the proper precautions.

Start with a dry surface and make sure you let the paint dry long enough before it rains again, and you should be good to go.