Paint Drying Time Calculator
Estimate paint drying times with Sherwin-Williams guidance for dry-to-touch, recoating, and full cure.
Use this to estimate how long a paint job needs before the next coat or normal use. It gives a practical drying window, not a lab result.
Your details
Measure the room air temperature near the painted surface. Do not paint below 50°F.
Use the room's relative humidity.
Total number of thin coats applied.
Result
Estimated hours until the paint is dry to the touch.
- Ready for next coatEstimated hours before applying another coat.
- 4h 0m
- Full cure, in daysEstimated full cure time in days.
- 14
- Whole job, start to curedDays from your first coat until the paint is fully cured.
- 14
About this tool
How Long Does Paint Take to Dry?Sherwin-Williams paint drying times for touch-dry, recoat, and full cure.
Free download
Paint Drying Time SheetA quick reference for estimating when paint is dry, ready for another coat, and fully cured.
Free, no email required — print it or save it as a PDF.
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Paint Drying Time Calculator infographicThe key numbers as one image — free to save, share, or embed on your own site with credit.
How this is calculated
This tool uses a standard drying-time estimate for Sherwin-Williams water-based interior latex paint: about 1 hour to dry to touch and 4 hours to recoat at 77°F and 50% relative humidity. Temperature and humidity adjust that baseline in a simple, checkable way: warmer air speeds drying, colder air slows it, and higher humidity slows it. The model assumes normal indoor airflow and a typical thin coat. It does not account for oil-based paints, very thick coats, primer-specific instructions, or poor ventilation. Do not paint below 50°F. Always follow the paint can if its label gives a longer wait time.
Common questions
- How long should I wait between coats of interior latex paint?
- A common baseline is about 4 hours at 77°F and 50% humidity. Cooler or more humid rooms need longer.
- Does this work for oil-based paint?
- No. This tool is for water-based interior latex paint only. Oil-based products can have very different drying and curing times, so use the label instructions instead.
- Why does humidity matter?
- Higher humidity slows evaporation, which is what lets water-based paint dry.
Take it further with AI
Copy this into ChatGPT or Claude with your own numbers filled in. It hands over the figures this calculator worked out, so the answer is built on real arithmetic instead of a guess.
I used the Paint Drying Time Calculator at https://www.bfcbrilliance.com/tools/paint-drying-time-calculator.
What I entered:
- Room temperature (°F): ___
- Relative humidity (%): ___
- Coats applied (coats): ___
What it calculated:
- Dry to touch: ___
- Ready for next coat: ___
- Full cure, in days: ___
- Whole job, start to cured: ___
Use those figures as given — they are already worked out, so please don't recalculate or estimate your own. Help me turn them into a plan: what to buy or do, in what order, roughly what it should cost, and the mistakes people most often make with this job.Last updated
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