AIR MOVEMENT

AIR MOVEMENT, AIR MOVEMENT, AIR MOVEMENT…and a little heat.

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Is painting your sheds the bottleneck in your shop? Do you wish you could move them out faster or put the roof on sooner? Do you ever feel like you are just sitting around watching paint dry?

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So what is the key to speed up the dry time of your Water-based Urethane and/or Water-based Acrylic paint? The 2 main factors that affect the dry times of water based coatings are cold temperatures and high humidity. Heat would seem like the best way to counter these two factors. And it definitely will help but it’s not the most cost effective. The most efficient and cost effective way to speed up the dry time of your shed coatings is Air Movement.

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Water-based coatings dry by the evaporation of the water and solvents in the coating. When you spray a shed in your paint bay you are not only coating the shed with moisture you are also filling the air with moisture. This makes it hard for the water in the coating to evaporate out because the air is saturated with water. To alleviate this you can turn on fans pointed at the shed on multiple sides. This breeze across the surface will help draw the moisture out of the coating which in turn will help it dry.

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So what role does heat play? Heat is still important because, generally speaking, the warmer the air is the faster the coating will dry. But it is not always easy to consistently & efficiently raise the temperature in your paint bay. If it’s August in Alabama you can just roll the shed outside after painting, but if its winter in Minnesota that won’t work and heating can become costly. The good news is if you can get your paint bay to 60-70 degrees F, and have good air movement across the coating you will drastically improve your dry times which in turn will help alleviate bottlenecks and make your production more efficient.

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Take a look at the graphic. We have found this to be the simplest way to increase air movement around your buildings. By aiming 2 fans at opposite corners, you can create a breeze down all 4 sides. The larger the fans the better. Try to keep the fans at a minimum of 3 ft. from the coated surface. If you combine this setup with the best heat you can then you will see success. Make sure you speak with your coatings provider to check for proper application temperatures. In general, most Water-based acrylic paints can go down to 35 degrees F, but keep in mind that is generally meant to be the low temp and rising, not the high temp and dropping. Most of your Water-based Urethanes require 50 degrees F and rising. You must also insure that air is moving across all coated sides. A lot of times we see shops with a single fan mounted from the ceiling or only one fan available on the ground which means only part of the shed is catching a breeze. Any dead area on the side of a shed will continue to dry slower.

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We hope you find this article helpful. If you have any questions or would like additional information on this topic please reach out to your local Pittsburgh Paints Tru-Industrial Specialist at sheds@pittsburghpaints.com.