Painting in your garage.

[jbbies]

How many of you have painted a vehicle in your home garage. If so what did you do to keep paint fumes down? Did you have any problems with covenants?

Has anyone put exhaust fans in there garages for painting, welding and vehicle exhaust?

 

[LEDCREATIONS]

I'm actually doing this right now. Just finished spraying primer on the body about 30 minutes ago.
What I did is mounted painters screen all around the area of the garage to have a mini booth. I cracked open the garage door about 20" to fit a floor fan and put a house air filter behind it. I opened my door to my house and fed in clean air with another 20" floor fan and house filter. Sprayed water all over the floor to keep the dust down and sprayed. Its worked pretty well so far. I still have some ways before color though.

 

[Madgyver]

I did it and used our Hawaii winds for ventilation..

 

[jbbies]

Ledcreations do you have a pic? You having a problem at all with fumes in your house. I think my wife would kill me if she smelled paint for a week. I have a classic mustang I might be painting in the near future. I have had lots of experience with painting but never had to in a home garage. Always had a 60' by 60' shop to work in.

 

[LEDCREATIONS]

Whats your e-mail I could send a couple. The paint smell will stay in the garage for about 2-3 days maybe less if you just crack the garage door. I really dont smell anything inside the house(The garage door to the house goes to the laundry room and I have a window there that I opened up while painting). The Screen and fans really push out the any vapors.

I removed all the body parts and had to primer in sets as well. With the screen I really only have a two car garage work area

 

[jbbies]

brandonbies@me.com Do you think your going to get a good finish?

 

[LEDCREATIONS]

It really all depends on how much I paint at a time. I'm using a 2.0 gun for primer right now and that is throwing out alot of primer and I see alot on my floor when the water dries. I'm going to take spraying color slow and will probably do a single stage paint even though I'd like to do a 2 stage setup. I'm really still up in the air on that right now. Pictures coming your way

 

[t.lay]

Painted the eb and an mg in the garage. plastic on the floor - basically built a box around the car w/studs, covered in plastic - mounted a couple of furnace filters on one end, one more on the other end with a box fan sucking are through - acrylic enamel paint. Worked pretty good - no complaints from the neighbors - they hate the grinder though.

 

[casadejohnson]

I've painted about 5 cars in my various garages. I have done the water on the floor thing and it works but its a pain in the ass. I think its easier to put plastic down. As far as venting it, I just used a couple box fans in the garage side door. My wife says she can smell it in the house after I paint for a few days but I don't really notice it. Now I just send her to see her sister on the weekend that I paint. I get to do the painting without distraction and the smell is gone by the time she gets home.

 

[stang67]

We always cack the door and put a box fan on the floor to exhaust fumes. We have a window on the back wall bring in fresh air. This is detached from the home. We dont do the wet floor treatment because a litle overspray doesn't bother us too much.

 

[turbotim2]

I use pretty much the same setup but have an old squirrel cage blower from a hot air furnace that I use to move the air. I set it up with a plug and switch, it moves a lot of air. The smell will linger for a few days while the paint cures.

 

[allenfahey]

When I built my garage I knew I was going to do side work in it. This past year I probably did at least 150 cars in it for a used car lot when it was slow at work. My coworker and I found the best way to get clean jobs is to first blow out the garage. (we did bodywork all the way to prime and final sand first) I would sometimes take 10 minutes. Blow the ceiling, walls, everything. Then we would wet down the floor after the dust settled. Sweep while the floor is wet. Then wet the floor again. Top surfaces always gets more dirt in them so we would hang hoods and decklids from the ceiling. We also found it best to paint with as little air movement as possible. We would paint then turn on the fan. I would wait for the base to flash, turn off the fan. Apply a coat of clear, turn on the fan for a while. Then apply my second and final coat of clear, and again turn on the fan. It was hard to see sometimes but that got us the cleanest jobs. We bought a big salamander heater that ran on diesel to dry the paint. It would get about 120 degrees in my 20x28 garage
I'm so glad I'm busy at work again, painting in a garage is a huge pain.

 

[cap35b]

I took my bronco apart and painted each piece near the door of the garage on a very calm day. I did not paint the whole thing the same day so that kept the fumes down alot.

 

[Hal9000]

Did this years ago. We lined the walls and ceiling with plastic, wet the floor down lightly to control dust, put the garage door down to about 2" above the ground and set several box fans blowing outward to circulate air. One thing that we didn't do but thought about was to set AC filters in the spaces not occupied by the fans to filter incoming air.

Overall it worked pretty good, but don't think you can get away without a charcoal filtered respirator.

 

[Ohio Bill]

I have done all the above in painting cars....at one time I did it as a sideline.
The best situation is work in a detached garage....that way you are not getting fumes in the house.
Since then I have painted in my different house with attached garage and done all the tricks to keep down dust and fumes with fans and such, still got complaints that there was fumes in the house. Course I couldn't tell I just came out of the paint booth.
My advise is to do the best you can to vent and see what happens...but remember no open flames if your heating your garage.

 

[00gyrhed]

It depends a lot on what you expect. We painted one with the garge doors open and dcent ventilation from a breeze. no prep at all in the garage. No wet floor no plastic. Turned out just as nice as when I tried to build a booth out of plastic, and wet the floor.

I am currently painting my Bronco in my garage. The interior is finsihed as are most of he small parts. The hood will be hung upside down as will the doors. almost everything that has or will be painted has been painted with the painted surface either vertical or leaning in toward the gun. It is some of my best work. Very little dust ends up in the paint that way. I have just been closing the doors to keep the breeze down and as soon as it is dust safe i open the doors. After it is not tacky to the touch I turn the fans on and get it all out. Its a little slow but I do not paint well and I do better in pieces and small groups of parts.

I helped a guy paint a car out in the middle of his yard one time. He had it all masked off and he waited for a nice calm dry day and just pushed it out into the yard and painted it. He figured bright sun, good light, and he was going to color sand anyway. It turned out really really nice.

 

[Madgyver]

I did it and used our Hawaii winds for ventilation..

Here is my spray booth. decorated it for Christmas.. ;D

 

[12-Pack Jeff]

couldnt paint in the garage where I live at, go to jail probably... so I'd suggest renting a spray booth designed for the job..

 

[mustangtoby]

I've always painted outside. Do it on a nice summer day, early in the morning. Wet down the area the night before, put down a tarp and put the car on it first thing in the morning. Shoot the paint before it gets warm, while the air is still calm and no bugs are buzzing around, let it cure for an hour or two, strip the masking and put it back in the garage to cure. I've done a couple this way, and they have all turned out nice. The ones I've seen done inside always have some serious overspray to deal with after the fact, and even know one guy who spent a couple of days in the hospital because he did it inside without a resperator (and his paint looked like crap!). Lots of fans help, but you will still get overspray, both on the car and all over your garage. Good luck!

 

[allenfahey]

I need to clean my garage and paint bench, but here is a few pictures of my fan setup. I would turn that fan on only after done spraying and would get pretty clean jobs with it. I wouldn't get nearly as clean as the booth at work but was acceptable for the used car guy.