The same paint product applied on the same day to two houses, one in Phoenix, Arizona and one in Minneapolis, Minnesota, will reach the end of its useful life on very different timelines. The Phoenix house, with its south-facing walls exposed to intense UV radiation for eight or more hours a day and its extreme thermal cycling between day and night temperatures, will likely need repainting within five to seven years even with premium paint. The Minneapolis house, if its preparation was solid and the paint quality good, might go ten or more years before another full coat becomes necessary.

Climate is the single largest variable affecting how long exterior paint holds. Understanding how specific climate conditions damage paint helps homeowners in different regions set realistic repainting timelines and make informed decisions about whether premium paint products are worth the premium cost for their specific exposure.

How Hot and Sunny Climates Shorten Exterior Paint Life

UV radiation is the primary enemy of exterior paint longevity. The acrylic binders in exterior latex paint absorb UV energy as part of normal sunlight exposure, and this energy drives the photodegradation process that eventually turns a once-flexible, well-bonded film into a chalky, brittle surface that peels. Climates with high annual UV intensity accelerate this process substantially.

South-facing and west-facing walls receive dramatically more UV exposure than north-facing walls on the same house. In harsh sun climates, south and west elevations may chalk and fade two to three years ahead of shaded or north-facing walls on the identical paint product. Harsh sun reduces effective paint lifespan by 30 to 50 percent compared to shaded exposures. A paint rated for 10 years in a northern climate may need repainting in five to six years on a south-facing wall in Florida or Arizona.

High surface temperatures compound UV damage. Dark colors absorb more solar radiation as heat. A dark exterior color in a hot climate raises the surface temperature of the paint film significantly above air temperature on sunny days. This thermal stress, layered on top of UV degradation, accelerates binder breakdown and makes peeling more likely at paint-to-substrate interfaces that experience repeated thermal expansion and contraction cycles.

Florida and similar Gulf Coast climates present a specific set of challenges beyond UV load. High humidity keeps the substrate cycling between wet and dry, and warm, moist conditions promote mildew and algae growth that degrades the paint film’s surface and can work its way behind the film in porous substrates. Exterior paint in Florida may require annual washing to prevent biological contamination buildup, and even with quality products, a realistic repainting interval is seven to ten years rather than the twelve or more achievable in drier climates.

Cold, Wet, and Freeze-Thaw Climates and Their Effect on Paint

Cold climates subject exterior paint to a different category of stress. The mechanism is physical rather than photochemical. Water that enters hairline cracks in a paint film, mortar joints, or open wood grain expands by approximately nine percent when it freezes. This expansion forces cracks wider with each freeze cycle. The cracks admit more water. The next freeze expands the cracks further. Over several seasons, this freeze-thaw cycling converts hairline paint failures into open splits.

Wood siding is particularly vulnerable to freeze-thaw damage because wood itself expands and contracts with moisture content changes. A board that absorbed moisture in autumn contracts as temperatures drop, and if paint adhesion is not perfect, the film lifts at the edges of any existing cracks. By spring, sections that were tight the previous summer are now peeling.

Paint that maintains flexibility at low temperatures resists freeze-thaw damage significantly better than rigid paint films. Alkyd-based exterior paints become brittle at low temperatures and are particularly prone to cracking in severe winter climates. One hundred percent acrylic latex retains flexibility across a much wider temperature range and is the standard recommendation for cold-climate exterior painting.

Proper caulking is more critical in freeze-thaw climates than in warmer regions because caulk that fails in a cold climate allows water to enter the wall assembly before winter, where it can freeze and cause structural damage beyond just paint failure. Use a high-elongation caulk that maintains flexibility at low temperatures.

Wet climates without extreme cold, typical of the Pacific Northwest, create conditions where mildew is a primary paint threat. Surfaces that are regularly wet and rarely fully dry during six months of the year provide ideal growing conditions for mildew and algae. Exterior paint in these conditions needs consistent mildewcide protection, and the repainting interval is often driven by biological contamination as much as by UV or adhesion failure.

Signs That Your Exterior Paint Has Reached End of Life

Exterior paint does not fail suddenly. It progresses through identifiable stages, each of which provides advance warning before the paint reaches full failure and leaves the substrate unprotected.

Chalking is the first major sign. Running a hand across the surface and seeing white powder on the palm indicates that UV radiation has broken down the acrylic binders at the surface. Light chalking can sometimes be cleaned and repainted without stripping. Heavy chalking means the surface layer has lost structural integrity and must be fully removed before new paint can bond.

Color fading accompanies chalking and is visible as a washed-out appearance compared to photos or to shaded sections of the same wall. Significant fading means the pigment-binding portion of the film has degraded beyond recovery.

Cracking and checking appear as hairline fractures in the paint surface, often following the wood grain on siding. Small hairline cracks allow moisture entry. Cracks wide enough to see substrate below indicate immediate action is required.

Peeling and flaking represent full adhesion failure. The film has separated from the substrate and provides no protection to the underlying surface. Any peeling that exposes bare wood means moisture is reaching unprotected material.

Alligatoring is a distinctive pattern of cracks resembling scales or alligator skin. It typically appears on paint that has been coated many times over many decades without stripping. The accumulated film becomes too thick and rigid to move with the substrate. At this stage, stripping to bare substrate is usually more cost-effective than attempting to repaint over the buildup.

How Paint Quality and Color Choice Affect Repainting Frequency

The price difference between budget-tier exterior paint and premium paint is not simply a quality preference. It directly affects how long the paint holds and therefore the true cost per year of protection.

Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams professional paint lines consistently outperform budget products in extreme climate testing. Behr Marquee, a popular mid-market option, may chalk on south-facing stucco within three years in high-UV climates. Sherwin-Williams Emerald, properly applied, has produced 12 or more years of performance in favorable conditions. At roughly three times the cost per gallon, Emerald pays back its premium if it avoids even one repainting cycle.

Color choice affects both repainting frequency and paint product selection. Light colors in the LRV range of 55 and above reflect more solar radiation and experience less thermal and UV degradation than dark colors. Homes with light-colored siding in harsh sun climates will typically get more years from a paint job than the same house with dark siding.

Elastomeric coatings, when properly applied at full film thickness, last 10 to 15 years on masonry surfaces in harsh climates. The higher initial cost is justified by the extended protection interval.

Average Repaint Timelines for Different Siding Materials

These ranges assume quality paint properly applied on clean, well-prepared surfaces. Budget paint, inadequate prep, and poor application conditions reduce these timelines significantly.

Wood siding: 3 to 7 years, depending on paint quality and UV exposure. South-facing wood siding in high-sun climates falls toward the shorter end. North-facing wood siding in moderate climates with premium paint can approach 10 years.

Stucco: 5 to 10 years with standard masonry paint. Elastomeric coatings properly applied extend this to 10 to 15 years. Behr Marquee on south-facing stucco in a harsh climate may need attention in 3 years.

Aluminum siding: 5 to 10 years, with the actual lifespan heavily influenced by whether the original factory finish was properly prepared. Aluminum that was not adequately etched before priming can delaminate in less than five years.

Fiber cement siding: 10 to 15 years with quality paint on properly primed surfaces. Factory-primed fiber cement that goes unpainted or is inadequately topcoated fails in five to seven years. Fiber cement is less forgiving than wood or aluminum if the factory primer is allowed to degrade before topcoating.

Properly applied elastomeric coatings on masonry: 10 to 15 years. Elastomeric applied too thin, without back-rolling, or on inadequately prepared surfaces falls far short of this potential.