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Best Time for Outside Work

Paint houses late in the autumn or during the winter. Paint then will endure twice as long as when applied in early summer, or in hot weather. In the cold season it dries slowly and becomes hard, like a glazed surface, not easily affected afterward by the weather, or worn off by storms. But in very hot weather the oil in the paint soaks into the wood at once, as into a sponge, leaving the lead nearly dry, and ready to crumble off. This last difficulty might be guarded against, though at an increased expense, by first going over the surface with raw oil. By painting in cold weather, one annoyance might certainly be escapedthe collection of small flies in the fresh paint.