I Want A Home Built Spray Booth

Well here is the scoop. I have wanted to build cars all my life. I have made a decision to build myself a dedicated shop on a lot separate from my home to build cars in. Initially I will primarily work on my own cars and those of my close friends. If it takes off I would like to go pro and leave the day to day stress of teaching behind.

I am planing the shop as large as the lot will allow. The shop will be 50' wide X 30' deep X 13' high. I will have 4 overhead doors 9' wide X 8' high. I want a booth for painting cars and parts in but would like not to invest in a commercial system. I am very handy and can build almost anything given enough time and the right materials/tools. Have any of you built booths that realy work well? Please share your thoughts on the subject. Photos are always nice as well.

Thanks!

Mike

 

A Concrete Block "painting area/booth" is the way to go. If you pre-plan, you can make it a downdraft set up when pouring your floor. A friend of mine did this and had a really nice spray booth. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures and he sold the building a few years ago and the new owner tore down the whole building and put up a new, fancy commercial building. 8" blocks will do. Explosion Proof booth lighting and a
filter system in the ceiling allow for a downdraft booth that works very well with a large cost savings over a commercial steel booth set up.

Good luck with the build.
VR&C.

 

We put one in my brother's shop last fall. It isn't anything too fancy but it seemed to work good so far. The cheap and easy way would be to build a wall at one end of your new shop closing off the last bay. Add extra lights to the ceiling and walls, an air line with a regulator and moisture trap inside the booth, cheap house filters at the top of the of one of the walls (siding "z" channel works great to slide the filters in), and a sometime of exhaust. If you want a cheap down draft system you can make a section of duct (like in your house) with multiple vents and just slide it under the car before you spray and connect it to a exhaust fan. It sounds kind of "hick" as I read it but it does work really well.

 

Lights, lights, lights, and more lights. My biggest problem I've noticed is I never have enough lighting. Other than that, just filtered venilation.

 

After building the block wall, paint it or cover it with some of that white plastic sheets to seal it up. Concrete blocks will be a constant source of dust if left unfinished. Lights lights and more lights....

 

will the city be involved? they'll want to have their say. you could just call it shop space.

 

the city won't be as big a problem as your insurance company. explosion proof lighting, 3' air space all around.

 

Rethink your wall and door height. You'll want some sort of storage off the floor that you can stand up without banging your head. As for the door if a semi won't fit it's too small.

Elwood

 

What he said

 

Don't know what the rules are where you live, but make sure it all "meets code."
Just wondering, "what are you teaching?"

 

Starts on post #5
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=417424

 

make the doors 10x10
make your walls 14' high
radiant heat in the floor !!!!!!!!!
solar hot water on the roof get the tax break

check out the sister site
http://garagejournal.com/

 

As far as ventilation goes, I have always wondered (well not always) instead of installing an exhaust fan, why not pressurize the booth with a filtered air intake and a passive air outlet. This would prevent any combustible product from the fan. Would this work?

 

Yea and keeps dust from.being sucked in when you open the doors. Most modern booths are like that sort of.

 

I realy appreciate everyone's input. The City will not be involved. I built another garage about 13 years ago and I pulled a building permit and never saw a living sole after that. As far as celing height goes i was planing on 13' since An auto lift with a truck on top would require that much. I have no intentions on working on any vehicles as large as a Mack truck. My plan for the booth involves building a room inside my shop in the end bay. The room would have an 8' ceiling, lots of lights and a squirrel cage fan in the ceiling pushing filtered, heated shop air down thru the top and likely venting through a floor grate and back up a stack through the roof in the back of the booth. The collapsible booths are neat ideas but would be a pain in the long run as I would have to keep the floor clear of stuff so I could set it up. I think I am better off framing in walls and making it all semi permanent.

I figured with a 13' ceiling I would have no problem constructing a mezzanine or loft across the back of the shop giving me tons of off the floor storage space for parts.

More input would be appreciated as you can not over plan a shop!

By the way, I am a High School Industrial Arts Teacher. Currently I teach Machine Shop and Welding. I honestly like my job but it is very stressful and emotionally draining. Kids today are not like I was just 20 years ago. It is hard to make chicken salad when you don't have the right ingredients.

Mike

 

I found some info on the net about spray booth design. I would like to build mine as a down draft unit. Apparently I need a minimum of a 10,000 CFM fan to accomplish this. Anyone have any ideas where I might start to look.

