How to Build a Paint Booth in your Garage

2024 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-15 13:47

Painting on the ground is messy and tiring on the back, while painting outside can cause debris to fall on the work. This guide will take you through creating a paint booth inside your garage (or patio connected with sliding glass doors). Larger pre-made paint booths can cost thousands of dollars, and small booth kits can allow you to paint small items. This type of booth will cost you around 100 euros and will allow you to use both cans and spray guns.

Steps

Step 1. Analyze the project

If you prefer, adjust the size of the cabin according to your needs. A 2.33m cabin is suitable for a two-car garage. To make a narrower booth, adjust the length of the 2.34m pipe and the two middle pipes at the top.

Step 2. Collect the PVC pipes and mark the points where you will need to cut

If you use a saw, leave an additional margin of between 8 and 16 mm. This space will be used to house the thickness of the blade (called the "cut") and any irregular cuts that will need to be leveled.

• Many of the 3.05m PVC pipes will be slightly longer than advertised. This allows those who work with these elements to have some leeway while cutting. It is not unusual to buy 3.05m pipes that actually measure 3.05m.

• For an example of a project, the sections you will need are (in "Tips" you will find a diagram of the pipe cuts):

  • three sections of 2, 43 m
  • a section of 1.82 m
  • two sections of 1,22 m
  • two sections of 1,22 m
  • six sections of 91 cm
  • two sections of 80.6 cm
  • two sections of 67 cm
  • two sections of 50.8 cm
  • eight sections of 6, 35 cm

  Step 3. Cut the pieces according to the marks made

  • Secure each tube before cutting it. Use a small work table with two axes that act as a vise, or a vise mounted on the table.

    

  • Cut the pipes with a PVC saw or pipe shear clamp. A utility knife with blade will make clean cuts but will be slower than a PVC saw. The saw will leave a smoother side and a rougher side. Don't forget to cut the eight 6 cm connection tubes.

    

  • Clean any uneven ends and rough parts of the PVC with a blade and / or sandpaper.

    

  

  Step 4. Arrange the tubes according to size to speed up assembly

  At this point, make sure that the four bottom pipes (the "legs" of the cabin) are perfectly level. Since there are six 91 cm sections, choose four of these tubes with the most level ends. Set them aside to use on the bottom.

  Alternatively, use four more T-connectors that will serve as the feet of the structure. When the cabin is complete, it will be heavy enough to stay in place.

  Step 5. Assemble the tubes

  During the assembly, it is advisable to have someone to help. One person will be able to assemble the structure, but two people working together will perform a faster, easier and safer assembly. Make sure you have made room on the floor to accommodate the cabin. Secure each pipe by fully inserting the PVC joints - it is extremely difficult to break a 5.5cm PVC pipe or joints with your hands only, so apply maximum pressure for a tight fit.

  • Start by assembling the sides.

    

  • Next, assemble the two mid-high tubes with the T-connectors and the tubes at the bottom.

    

  • Finally, connect all the horizontal pipes to the two side panels. When working with the first side panel fully assembled, lay it on the ground to insert the horizontal pipes that will make up the cab roof and rear. Once all horizontal pipes are installed, gently tilt the panel upwards, leaving the PVC joints to support most of the weight of the structure.

    

  

  Step 6. Touch up the assembly

  Once fully assembled, the cabin will need to have enough space to walk in, at least for shorter people - taller ones should sag a little. At this point, the cabin still moves, but only if you shift its weight from one leg to the other. Position the cabin in such a way as to allow free access from all sides. Lower each corner a little to make sure the structure is stable and secure.

  

  Step 7. Wrap the booth in plastic

  Roll out the plastic around the perimeter so that the length of 7.62m covers the largest dimension, the width is 2.44m and the side walls are 1.83m. There will be some pieces of plastic left over that you can cut and use later as strips under the fan. Leave enough plastic around the front of the booth to be able to fold it back, in this knot it will collect the excess paint (15 cm will be enough). Wrap the remaining plastic on the back of the booth to cover it. Leave some space to install the fan. Here you may find quick-setting vices to hold plastic in place. The plastic sheet must be quite heavy to keep the cabin from moving but at the same time it must allow air to pass until the work is completed.

