Painting Outdoors

Joe in NY

Joe in NY

Promoted Users
This may not be a good idea but I'll ask the question anyway. I'm a "backyard guy" in Upstate NY. I need to get my project into epoxy sealer but I really don't want to paint in my garage. I've done it and it's a mess. What if, I pick a relatively warm day with no precipitation and get the parts up to 70 degrees (heated garage) and take them outside to paint and then get them right back in the garage to cure? I'm also considering building a "MacGyver" paint booth in the garage with plastic sheets and attempting to duct the fumes outside.
 
Many of us have been in this situation including myself. I've painted 8 cars in my home made booth in my two car garage. Not fun. I think if you could quickly move the parts in and out of the garage that you could do it. I've done this with small parts I could hang on a wire. Large body parts should be on a rolling stand. A complete body would be the riskiest because of the amount of time it would take to get it sprayed and back inside. I would get your garage heated up as much as you could so the parts are warm and able to get the parts back up to acceptable temps after being sprayed.
I'm assuming you mean spraying unreduced epoxy on bar metal parts although you say "epoxy sealer". Not sure why you would need to spray epoxy sealer unless you were then applying base and clear.
If doing outside remember the over spray will carry and get on your house and cars in proximity.
 
Worn Out Welder said:
I must be doing it wrong.
Unreduced SPI epoxy had so little overspray that I didn’t see residual on surrounding surfaces until I had sprayed a half gallon.
Click to expand...
Treeslayer said:
i was surprised at that also. it must be the cleanest spraying product i ever used. or, i learned enough fom reading y'all's posts to get the gun closer to right?
Click to expand...
It must be gun dependent. I get a dry dust on things, mainly the floor, but it blows/vacuums right off. I've noticed clear coat/Single Stage is a little (lot?) more overspray intense.
 
Joe in NY said:
This may not be a good idea but I'll ask the question anyway. I'm a "backyard guy" in Upstate NY. I need to get my project into epoxy sealer but I really don't want to paint in my garage. I've done it and it's a mess. What if, I pick a relatively warm day with no precipitation and get the parts up to 70 degrees (heated garage) and take them outside to paint and then get them right back in the garage to cure? I'm also considering building a "MacGyver" paint booth in the garage with plastic sheets and attempting to duct the fumes outside.
Click to expand...
It depends on the outside conditions, The metal is going to cool off very quickly, so if there is any wind and no sun, 55-60 would be the lowest temp I would do it. If the sun is out, the 45-50 might work. To get even 2 coats on with a 30 minute flash time the panels will be at the outside temp by the second coat. If you can get them back inside between coats it would help a lot. Also I would try to get them up to 80-85 for about 30 minutes before and just after spraying.
 
During my conversations with Barry on epoxy and cold what he says can happen is the epoxy can form an alcohol if it gets too cold during the curing and if that happens then the curing process gets in trouble and stops. I am all for pushing the limits on this if you have followed my builds but I think that would be a risk too high even for me... if you are out long enough and it gets cold enough for the alcohol to start to form it will likely be game over... in the spring you will get to scrape it all off and start over.
 
RenewAP said:
It depends on the outside conditions, The metal is going to cool off very quickly, so if there is any wind and no sun, 55-60 would be the lowest temp I would do it. If the sun is out, the 45-50 might work. To get even 2 coats on with a 30 minute flash time the panels will be at the outside temp by the second coat. If you can get them back inside between coats it would help a lot. Also I would try to get them up to 80-85 for about 30 minutes before and just after spraying.
Click to expand...

Here in Az at altitude if it is in the high 50's, sunny and no wind the side that is facing the sun can get up into the 80's. The shady side has a hard time getting up to ambient so I would do it over a couple days only spraying the side I could keep towards the sun.
 
I'm talking about shooting straight epoxy on bare steel and planning to bring the parts back inside between coats. I'll do the body inside - it's small. I don't recall how dusty the epoxy by itself was. I just remember when my last project was done (epoxy, primers, reduced epoxy, basecoat, clearcoat) my garage had a thick coating of dust everywhere. And that was with plastic hanging from the ceiling. I want to get going on filler work and my understanding is that it's best to put in on the epoxy vs. bare steel.
 

Attachments

  • Sealer Coat.JPG
    Sealer Coat.JPG
    122.3 KB · Views: 62
Joe in NY said:
I'm talking about shooting straight epoxy on bare steel and planning to bring the parts back inside between coats. I'll do the body inside - it's small. I don't recall how dusty the epoxy by itself was. I just remember when my last project was done (epoxy, primers, reduced epoxy, basecoat, clearcoat) my garage had a thick coating of dust everywhere. And that was with plastic hanging from the ceiling. I want to get going on filler work and my understanding is that it's best to put in on the epoxy vs. bare steel.
Click to expand...

That is a plan that should work. The panels should only be outside for a few minutes.
 
Joe in NY said:
What if, I pick a relatively warm day with no precipitation
Click to expand...
LOL, I think you missed that window of opportunity.
I'm not sure where you are Joe but here in the Syracuse area I don't expect to see any thing like those conditions till maybe late March.
I'd build a booth in your garage and get your epoxy on. I never found epoxy to have much overspray, Well, that's AFTER I got my gun settings right, that was a learning curve for me.
 
Last edited:
First things first. Do you have a gas (open flame pilot light) water heater in the garage?

If not.............

Spray the part (s) in the garage. Open the garage door, turn your fan on, blow out fumes and any over-spray still in the air while you clean out your gun. Gun cleaning takes me about 10-15 minutes, then close your garage door.
 
Why not take a panel outside and fake paint it to get a time frame for how long it will be out there. Then mix up epoxy and take some scrap steel pieces outside shoot it and wait that amount and bring one back in, then wait 5x that time and bring that one back in, then wait 10x that time and bring that one back in then wait 100x that time and bring the third back in and see if how they dry. That should give you a good idea of the risk. Also make sure the epoxy and gun are nice and warm as well. Don't leave the gun in the cold and then use it.
 
IMO as long as you have some fans setup to exhaust overspray you can paint fine in your garage, no booth needed. And get almost trash free jobs. With epoxy it's pretty simple. Get the space clean. Blow it out really well. Setup your fans to exhaust the overspray. Cover anything you dont want overspray with plastic and spray the epoxy.
 
i have way more dust from sanding and body work. i said i'd do all that outside but it just dont work out always. i cant find any epoxy overspray at all...........then again, my shops really dusty any way. i have in the past shot other paints though, and it was every where even with a 36" exhaust fan running. i am a bit amazed at this epoxy, how it shoots and how it acts once on a panel. its nothing like any thing i ever used before. i really like it.
 
Joe in NY said:
I just remember when my last project was done (epoxy, primers, reduced epoxy, basecoat, clearcoat) my garage had a thick coating of dust everywhere. And that was with plastic hanging from the ceiling.
Click to expand...
because ya had no fresh air intake and exhaust and it looks like the plastic isn't fully enclosing the spray area.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top