I would like to paint my Dodge in my two bay garage. What do I need to do to prep the space for painting? It is over 700 square feet, and I don't relish the thought of covering everything with plastic! I have a new low voc spray gun that I've never used. How much over spray can I expect?
Yep, that's true, cover everything. Make sure you use a good respirator, the newer paints are toxic. I always set a box fan in the window to help clear the overspray and fumes. Make sure you clean the area before you start, I use my shop vacuum and then wet mop the floor to get rid of as much dust as possible. The cleaner area the better result. Shot my Sport Coupe last month with single stage urethane, always follow the mixing ratio.
Your paint job is awesome! Looks like every thing is getting covered. Gonna do my sanding and prep outside.
Have you seen this thread? https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...home-in-the-driveway-or-garage-thread.943236/
I am packing up my shop for a move . We painted 6 cars in the almost 4 years that we have been here and I can tell you there is overspray in every place that I look. We divided the shop with tarp curtains and put a wall mounted 48 inch exhaust fan and the overspray still got on both sides of the shop. A big problem is that the ceiling is 12 feet high and the overspray would go in the air and then settle back on the car in the form of what looked like dirt ,but was actually congealed paint particles. Adding additional fans to move more air helped but not completely. Ended up building a lower ceiling to increase the velocity of air being moved. It cut down on the amount of wet sanding that we had to do. Ended up with some really good results. Doing your prep outside really cuts down on the amount of dirt you have to contend with. My new shop will have a paint booth built in when I build it.
I started this thread, and in it are the details on the paint booth I built in my garage etc. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...home-in-the-driveway-or-garage-thread.943236/
You will get *****con·tam·i·na·tion***** from 3 places . The environment. You. The item your painting.
Is your garage attached to the house? If so, completely seal the door to the house on both sides with tape or taped on sheets of plastic. I just put towels along the gap at the bottom of the door and the house smelled like paint for two weeks. If you have an open attic make a full plastic ceiling. I was in big trouble for two weeks after that. The paint turned out great though.
I had to do some media blasting and I had to do it in my garage. I used PCV and plastic sheeting to build a booth. Only cost me $35. The same can be done for painting except use a fan to **** out the over spray.
This was painted in my garage at home. BC/CC. Owner decided he wanted a red roof after it was painted white.
I have a 4 poster hoist mounted close to the back wall of shop, if I want to paint something I put it all the way up, cover with clear plastic and paint to my hearts content. Hoist is positioned so it's close to rear wall where I have a 2'x2' exhaust fin built in wall for evacuation of fumes............................
When I was a kid, one of the houses we lived in had a garage downstairs under the house. My brother and I painted a big 58 Chevy yellow. My parents were out for the night and we figured that we could paint the car and clean the garage before they came home. Well we came close, we were still spraying when they came home, but lucky for us they were not feeling any pain and went right to bed. We completed the painting, clean the garage and went upstairs to bed. Not wanting to wake up anyone we left most of the lights off except for the bathroom and the bedroom. Next morning, we notice a fine yellow dusting on everything in the house. There was yellow paint dust everywhere. My parents were not real angry, they did make us clean the house from top to bottom but I guess they figure painting a car in the garage was better than running around downtown all night, or doing drugs and drinking, or getting girls knock up.
Most of you know I have a small shop. When I get ready to paint a car. I go in with a leaf blower and get out as much dust and dirt as I can. Then I stay out of the shop for 1 day. The next day I pull the car in. I was getting bugs in my paint so twice a summer season I hang fly paper thru the shop{it really works}I put the car up on jack stands so I can shoot the rocker with no runs in the paint like I used to trying to paint laying on the floor on my back. Then throw a chain over the rear end , then wet the floors down and walk away till the next morning. The floor is usally still wet the next morning and most of the dust has settled. Then I Wipe down the car and crack the door and turn on the exhaust fan. On the 56 Chrysler I used the H.F. paint gun with a regulator on it and painted at a lower pressure. There was no over spray and even my wife said it came out very nice.I painted the roof 1st because I am getting older and cant do all in 1 shot any more. I let that sit for 2 days after shooting the roof 1st.Bruce.
Great responses! One very important thing I didn't see addressed is what type of HVAC, if any, is in the garage? Weather has a great affect on how your finish lays-down, and sets-up. Here in New England there may only be a hand full of ideal days. Everything from humidity, rain, snow, dew are a concern even if the garage is weather-tight. Additionally, the exhaust is obviously mandatory, but the minute you enter/exit the space all contaminants will fly across your painted finish. Make sure once you start, you are one-and-done.
When I have painted in the garage, which is 24x32, I first use a leaf blower to clean as best I can, than a blow tip and compressed air making sure to get the ceiling and hanging lights as dust free as possible. I hang plastic on each wall from top to bottom using small push tacks to fasten it instead of making an actual booth or room out of plastic. It keeps my walls and shelves pretty clean from overspray. I put a box fan, or two in the window that is on the downwind side so I get maximum venting. Oh yea, don't forget to remove window screens from fan window(s). Really helps with air flow out window. I get the car set up and ready and leave it for the night. Next morning, I install cheap furnace filters in windows on opposite wall of fan , so I get a cross draft to get air in and keep bugs out. The cheap filters won't clean incoming air much, but do help keep out bugs. I then wet floor with buckets of water, being very careful to not splash car. I keep the floor wet , but not puddled(as splashed water really wrecks a wet paint job)the whole time as it really cuts down on dust and makes cleaning the floor afterwards a breeze. Don't forget really good lighting, you can't paint in the dark, or you will be repainting for sure. And as HenryJ wrote, clean the car perfectly before and after all this and wear a clean paint suit and proper respiration, as a box fan won't clear the air very fast. Oh yea, make sure you have a way to get out of the garage and get in the fresh air between coats. Standing in a closed up garage completely full of overspray isn't fun or wise, while waiting for each coat to flash. Be safe and have fun.
The temporary spray booth built by Blue One is a perfect set up. Install a row of good filters at the top of the wall opposite the wall with the fan in the longest direction. Build a fan box with filters and duct the fumes outside. The fan box filters help take the paint out of the exhausted air. We built a similar set up to paint an airplane fuselage, wings and parts. Our fan was a furnace fan that I wired to take a cord with a plug. If you want a furnace fan then ask a heating contractor as they pull old furnaces regularly and will give you a fan. I calculated out the air change rate that was slightly over a minute and it keeps the air healthy. The air travels diagonally downward from the upper corner to the fan to remove the paint. Gives good cross flow and pulls the spray fog down and away. Deadliest arrangement is not to have any ventilation arrangement as it builds up a toxic environment really quick. The other advice is to read the MSDS safety sheets on the paint and protect your self accordingly.
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