Working With Primers in an Attached Garage

B

BobKovacs

It's been 20 +/- years since my last paint project (the days of lacquer primer, Centari enamel, and minimal personal protective equipment). I'm getting ready to start on the rebuild of a 1969 Camaro with my daughter, and we'll be working in our attached two-car garage. My plan is to do the sheetmetal replacement work and the associated priming required for that (inside structure while panels are open, etc) in the garage, and get the shell back together before bringing the whole thing to a friend's place for the overall coats of epoxy, urethane primer, etc.

I had a great phone conversation with Barry the other day regarding rust prep, Ospho, and how to minimize the smell and vapors in the garage, and more importantly, keeping the smell out of the house as much as possible. All this talk about the chemicals in these new primers, explosive limits, etc., still has me concerned. Barry's suggestion was to apply the SPI epoxy with a brush rather than spraying, since most of the surfaces I'll be coating will not be visible in the finished project, and those that are will end up having multiple layers of urethane over them eventually anyway.

I'll be properly protected with a respirator with organic vapor filters, both overhead doors open, and a box fan or two working. My question really is- if I keep the doors open and the fan on, and I'm only working with probably less than a quart of material at a time, how bad is the smell going to be, and do I have to be concerned at all about the LEL/UEL? I've read tons of threads here and elsewhere about guys doing everything from priming to full basecoat/clearcoat jobs in their garages, so I'm starting to think it may not be as big a deal as I'm making it out to be, but I figured I'd throw the question out there anyway. Blowing up the house and/or stinking the place up to the point of having to spend a night in a hotel wouldn't go over well with my wife.....lol
 
Its great that you are concerned for safety. U will be fine spraying the whole project in your garage.
Is it ideal?? No!
Are you going to blow up your house?? No of course not.
Are you gonna smell your home up? No if the house is closed and you dont have fumes being sucked in. Which you shouldn't have that going on!!
Do your project. Then take it to your friends place and finish it. Hell finish there if you feel spunky.
All will be fine
 
The thing you have to watch for is open flames. Some garages have water heaters or even gas dryers in them. If you do I'd be worried. If you have a proper fire rated wall between your garage and your house the fumes should not enter. Just a couple of important things to consider.
 
Build a plastic booth within the garage if you're worried and ventilate it with good airflow in and out. Protect your lungs and skin. Some people get really freaked out if they catch even the smallest wiff of paint-My wife is like that!! Even latex paint-she won't stay in the house if there's fresh paint on the walls. I've seen people build minibooths and wear full body protection to spraycan paint an engine while on the stand-something I would never consider but to them it was a required safety precaution! Bottom line is you being the user need to determine what level of protection is needed, none of this stuff is healthy.
 
Bob Hollinshead;18204 said:
Build a plastic booth within the garage if you're worried and ventilate it with good airflow in and out. Protect your lungs and skin.
Click to expand...

I do just that, I put up a plastic "wall" between the house and the paint area. I use fans to ventilate the paint area that keep the fumes from the house side of the plastic.
Wife will go in and out of the door to the back yard without having to enter the paint area.

Works well for us.
 
spray something smaller first and evaluate your lab situation for oversray and smell, then adjust to what makes you comfortable... if the parts arent seen and dont need to be sanded nothing wrong with a brush or roller...
 
Thanks for the replies guys. No water heater or dryer in the garage, so no issue there. I'll give it a go with the HVLP gun on a few small sections first as a test, and take it from there. It's good to hear that others have tried the same thing and succeeded.
 
FYI: My garage is drywalled, taped and textured, so it is relatively sealed from the common attic space. I screwed a 1x2 pine board along the ceiling where I want the plastic to hang. Then I just staple the plastic to the board when I want to paint. Simple fast and cheap.
 
I go against the grain when it comes to ventilation. I leave my garage door closed (have to in the winter anyway) and have a box fan I put in the window of the garage door. What that does is keep the garage in a negative pressure and actually draws air FROM the attached house. I can stand on the other side of the interior door and feel a significat draft of air being pulled into the garage. Even after a heavy clear session the garage is clear in a less than 10 minutes.

Is it perfect? No, but it's a reasonable solution. In fact, the only mistake I usually make is not leaving the fan on long enough. Even though the air may be clear, the fumes are still evident and if I turn the fan off, I can get some smell in the house.

Part of the problem with leaving the garage doors open, is now you have no contol of the fumes and if there is any breeze, the fumes will migrate into the main house.

I've even been doing this when using filler or even rattle can spary.
 
Arrowhead;18248 said:
I go against the grain when it comes to ventilation. I leave my garage door closed (have to in the winter anyway) and have a box fan I put in the window of the garage door. What that does is keep the garage in a negative pressure and actually draws air FROM the attached house.
Click to expand...

I do basicaly the same thing to get the heat up in the garage in the winter or cool the house down any time it needs it.
Works great for painting to!
 
i use a hydroponics exhaust setup with charcoal filter and a paint filter, with fan mounted outside garage since its not explosion proof (plastic blades though). change filters, vacuum charcoal filter out to keep it flowing and clean. works good.
 
I've been using Epoxy in my attached garage based on what I've read that they are not as dangerous as urethanes.

I use plastic taped over the door into the house, and a fan in the window pulling air out. This results in very little smell in the house, only right next to the door. But it is there.

I think in this project, it would probably make things easier if i used some 2K, but I am very reluctant because, if I'm reading correctly, the 2Ks have ISOs in them. If I build a whole complete booth, or an isolation wall in the garage, would that help? Currently the garage interior is drywalled, taped and painted.

Should there be no smell in the house at all to use urethanes? I have a fresh air system for when I'm actually in the garage, but obviously don't want to affect the family, plus my bedroom is over the garage...
 
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