​CAU-10-H displays a highly suitable step-wise water adsorption behaviour for application in adsorption driven heat pumps and chillers. For actual application, manufacturing of coatings of this material on thermally conductive surfaces is highly desired. Direct, single-step, crystallization of CAU-10-H on either metallic or anodized aluminium yields a significant amount of by-product(s) and an inhomogeneous substrate coverage. Although adequate pretreatment of the substrates before crystallization improves the quality of obtained coatings, significant improvements are achieved only when crystal nucleation and growth are separated. More specifically, application of a reactive seeding approach with anodized aluminium leads to full coverage of the substrate surface, high MOF loading and high purity of the crystalline phase, homogeneous layer thickness, narrow crystal size distribution, and good stability in repeated water adsorption–desorption cycles.