How to Get Rid of Paint Smell After Painting a Room

Why fresh paint smells

Paint is pigment and binder carried in a liquid. As the liquid evaporates, the paint dries, and the solvents that leave it are volatile organic compounds (VOCs). That’s the smell. The EPA lists paints, varnishes, and wax as VOC sources, and says these products release VOCs while you use them and, to some degree, while they sit in storage.

Dry to the touch doesn’t mean done. Paint keeps releasing VOCs as it cures, which takes days for latex and longer for oil-based paint and primers. The EPA notes that pollutant levels can stay high for a long time after some activities, so the room needs fresh air for days, not hours.

What you painted with	How strong	How long it usually lingers with good airflow
Zero- or low-VOC latex	Mild	A day or two
Regular latex (water-based)	Moderate	Two to three days
Oil-based paint, alkyd, or shellac primer	Strong, solvent smell	A week or more
Stain or varnish on floors and trim	Strong	Several days to a couple of weeks

These ranges are typical, not a promise. Check the can or the product’s data sheet for its dry and recoat times.

Safety first

Paint fumes in a closed room can cause headaches, dizziness, and nausea. If you feel any of these, leave the room and get fresh air.

• Keep babies, pregnant people, pets, and anyone with asthma out of a freshly painted room until the smell is mostly gone.
• Oil-based paint and solvent-based primers burn. Keep them away from pilot lights, space heaters, and anything that sparks.
• Hang solvent-soaked rags outside to dry flat before you throw them away. Balled-up oily rags can heat up and catch fire.
• An N95 mask doesn’t filter paint fumes. It’s for dust and particles, not gases.

1. Move air through the room

Fresh air is the fix. Everything else helps at the margins.

1. Make a cross-breeze. Put a box fan in a window facing out, so it pushes room air outside. Open a window or door on the far side of the room to let fresh air in. The Minnesota Department of Health recommends opening doors and windows and using fans to bring in as much outdoor air as you can.
2. Close doors to the rest of the house so the fumes go out the window instead of down the hall.
3. Turn on bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans if you painted those rooms. Leave them running for a few days.
4. Keep it going. Run the fan while you paint and for at least two to three days after, longer for oil-based paint.

If it’s too cold to keep windows open all day, open them wide for 15 to 20 minutes several times a day instead.

2. Take the sources out

A lot of “lingering” paint smell is still-wet paint you forgot about.

• Close the cans tight and take them out of the room. The EPA says VOCs can escape even from closed containers, so store leftover paint in a garage or shed, not in a closet or the basement next to the furnace.
• Clean or bag rollers, trays, and brushes. A roller in a plastic bag in the corner still smells.
• Get rid of paint you won’t use. The EPA suggests buying only what you need and safely disposing of partly full cans of old products. Your city or county household hazardous waste program takes oil-based paint. Many areas also take latex.

3. Keep the room cool and dry

The Minnesota Department of Health says chemicals off-gas more in high temperatures and humidity. Warmth pushes out more fumes at once, which feels worse in a closed room.

• Paint on a mild, dry day when you can leave windows open.
• Don’t crank the heat to “dry the paint faster” in a closed room. If you need heat, keep the window fan running.
• In a damp basement, run a dehumidifier. Paint dries slower and smells longer in humid air.

4. Clean what’s left from the air

Once the paint is dry and the room is aired out, a few things help with the last of the smell.

Air purifier with a carbon filter. The EPA’s guide to air cleaners says most filters target either particles or gases, and that a HEPA filter alone is for particles. For fumes, pick a unit with an activated carbon filter, and note the EPA’s caveat that carbon only works well when the filter has a large amount of it. Treat it as a backup to fresh air, not a replacement.

Activated charcoal or baking soda. Bowls of either can soak up some smell in a small, closed room like a closet or bathroom. They’re slow. See what actually absorbs odors for how they compare.

Skip these:

• Onions, vinegar, coffee grounds, and lemon water add their own smell on top and have no good evidence behind them. Onions are also toxic to dogs and cats.
• Candles and sprays only cover the smell.
• Ozone machines. The EPA warns that ozone doesn’t clear most indoor chemicals at safe levels and can react with them to make new irritants. More in our ozone generator guide.

Next time: a paint job that smells less

• Choose zero- or low-VOC paint. It still smells a little, but much less, and the smell fades faster. The Minnesota Department of Health suggests low-VOC paints for this reason.
• Use water-based (latex) paint and primer where you can. Save oil-based products for the jobs that need them, like covering stains.
• Paint when you can leave. The Minnesota Department of Health suggests doing renovations while the house is empty, so you can keep doors and windows open.
• Let each coat dry fully with the fan running before the next one.

If you’re repainting to cover cigarette smoke, painting alone won’t stop the smell. Wash and prime first, as in our smoke smell guide.

When the smell isn’t the paint

If the room smelled before you painted, or a sour, musty, or sewer smell shows up as the paint smell fades, the paint was hiding something. A musty smell after painting a damp wall often means moisture behind it. Our guide to musty smells in the house covers how to find it.