Paint booths for the average home painter

As most of you know, I am in the process of building a new shop. I am trying to plan everything out, but sometimes that can be a problem.

I am trying to decide what to do about a paint booth. I don't paint a lot of cars, but I have never farmed that out. I have 3 that need paint in the immediate future.

I talked with @Bandit Billy about his Charlie China Inflatable booth and he liked it ok. They run about $1500 for the big ones. I can pick up a used paint booth, body shop style for $5k-10K, but I really don't wanna pay that much, plus, then you have this big honking deal in the middle of the shop.

I have also investigated putting up curtains and installing exhaust fans. They have their own issues. Half the time the louvers don't close and then you have rain and wind coming in. In my shop now, I just have a dedicated room for bodywork, but then you have to spend a few days trying to clean the sanding dust etc. off the lights, walls, etc. to keep trash out of your paint.

I plan on doing a lot of powder coating in the shop as well, once complete.

I figure they will eventually regulate the little guy completely out of doing home paint jobs, which is one of the reasons I am looking into other options.

Thoughts?

 

I thought about that Mark. I am just trying to keep from having boxes inside of boxes. Not out of the question though.

 

So what would be the ultimate size? Mine now is 15'x25'. It gets cramped at times though.

What about ventilation? Draw it across the sides? I thought about having 2 fans in the shop that draw about 8K CFM.

If I put them up high and had a positive pressure on the booth, would it be enough to push it outside and through the exhaust fans?

I don't want the fans inside the booth if I can avoid it. Maybe, right outside and filter the exhaust before the fan?

 

This is overseas, but the premise is the same. These guys are doing what we do basically.

 

The blow up booth would work well in doors for the occasional paint job. I would make a large cabinet to store it in when not in use.

 

I wonder how their painted floor will hold up.

I wonder about the floor getting multiple coats of paint on it. Since it is plastic, does it stick?

 

I wouldn't plan for any kind of permanent booth structure if I only had a few cars needing paint in the near future. Do you plan to do a lot more once you get the shop set up, or are you just doing your own stuff? If you wanted you could make your own temporary setup with wood framed walls and poly that you could put up wherever you needed it. I have two that need painted in the near future and am scheming on some kind of temporary setup. I get the allure of having your own permanent paint booth, but I think the amount of space it takes up for how often it is used would get old fast.

 

I have one now and I use it for parking most of the time. I have done the whole poly deal, but plastic gets a static charge that sometimes pushes trash. Not sure what I am gonna do just yet. I am thinking about starting a powder coating business after I retire, just doing hot rod stuff. A word of mouth type of deal. This could help with that as well.

 

You can tell I painted a car black in there but it isn't bad. The base dries before it hits the floor and the explosion proof fan kept it moving out of the booth and into the furnace filters. I suppose a few more paint jobs it will tell the tale. I have my daughters truck coming up next.

 

Hey, root;
There is a thread on painting using temp-type walls on the reg mssg board. One I really like the best, but cannot use due to lack of (open/clear wall)space, has the paint booth in a corner, w/the movable walls that store up against the outer-edge-wall in his gar. To paint, he slides the long wall out to it's usable-position(top edge of moveable wall has tracks in the ceiling so it is easily movable & stable), & the short wall w/service door swings into place(hinged onto the outer-edge-wall. The corners lock into place, top n bottom edges get sealed. When painting is done, the whole kit-n-caboodle gets slid/swung back onto the outer-edge-wall & clipped into place. Neatest thing I've seen in a long time. Don't have the thread handy. As far as ventilation, a friend in WI has a really neat downdraft, but the painting-rack is ~ 3-5' off the ground(older-commercial booth). Another friend in NJ used the curtains w/open-top & had "vent-runs"(square hvac ducting w/lots of louvered openings) along the 2 long sides of the curtains. After some QnA, he said he never had any issues w/dust/dirt/etc coming in thru the top, nor any issues w/the (homemade-looking)down-draft system not pulling enough air n paint dust out of the booth. Sadly, I wasn't there long enough to see it work. I think you could have some hvac runs made that could be moveable & store-able.
Marcus...

 

I saw the "collapsible" booth somewhere here on the HAMB years ago. Great idea ! Walls on casters you roll out to paint, then push back when not in use. I'm sure someone can find the link & share it.

 

I was talking to Mark about that booth yesterday. I may just build a regular booth, even though I swore I wouldn't do another one.