Mike

 

Why not check with a local paint supplier. Their sales people usually know whats going on in their areas. A freind starting out years ago bought some used equipment this way and upgraded as funds allowed. Good luck! Bob

 

Check out www.hgrinc.com. Industrial surplus etc. Much more in the house than on the website I believe-just did a 'fan' search and popped up 4 pages. Have not been there for a couple of years, but is huge old Fisher Body plant that my gpa worked at. Not too far for you either. If you come up this way give me a holler...me and the club boys been looking for an excuse to visit again...and meeting a fellow Hamber is as good an excuse as any.

JIM
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I once made heated plastic booths when it got too cold to paint. They were warm enough, but I breathed way too much thinner fumes. Since then, I just spray outside in the shade on a clear windless summer day. More bugs but way safer.

 

I taught biology and felt like a duck in a shooting gallery. That was in the 60's.

I have heard that industrial arts has been cut back in many schools, too bad as It was far more useful than the biology I taught.

 

check out auction sites for business sell outs, a proper booth can be had for a fair price, That where I look for major tool for my Furniture business.

 

I am currently building a shop. No booth though. 14' ceilings with a 10' door height.
Consider taller doors.

 

If yu use concrete block, use block filler, then paint with epoxy paint.
I have used drywall mud [fast set]between the epoxy and the 2nd coat of epoxy for a super slick finish.
Use your better block in the booth . You could also frame the walls with wood and cover with metal. Most metal is white on the back side, so you could use overstock or 2nds. They have a hard time getting rid of weird colors.
We built my BIL shop this way. Good luck.

 

Building code or permit is one thing, and "zoning" is something else. If your area is zoned and the lot is not zoned for a shop you may have a problem. A paint booth will be nice, and we all wish we had one, but wth a 50 ft shop, with the booth taking up 10 ft that dosent leave much room to work on projects for customers. You are sure to have 3 or more at one time. Think of how much actual time the booth will be used as compared to other project work, only time it will be used is for the actual painting of a car or parts. You should not sand or prep in a booth, once you introduce dust, you have a everlasting problem. Talk to a local body shop about renting a booth to paint your cars, and use the space in the garage for fab, mechanical, and body work.

 

How we did it.
Car port from Home Depot $500.00
Gravel $100.00
Plastic "Visqueen" wrap.
After all the prep seal up car port with Visqueen and water down gravel.
Painted three cars and one pickup.
See photos of our 50 Chevy on our site.
You have to have good neighbors and live out in the country.
When not painting good place to park our outside stuff.
Car parts, Golf cart, Mower, Tractor.
Code, Zoning in San Diego County Car Port is a temporary building "Don't need no stinking building inspectors"

 

the safety man told me that its not the fire that causes the painters death, but the explosion that knocks him out, then he burns to death. Explosions occur in a confined area, thus I wonder if a temporary vizqueen booth might be best. No confinement, no explosion.

 

I was going to say something similar: unless you intend on painting a lot of cars on a regular basis, perhaps something temporary or removable (like heavy plastic curtains) would be better? Otherwise you're giving up a large chunk of your shop and making it useless for anything but painting or parking a car.

 

A shop 30x50 is only big enough for 4 cars,i know i have one the same size,not near big enough.as for a booth,look on craigslist or ebay for a used one,or put out feelers at your local paint suppliers,i bought a used Devillbiss booth,26x15 complete with fan and stack for less then 1500,i park my cars in the shop the long way,my doors are in the 30 foot side,it does get pretty crowded in there some days,wish it was about 70x40,i have a barn style roof it gives me an upstairs to store stuff,but the stairway takes up some floor space,Dont even consider making your own booth,i think you could find a used one for less then you could make it for.and dont forget you need a bathroom and an office,and your heating source too. Just my opinion,wish you luck. Harvey

 

Your local Fire Marshall will not be happy when he discovers that you have a paint booth and no inspections....

.

 

Concrete Block,s are hard to heat,its hard to control your temp in that area.They collect dust,ect.A pain to mount lights on,can be done but wood is easy.Blocks are cheep,and with cheep you get the high dollar $$$$ fixes.Had a block paint booth in Ga.and a long story short use wood if you like high heating bills in winter.Just my opinion,everyone has one or two...............YG