How Paint Dries

• Latex paint has two stages of drying. During the first stage, the solvent evaporates. Latex paint, which uses mostly water as its solvent, dries faster than oil-based paints for this reason. Once the water evaporates, the paint is dry to the touch. The second stage is the curing period where the paint hardens and becomes durable. Curing is a chemical process that can take several weeks.
  
  

Considerations

• When trying to influence the drying time of paint, you should focus more on eliminating conditions that might slow the drying time down than speeding the process up. If the paint dries faster than it is designed to, it won't have a chance to adhere to the surface. This means it is likely to blister and peel. Lap marks can also occur when paint dries to fast. Lap marks are caused when you paint over dried paint because the dry paint doesn't blend the way wet paint does.
  
  

Environmental Conditions

• The environment plays a great deal on how fast paint will dry. Higher temperatures and lower humidity will speed up drying times of latex paint. Most paint is designed to be applied when the temperature is between 70 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity is about 50 percent. If it is colder or the humidity is higher, the paint dries more slowly. Adding a dehumidifier to a humid room can help speed up the drying time as can cranking up the heat. Increasing air circulation by adding a fan also helps. Fans should be placed so they do not directly blow onto the painted surface, but rather, move the air around it. Otherwise, one area could dry faster than another.
  
  

Chemicals and Paint Choice

• Ammonia, alcohol and antifreeze are all "home remedies" that some claim will help latex paint dry faster. But there is no scientific basis that adding these chemicals will help speed up the evaporation of water. While ammonia and methanol are chemicals that are added by paint manufacturers to help paint dry faster, they release Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOCs for short, when they evaporate. VOCs are a health hazard. Also, adding these chemicals could change the color of the paint and cause other problems. A better solution is to compare different brands and types of paint. Not all latex paint has the same drying time. Some will naturally dry faster than others.