Exterior paint costs in Anchorage

Anchorage gives you a short paint season, and the back half of it is wet. June brings about an inch of rain. August and September bring more than two and a half each, the wettest months of the year. The long summer days help, but the calendar favors June and July.

Cold is the other limit. Even July's average high is only about 65°F, and nights average about 47°F in June, 52°F in July and 50°F in August, so fresh paint gets cool evenings even at the height of summer. Fall closes in fast, too: October already averages about seven inches of snow, so a job that slips past September may wait until next year.

Much of the housing comes from one boom. The 1970s, and to a lesser extent the '80s, were Anchorage's big building years, with construction flourishing during pipeline work from 1974 to 1977 and the oilfield development that followed. Those two decades still account for about 46% of the metro's homes.

If your house dates from the pipeline years, its siding has been through roughly 50 Alaska winters. Check the trim, sills and lowest boards for paint that has let go before you plan the season.