help with sticky paint

hrspla posted:

I painted my foam sheeting that is over my plywood 4 weeks ago and its still sticky. I used paint from lowes. So I assume its good quality paint. I even tried coating  part of it again to see if it made a difference and its sticky too. Anyone have any ideas?

What kind of paint is it, i.e. latex, or linseed oil based? Best to check the back of the paint can.

Just a shot in the dark, but sometimes paint will react with the plastic of the foam.  That may be what's happening.  Did you use oil base or latex?  Latex should have been rather benign to the foam.  Oil base paints have solvents that possibly reacted with the foam.  How do I know?  I learned the hard way. 

But hey, if it's still sticky you can always sprinkle on ground foam!  Just trying to make lemonade out of lemons...

I used latex because I knew I wouldn't eat the foam. I'm going to do grass flocking and all that stuff but its just annoying trying to do wiring track placement etc.

Maybe take a hairdryer to it?

I agree with MWB, try a hairdryer or wire insulation heat shrink gun, be aware the heat shrink gun can put out more heat than the hairdryer, basically the issue may be the water content in the latex paint and drying time, is the layout in a basement with humidity exceeding 45 to 50% or do you live in a humid area. I have used brown and green latex paint on the layout base plywood sheets and had not issues with the latex paint drying, the basement humidity is 45 to 50 % using a dehumidifier.