Do You Follow The Recommended Drying Times ?

Philly Dude

How strictly do you follow the recommended drying times on paint before you apply a second coat ? I almost never apply another coat before the recommended time has past, but I'm not sure if I am being to anal.

I'm doing alot of exterior work right now and I use MAB Seashore exclusively. For the semi-gloss they recommend 6 hours of dry time at 70 degrees and 50% humidity. That pretty much means I have very little chance of getting 2 coats on anything in one day. I sometimes wish I could get 2 coats on things in one day so I could get these jobs done faster.

Another thing that bothers me is MAB's Seashore primer is supposed to dry for 4 hours before you recoat. That seems like a very long time for a primer coat. Why is it that Zinnser can be painted over in one hour ? It is frustrating sometimes because I want to use the primer that is formulated for the topcoat but sometimes I wish I could just use the Zinnser and be able to prime and topcoat something in one day. Not to mention that Seashore primer is $35 a gallon.

CaptainAmerica

If everybody's waiting for when the label says the paints dry,than I'm in big trouble. I been painting my whole life, as have my uncle and grandfather, and goodness knows who else in my family for 50-60 years (I'm only 34 though) and I've only ever touched it to see if it's dry. Primer, paint.. ANYTHING!

aaron61

God I wish they didn't put that on the cans. I bet I hear at least once a week " How can you put 2 coats on when the can says let dry 8 hours"
GGRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!

painterman

If its dry to touch it gets the next coat. If you followed the dry times(CYA) on the can you will never make any money.

Bill

Drying time, whats that?
Usually by the time I am done I want to start from the beginning again. Like others said, if its dry to the touch, then paint, paint, paint!

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DeanV

On deep colors (like dark reds, browns, etc) it is more important to follow the dry times. It seems to me that when you use the "dry to the touch" rules with these colors it can leave the wall looking a little streakier than normal. Aura of course is except from this, which is one of the reasons I like it so much.

Bill

yeh, but who gets paid to monitor the density of the surface of the paint?
I want an application!

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genecarp

does it mention dry time on the paint can?

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Bill

Come on now! We are MEN
We do not read directions! We just DO IT!
Then if it dont work, blame the product!

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neolitic

Yup, we all know that the paint
manufacturers just hire all those
chemists and engineers for the tax
benefits.
And what would they know
about their formulations that any
schmuck off the street wouldn't
already know?
Surely they would back you
right up on the warranty no
matter how you apply it.

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Brock

Two coats? Why in the world would you ever need to apply two coats? We just tint the primer and put on one coat of that. Finished.

Teetorbilt

Tinting the primer is cool and can make for one-shot jobs in a lot of cases.

If you're rolling, not letting the paint cure some can cause 'pulling' (the second coat dissolving the skin of the first) and this can make for an UGLY job.

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plazaman

dry to the touch, gets another. exterior oil prime, i leave for a few days if possible. if we all waited for mfg. cure/dry times, i would have 100's of rooms left to be painted and i woundnt make any money.

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ibsocal

Dry times can be manipulated by using different tricks of the trade.i use a lot of forced air blowers + and - or heat lamps and solvents.but as said before its mostly touch and go.

Steve Richards

Same here. I'll wait for an oil primer...but even if interior latex is still tacky, I'll sometimes roll over it again. Never had any problems, and I've been doing this a long f'n time.

BTW.. that "warranty" that neolotic mentioned, would only cover the cost of the paint anyhow.

But everyone knows that.

CaptainAmerica

No way man! That guy knows everything!

Schmidt & Co

With waterbase I wait till its dry to the touch. Only ever had one problem...

We were spraying an interior metal staircase in the winter with oil. Day one sprayed the primer, day two 1st coat, day three sprayed the 2nd coat. Came back on the next day to pull the tape and it was all crackeling. The primer & first coat had not fully cured & the final coats surface tension made it all crackle!

Turns out the HO was stopping by each day after we left & turning the heat down to 50 degrees! There was no way it was going to cure.... We had to sand it all (after it fully cured) & shoot another coat. Cost me about 20 man hours & a lesson learned.

Dmax Consulting

The acrylics are pretty forgiving with the early application of a 2nd coat. If its hot outside, you can topcoat most acrylics in a hour. Same with waterborne primers. If you apply your 2nd coat too early, you can get a problem called mudcracking. It looks like those pictures of the desert were the ground it cracked looking.

If the verbage on the can is causing you problems with customers, switch products. Go check out Sherwin-Williams and see what the drying schedule for superpaint or resilience is.

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hockeyman001

Yup since those absorb sunlight they are more prone to blistering..

My rule (latex) is generally following the can intelligently, that means if it's dry to the touch, a lighter color, then go ahead and recoat, if it's darker wait a little longer, if it's hot AND humid and dark then might be a good idea to wait the whole thing...if it's oil I wait it out..

But that said doing exteriors it's nice because unless it's a small job you usually got other things to do while you're at the site to keep you busy so you're rarely doing first AND second coat same day...where things can sometimes get hairy is with spot prep work and deciding whether or not to paint over recently applied primer...heh take an early lunch and come back ready to go, or hope the HO has something misclellaneous like a shed or something they want done to occupy some time...

Danahy

I paint 1 coat on as many rooms as I can in a day. The following day I repeat what I did the day before.