Hello. I am looking to set up a paint booth, or 'area', in my garage, and I have a couple questions / seeking experienced advice. I was thinking about setting up an area with some plastic tarps going from the ceiling to the floor, and wetting everything down (except the car =]) before I paint. After reading here and never having painted with a gun indoors before, I am learning that maybe I can't do this without setting up a ventilation system. So now I guess I will put a hole in the ceiling and mount a squirrel cage fan in the attic blowing air into the garage through a filter, and leave the garage door open about 1' sitting on a board / box with filters in it for the air going out. Again I'll wet everything down and try to seal all openings with plastic / duct tape. I'm guessing without the ventilation, visibility will become pretty low and the overspray will affect the paint job. Please let me know what you guys think, and what type of respirator I need, or if one of these fresh air systems is nessessary. I appreciate any advice you might have.

-Arthur

 

It sounds like you have the basic setup going for you if u want just a cheap setup in your garage, platic sheeting is a pretty good way to go u just want to make sure everything is perfectly clean, this is gonna be the step that affects your outcome more than anything else. The major thing you need to work on is making sure that you make enough room to move around and have plenty of lighting, you can go to places such as napa and buy about 4 or so floor lights that stand from the floor with really bright lights on them and put them in all corners becuase u have to have good lighting for sure. And you will have to have some sort of a ventiation system and the use of a respirator (you can get a decent one at any paint shop for about $15.00) But if you really havent sprayed anything major like this before you might want to start practicing a lot more before you spray your car becuase it could be a big waste of time and money if it doesnt turn out like you'd like it...

 

The problem with the floor lamps you discribe is that they get extremely hot. Paint vapor and other chemichals associated with the painting process are flamable... last thing you want to do is be in a seald room with flamable vapors, and give it an ignition source. You wouldnt have to worry about your cars finish, as your bodys finish would be gone first.

 

I think you'll be better of by using the fan (or 2) to suck the air out of the booth. The air won't be as turbulent that way. The paint job should wind up with less dust in it. I have hung 8' floresent lights on the sides of a booth before. I strongly recommend you get the light condums (clear plastic tubes). I dropped an air hose last time I painted. You guessed it. The air fitting hit light and put a 1000 pieces of glass into the paint. I was able to save the paint, but it was a nightmare. Also don't soak the booth. Just use enough water to keep the dust down. Too much water makes it easy to splash some onto your fresh paint.

 

Dont blow air into the booth. Even if you use filters. Just suck air out with a the doors closed. Vaccum the crap out of the garage the day before you paint and mist the floor the morning of. You will need a real powerful fan setup to suck air out. You dont want to come up short here or you will be painting in the fog. you also need to use a water seperator on the compressor

 

This whole setup doesn't sound like it will work. Wetting the floor to keep the dust down, yes, putting up plastic to create a makeshift booth, yes, an exhaust fan, yes, but what about fresh air? If you don't provide for fresh air to come in, the volume of air inside the booth will become minimal and dirt will still get sucked in from any place it can get air. Without equal volume of air into the booth, you'll be creating a vacuum effect causing the booth to suck air and potentially damage the finish. I would research this more before trying it. I agree on the lights. Newspaper headlines read, "House, garage and belongings blew sky high!"

 

I don't know where you got it twisted, but my original plan I had a fan pushing air in, not an exhaust fan. Anyways, thanks guys for all your opinions and help..

 

It got twisted by the lack of drawing a correct mental picture. I reread your original post and I figured you were going to have a fan blowing from the makeshift booth out into the garage thru a filter with the door open 1'. I now see a diferent angle and see that you are blowing filtered air into the booth. It was all in the interpretation of the wording.

 

I am sorry but I must comment here. If your purpose is to save a few dollars and get a decent paint job, check out the yellow pages. Please don't take this the wrong way but if you attempt this you will end up with so much trash in your paint it will be near impossible to clean it all up and have it come out have way normal. If you are like me and determined to do it your self. I would buy some junk yard parts and practice on them before painting your car. Don't get me wrong I am sure it has been done before and probably after some practice it may have even come out ok but I would not recomend this type of paint booth. I have been to quite a few body shops and I promise you their paint booths are 1000 times cleaner than you can get your garage cleaned up to and they still get trash in the paint all the time. If you still want to do this yourself find a friend that ownes a shop or is a body man and ask him for some assistance otherwise you will probably be wasting your money and time.