5 Painting Mistakes to Avoid During a Drought
Hot, dry conditions punish the same five errors again and again. Here they are, and the straightforward way around each one.
Painting Into the Sun and Chasing Whole Walls
The first mistake is painting a surface the sun is standing on. A hot wall sets the paint on contact and no technique will rescue the finish.
The second is trying to cover a whole elevation or wall in one continuous pass. The wet edge dries before you get back to it and every join shows.
Follow the shade, and break the work into sections you can genuinely keep wet from start to finish.
Thinning at Random and Over-Applying to Compensate
Splashing extra water into emulsion to buy working time changes the coverage, sheen and opacity — usually leaving a thin, patchy coat that needs another visit.
The opposite error is loading the paint on thick because coverage looks poor. Thick coats in dry heat shrink unevenly and crack as they cure.
Use only the manufacturer's recommended conditioner at the stated ratio, and keep coats to a normal thickness even when it feels like they aren't covering.
Skipping Preparation Because the Wall Looks Dry
A drought makes surfaces look immaculate — dry, clean and ready. In reality dusty, chalky and sun-baked walls are among the worst substrates to paint straight onto.
Dust and chalk have to come off, and highly absorbent surfaces need a mist coat or stabilising primer to control how much of the finish they drink.
Hosepipe restrictions are no excuse to skip this. Bucket washing, brushing down and the right primer achieve the same result with a fraction of the water.
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