Loading page
About this tool
Adjust touch-dry, recoat and hard-dry times for temperature and humidity, then schedule every coat by the clock.
This planner adjusts the drying times printed on a paint tin — which are measured at about 30 C and 60% relative humidity — for the temperature and humidity you are actually painting in, then lays each coat out on the clock. It applies the two effects that matter: drying time roughly doubles for every 10 C drop, and for waterborne paints it scales with the inverse of the vapour-pressure deficit, so 80% humidity roughly doubles the wait again. Painters, site supervisors and homeowners use it to decide whether the second coat can go on today.
Open Paint Recoat Time Planner on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Add your input to the workspace.
Adjust the options until the result looks right.
Copy or download the output and put it to work.
Applies temperature and humidity factors to the datasheet times.
Every coat, its touch-dry point and the recoat window appear as actual times.
Warns below the minimum application temperature and when conditions push drying past the reliable range.
About 4 hours in the reference condition of roughly 30 C and 60% relative humidity. At 20 C that becomes about 8 hours, and at 20 C with 80% humidity closer to 16 hours — the tin's figure is a floor, not a promise.
Yes, sharply for water-based paints, because the film dries by evaporating water into air that is already carrying moisture. Going from 60% to 80% relative humidity roughly halves the drying rate; solvent-based enamels are much less affected because their solvent leaves regardless.
Most water-based emulsions specify application above 10 C, because below their minimum film-forming temperature the binder particles never coalesce and the film stays weak no matter how long it sits. Solvent-based enamels usually go down to about 5 C. Painting below the stated minimum is not fixed by waiting longer.
Touch dry means the surface no longer transfers to a finger; hard dry means the film resists light pressure and the surface can take gentle use; full cure is when the film reaches its final hardness and washability, typically about seven days for emulsions and enamels. Wash or scrub a wall before full cure and you will burnish it.