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Most single rooms take a professional painter one day or less, including two coats and the wait between them. A whole 3-bedroom interior usually takes a crew of two or three about 3 to 7 working days. Repairs, ceilings, trim, colour changes and furniture decide where your job falls.
How long does it take to paint one room?
About a day for most rooms, and less for walls alone. A painter needs time to prep, cut in, roll two coats and let the first coat dry. Ceilings and trim add hours, and heavy repairs can add a day.
| Room | Typical time for a professional |
|---|---|
| Bedroom, walls only | Half a day to a day |
| Bedroom with ceiling and trim | About a day |
| Bathroom | Half a day to a day |
| Kitchen walls, cabinets not included | About a day |
| Living or dining room, with ceiling and trim | 1 to 2 days |
| Two-storey stairwell or hall | 1 to 2 days |
These are typical ranges across the trade, for walls in fair shape. They are not promises. Your painter should give you dates in writing after seeing the rooms.
Cutting in:
painting a clean edge by brush where a wall meets the ceiling, the trim or another colour, before the roller covers the rest.
Cutting in is the slowest part of most rooms. So a small room full of windows, doors and built-ins can take as long as a bigger, plainer one.
How long does it take to paint a whole house interior?
For a 3-bedroom house, about 3 to 7 working days with a crew of two or three. That covers walls, ceilings and trim in two coats, with ordinary prep. A condo takes less time, and a large home with tall stairwells takes more.
| Home | Walls, ceilings and trim |
|---|---|
| 1- or 2-bedroom condo | 1 to 3 days |
| 3-bedroom bungalow, semi or two-storey | 3 to 7 days |
| 4 or more bedrooms, or tall open stairwells | A week or more |
Walls alone, with no ceilings or trim, can come in well under these ranges. Whole homes also go faster per room than single rooms. The crew rolls a first coat in one room, then works on another while it dries.
What makes an interior paint job take longer?
Anything that adds a step before or between the coats. Repairs, big colour changes, ceilings, trim and furnished rooms all add time. So do tall spaces and anything that has to come off the walls first.
- Repairs. Filler has to dry before it's sanded and primed, and deep holes need more than one fill. Heavy repairs can add a day. The guide to fixing nail pops and cracks shows each repair.
- Colour changes. Going from dark to light, or to a deep colour, can need a primer or a third coat. See how many coats of paint walls need.
- Ceilings. Overhead work is slower than walls, and each ceiling adds hours.
- Trim and doors. Brushing enamel is slower than rolling walls, and doors need both faces and every edge.
- Old oil-based trim. It needs cleaning, sanding and a bonding primer before latex will stick.
- Tall spaces. Two-storey stairwells and foyers need tall ladders or planks, and setting them up takes time.
- Furnished rooms. Moving and covering furniture takes time at the start and end of each room.
- Popcorn ceilings and wallpaper. Removal is its own job, and a popcorn ceiling needs an asbestos test first.
How long do you wait between coats?
Anywhere from an hour or two to most of a day, depending on the paint. One premium wall paint lists one to two hours before the second coat at 25°C and 50% humidity. One popular waterborne trim enamel lists 16 hours.
Recoat time:
how long a coat must dry before the next coat can go on, as listed on the paint's data sheet.
Cool rooms and damp air stretch every time on the label. Slow-drying enamel is one reason trim can run a day behind the walls.
Dry is not the same as cured. Paint can feel dry within an hour yet take weeks to harden fully. The guide to how long paint takes to dry and cure explains what that means for washing walls and moving furniture back.
What does one crew-day cover?
As a rough guide, a crew-day on a small job covers the walls of one or two average rooms in two coats. Or it covers one room with its ceiling and trim. A job smaller than that still takes the crew's day, because travel, setup and cleanup don't shrink.
Crew-day: one working day of a painting crew on your job, from setup to cleanup.
Great North's minimum job is one crew-day, billed at $750 + HST. A bedroom's walls alone start from $450, which is less than a crew-day of work. So on its own, that bedroom is billed at the minimum. Add a hallway, some trim or a few repairs, and the same visit covers more of your home. The guide to why painters have a minimum charge shows how to bundle small jobs.
Can you stay in your home while it's being painted?
Yes, in most cases. A crew usually works through a few rooms at a time, so the rest of the house stays usable. Expect each room being painted to be out of use for about a day.
A few things make it easier:
- Clear small items, art and valuables from the rooms on the schedule.
- Paint bedrooms early in the day, so they have hours to air out before bedtime.
- Open windows or run exhaust fans during and after the work, as Health Canada advises for renovations.
- Keep pets and young children out of rooms with wet paint.
- If you work from home, set up in a room that's painted first or last.
How do you find out how long your job will take?
Ask for dates in writing once the painter has seen the job. A painter who has seen your walls, ceilings and repairs, in photos or in person, can give you a start date and a finish date. Get both in the quote, not just a price.
At Great North, a crew lead checks your photos and sizes for every repair, and comes out when the job needs it. Your written quote arrives within 24 hours of seeing the job. It lists the scope, the prep, the paint named by brand and line, the price plus HST, and the dates. A whole 3-bedroom interior runs $4,800–$9,500 before HST.
For a range in about a minute, use Get My Estimate. See interior painting for what's included, and the process for each step from the first photo to the walkthrough.