To gloss or not to gloss

[Poisonata]

The wooden crows feet that immerge under the guttering of my house are in need of a lick of gloss paint. Now I had in mind to paint them this weekend, the forecast is overcast, possibly a little damp but essentially no rain.
Many years ago my father was applying gloss paint to an outside wooden structure when a passer by commented that using gloss paint on cool, damp days caused it to go 'flat', essentially ends up not being shiny. He acknowledged this however his arguement was as being pushed for time, better it got a lick of paint today than nothing at all.
My question is, aesthetics aside does using gloss paint outside on sheltered woodwork on a cool/damp day have any effect on the protection/longevity it affords the wood.
Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[dcdec]

It can have problems. At this time of year the ambient temperature is generally ok but obviously depends what part of the UK your in. One thing you have to be careful of when applying oil based paints outside is it may be fine when applying but then the temperature drops right down overnight and frost and even dew will cause problems.

Paints exposed to low temperatures before drying do lose their sheen, i'm not sure why exactly but i think its because the film forming is slowed by retarded drying and certain components of the paint break down, the manufacturers all have guides on the tins regarding temps.

Big problem though (and why i'm sitting here right now) is rain, the paint has to be dry enough to repel water otherwise you get little crater spots and wrinkles and causes shrivelling and then your coating is ruined, even if its touch dry wherever the water pools it affects the coating.

Once damaged a coat of paint will not perform as it should and early breakdown is inevitable

 

[Poisonata]

Many thanks for your comprehensive post, it is as I suspected. I will hold off for better weather as I only intend to do this task once. (Thanks button clicked)

 

[dcdec]

Your welcome, lets hope we get some good weather