March in the Shuswap: The Month You Plan, Not Paint

Right now, as you're reading this, the average high in Salmon Arm is sitting around 5–9°C. Nights are still dipping below zero. There's probably still a patch of snow on the north side of your house.

You cannot paint your exterior yet. And that's fine. Because March isn't painting season — it's planning season. And the people who use it that way end up with better results, less stress, and usually save money.

Here's what to do with the next six weeks.

Walk the perimeter. Seriously.

Put your boots on and go look at your house. Not a quick glance from the driveway — actually walk around it and look at the siding, the trim, the fascia, the caulking around every window and door frame.

What you're looking for: peeling paint, bare wood, soft spots, gaps in caulking, any place where water could be getting in. Poke suspicious areas with a screwdriver. If it goes in easy, that's rot, and that needs to be dealt with before any paint goes on.

Write it down. Take photos on your phone. This is your project scope, and knowing it now means you're not scrambling in May when the weather finally cooperates and every contractor in the Shuswap is booked solid.

The window you're working with

Here's where it gets more nuanced than most people think. The minimum application temperature depends on which product you're using. Benjamin Moore's Aura Exterior — their top-tier exterior paint — can be applied down to 1.7°C (35°F) according to its Technical Data Sheet. Regal Select Exterior is rated to 4.4°C (40°F). That's a meaningful difference from the old rule of thumb about waiting for warm weather.

That said, surface temperature matters as much as air temperature. A north-facing wall that hasn't seen sun yet, or wood that's been sitting in shade, can be well below the air temp. And cure time extends significantly in cold conditions — what dries in an hour at 25°C might take several hours at 5°C. So while you technically can paint earlier in the season with the right product, you need to be deliberate about it.

For most exterior projects in the Shuswap, mid-May through September is the practical window. July and August are the sweet spot — low humidity, long days, dry weather. Good painters book up fast once the season starts. If you're hiring out, call now. If you're doing it yourself, you've got roughly 16 weeks of viable painting weather — plan for buffer.

What colour are you actually painting?

This is the question that bites people in May. They've got the paint, they've got the brushes, and they still haven't decided on a colour. Then they pick something in a hurry and regret it for the next decade.

Benjamin Moore released their 2026 Colour Trends palette this year, and there are a few colours worth paying attention to if you're planning an exterior refresh.

We have samples of all of these in store. The right move is to get two or three samples, paint a 30cm square on your actual siding in a spot that gets both morning and afternoon sun, and live with it for a few days. Colours look completely different in Shuswap light versus a paint chip under fluorescent store lighting.

The prep question nobody wants to answer

Here's the honest version: how much prep your exterior needs determines how much your project costs, how long it takes, and how long the new paint lasts.

If the existing paint is peeling, you're scraping and sanding before anything goes on. If there's bare wood, you're priming. If there's rot, you're repairing or replacing before you prime. None of this is fun, but skipping it means you're doing the whole thing again in three years instead of ten.

When you come in to talk to us, tell us what you found on your walk-around. We'll help you figure out what prep products you need and what order to do things in. That conversation costs nothing and it'll save you from buying the wrong primer or skipping a step that matters.

One more thing about timing

The Salmon Arm Spring Home Show is happening May 2–3 at Rogers Rink. If you haven't nailed down your project scope by then, that's a good deadline to work toward. Come in before the show and we'll help you get sorted.

We're open weekdays from 7am — which means you can stop in on your way to a job site or before the rest of your Saturday gets away from you. 885 Lakeshore Dr SW.