Is your paint on walls showing cracks or bubbles? Or do you see paint running down your walls? If yes, then you may be painting in the wrong weather conditions, such as when there is a time of high humidity.
So, now the question arises is that can you paint your house in high humidity? To paint or not to paint during this time is an important choice if you need great finishes. However, if you are painting in high humidity, you have to take care of certain aspects to save yourself from the risk of paint failure.
What problems may happen due to painting in high humidity?
High humidity can create problems for your interior or exterior painting in a number of ways.
- Moisture is trapped inside solvent-based coatings, which leads to bubbles or cracks once the paint dries.
- With water-based paints, there is an issue with quick-drying when the air becomes saturated with moisture, leading to dust and drip contamination.
- While spraying, humidity can lead to a milky appearance if moisture remains trapped in the finish known as blushing or clouding.
So, in case you are painting in high humidity, you may need a dehumidifier or heater. In solvent finishes, it’s required to slow down the evaporation rate with a retarding thinner.
Tips for painting in high humidity with water-based finishes
You should be aware of the falling temperatures as humidity slows down the evaporation rate of water-based finishes. This may lead to water condensation on the wet paint.
Outdoors painting job:
- Do not paint outdoors during the late day when the humidity is relatively high with the falling temperatures. The high humidity and low temperature can together create dew formation, causing the paint to run. So, it’s best to paint late morning when the temperature is on the rise.
- First, paint the surfaces that are already warm because of the morning sun and fall into the shade.
- Try to paint in thin coats as they tend to dry more quickly. You may need to apply an extra coating, but there is no worry about prolonged tackiness or running paint.
Indoors painting job:
- Ventilation is necessary for quick evaporation. Run a fan or open the windows to make a draft. Run the system in “fan” mode only if the home is central air conditioned.
- Alike outdoors, you need to use thin coats indoors as well so that the paint dries quickly.
- Use the space heater to raise the temperature or minimize the humidity with a dehumidifier.
Tips for painting with solvent-based finishes
- Scuff the sand on the surface to ensure that the surface you are going to paint is dry. If you are not able to easily blow the sand dust off the surface easily, then it’s likely that the surface is very moist. You have to wait for the surface to dry.
- Add retarders like shellac or lacquer to volatile spray finishes for saving them from clouding. The retarder makes the evaporation slow, mixing finished material time with moisture to evaporate before the film traps it.
Provide ventilation and heat to regulate the humidity in interior spaces like the spray room.