Polyurethane Dry Time Cold Weather

Is there any such thing as too cold for applying polyurethane.

Polyurethane dry time cold weather. Take charge of the weather by altering your finish or your choice of finish. Also thinning with mineral spirits does not make the poly dry faster. This means that recoat times are also extended. Outside temperature is almost 45 degrees in the garage its a little warmer but i have no space heater.

But remember that thinned finish means more coats to build up the film and longer dry time means the possibility of more dust on the wet and tacky surface. Nothing i can find on the manufacturers websites minwax general finishes talks about this particular issue. But until recently i had never seen penetrol recommended for use in polyurethane which is usually applied indoors in more ambient working conditions and brushes easily without drag. How to make urethane dry quicker.

Both water based and oil based products give off strong fumes as they dry although oil based is decidedly worse so proper ventilation is a must. In fact it might be working against you. Polyurethane during cold weather hey all i have a project to finish this week and were having cold weather for the next week. For example at an ideal temperature of 75 degrees f you can usually recoat after four hours.

When humidity is high temperature is low or coats are thick it takes longer for the film to dry. Polyurethane takes hours not minutes to dry. Why does minwax fast drying polyurethane sometimes take longer to dry than the instructions indicate. Instead of 2 full strength coats or three 67 coats you now need 4 50 coats to get the same amount of solids on your piece each requiring a 12 hour re coat time.

For example in hot weather you can thin a finish to allow greater time for flow out and prevent brush marks. Cold weather slows the drying time of both alkydoil and water based paints. It follows that a common problem for everyone from. Painters have added penetrol a widely available additive to oil paint for decades to reduce drag and brush marking especially when painting in hot or cold weather or in sunlight.

I know that it takes longer to cure when its cold but is there any downside other than that. In colder temperatures polyurethane tends to dry more slowly which can cause a whitish film to develop. Step 2 take the item youre finishing into a warmer area to apply the polyurethane which you can do with movable items such as outdoor furniture. Thats a lot of time for dust to settle or bugs to land on the surface marring the final product.