Exact Answer: After about 24 hours
The appearance of a building is enhanced by its paint. Painting adds life to the monotonous construction of bricks and mortar. However, painting is not as easy it seems to be. You just can’t go about deciding to paint your house and land up getting your house painted. Before painting, it is essential to prepare the house for painting. Without proper preparation, the paint won’t last for a longer time. Hence, preparation is the first step to painting a house.
Paints and colors not only beautify the building but also keeps the house safe against harsh weather. Painting not only involves efforts but also huge financial investments. Hence, one should try to paint the house with the best available resources following the best methods to make it last for a longer time.
How Long After Applying Primer Can I Paint?
| Type of primer | Time |
| Water based primer | 3 hours |
| Oil based primer | 24 hours |
The primary step before painting a house is to choose an appropriate timing for painting the house. The most suitable time of the year refers to those times when the temperature won’t be too high or too cold. The rainy season should be avoided. It is wise to paint the house during the spring season. Before cleaning the house, it is even essential to clean the house. This is mandatory because it would remove dust and other particles from the surface to be painted. One should even ensure that the cleaned surface gets dried before going for anything else.
In case your house was already painted before and has got ruined, then you need to get rid of those old defective paintings. This ensures that the new layer would sit beautifully on the surface without giving a blistered appearance. The paint would even stick to the surface and won’t get off quickly. After this, you need to get rid of unnecessary damages. You need to fix all the damages on the surfaces to be painted.
After this, you should decide the right color for the house. You need to go through color wheels. You also need to estimate an approximate amount of paint that you would require to paint the house. For this, you may need the help of an architect. After this, there is only the final step i.e. priming. After priming, you can easily go for painting your house. Priming a house is as important as painting it is. Hence, priming shouldn’t be ignored.
Primer adds an extra layer to the paint. It adds a layer of protection to the house. Not just this, it even adds a glossy touch to the paint thereby reflecting out the true color of the paint. After the primer dries, you can go for painting your house. However, there are various types of primer that have varied times of drying. Most primers take about 3 hours for drying. However, some primers may take up to 24 hours for drying.
Why Should I Wait So Long To Paint After Applying Primer?
For beginners, priming may seem difficult. However, if the surface is dry, then priming the surface would be very easy. However, the drying period of the primer varies depending on the various factors. These factors include the type of primer being used, environmental conditions during priming, the surface to be primed, and the availability of other accessories needed for painting.
The first factor which determines the drying period of the primer is its type and formulation. The most common types of primers used are of two types based on their composition. The water-based primer, which has water as its prime composition dries quickly within 3-4 hours of application. On the other hand, the oil-based primer, which has oil as its prime composition dries quickly within 24 hours of application. However, these type of primers is mostly used by professionals.
In case you want to use any DIY kind of primer, then you can go for latex primer. However, it may take about 4 hours for drying. Secondly, the environmental factors and weather conditions even play a significant role in deciding the drying time. If the temperature of the house is 70 degrees F and the humidity is 50%, then one can go for priming. This is considered an ideal requirement of weather which would fasten up the process of drying.
If the humidity is high, then the time of drying may be prolonged. Applying primer on a cold and dry day would be the most appropriate time for priming your house. However, you need to be patient till the paint dries off. After the drying off of the primer, you can go for applying the first layer of the paint.
Conclusion
Before you go for priming, you also need to have all the types of equipment ready for it. The most possible pieces of equipment include sandpaper, roller, protective clothes, gloves, tapes, and paints, etc. Keep these types of equipment handy before going for priming. Once you are done with priming, just let the surface free for about 24-48 hours. It would absorb the primer and provide an additional layer before your paint.
Before applying primer, you should even go through the instructions mentioned on the label of the primer. After that, you can customize your instruments accordingly. Sandpaper is not a necessity for all kinds of primers. So, one should go through the label of the primer properly and then go for priming. After the application of primer, observe it closely. Apply some sand, if it is really necessary else, leave it for drying.
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