  Apply masking tape as you cut the plastic sheets, sealing the sides of the perimeter. If your cabin is installed in an area prone to strong winds, make sure the plastic is tightly attached to the PVC pipes. Use clamps to secure the plastic as you measure it, cut it, and apply the tape.

  

  Step 8. Lay out the protective tarp in the booth

  The 1.22m wide tarp should be positioned so that the corners are under each leg of the booth itself. Make sure it is smooth and eliminate any wrinkles or irregularities. Then lift each leg of the booth, one at a time, to push the edge of the sheet under it. If the tarp does not fit snugly or is not aligned with the cab legs, stop and inspect the structure. Each leg must be perpendicular to the ground (must form a 90 ° angle).

  Secure the plastic covering to the corners, to the protective sheet and to the legs of the structure. Start on one side, securing the plastic to the protective sheet with duct tape.

  

  Step 9. Place the cassette for the fan

  Use a small ladder, cardboard boxes or other temporary structures and place the box high enough to hide the central PVC tube of the booth. Place the structure outside the cabin. If the lack of space makes it necessary, place the ladder 2 cm from the middle pipes on the back. This will make the ladder legs fit inside the cabin, but will cause them to be easily covered by the plastic. If you have space, place the ladder a little further away from the booth so that it will create a more "funnel" effect, with a better angle to deflect paint residue.

  

  Step 10. Mount the heater filter with tape

  The high-speed fan cassette suction is enough to hold the filter in place.

  • You can attach it either directly to the fan, or to the plastic around it, with tape.

    

  

  Step 11. Use your new cabin

  Put some hooks to hang items before painting. Find a place to hang your painted items if you plan to work on multiple works at the same time. Also, keep a spray bottle full of water on hand to mist the cabin from time to time. This will help prevent paint residue from bouncing off the wall and accumulating outside the booth.

  

  Step 12. Perform maintenance on the cabin

  Cleaning up paint and debris is no easy task, but doing it regularly will make the job easier. Clean the paint residue from the tubes with a solvent suitable for the paint used. Check the effects of the solvent on a waste tube (the sections cut off) before using it on the booth. Clean up any debris before you take the booth apart for storage, as removing fresh paint is easier than removing old paint. Eliminate plastic and mats when storing the cabin. Plastic panels can lose paint when folded and many mats are designed for one-time use only; they can only collect residue before they become useless.

  When you put the booth away by disassembling the pipes, it can be helpful to label the pieces and mark them at their respective positions. Disassemble the cabin as little as possible, just enough so that it fits into the place where you want to store it. If you have space, leave the sides fitted, but remove the bottom horizontal and middle tubes

  Advice

  • Working with PVC is easy if you are assembling a temporary structure. The tubes simply have to be pushed into the connectors, they will stay in place thanks to the same friction. This facilitates the preservation of the structure. If you need something permanent, use special PCV pipe glue (for pipe welding). This glue melts into the PVC and fixes the pipes together.
  • When you adjust the width of the booth by adding a lower middle support tube, calculate the two sides by dividing the width in two, then subtract 2.22 cm from each half to accommodate the width with the middle T-connector.
  • The structure can also be built with four flat PVC frames which are held together by "heavy" nylon cables. With this method, the PVC can be glued, but the cabin can be easily disassembled when it needs to be used by cutting the nylon cables.
  • For this project, there are 3 middle PVC pipes with a length of 240 cm each. They can be easily replaced to create a cabin of a different size. With a width of 240cm, you will need the T-connectors to hang items inside, thus providing adequate support. To do this, cut the middle top tube in two, minus a small piece to add the T-connector. If you want to make a booth 180cm or less, or you want to paint light objects, you won't need additional support.
  • Make sure the cab is mounted in a well-lit area. The thick plastic panels will provide enough light, but it may not be enough for good art work. If you don't have enough light (fluorescent lights are best), use dimmable lights to minimize shadows.
  • Air flowing along the panels can cause static electricity which will transfer to hanging objects, attracting dust. So even if there is little dust in the cabin, it could end up on painted objects. To avoid this effect, avoid hanging items too close to plastic panels. If you prefer, you can add wires or straps along the inside of the cabin to discharge the static electricity to the ground.
  • Design the structure so that it can withstand the weight of the fan cassette.
  • This cabin is the "poor" version of a real cabin. However, it is a tool that does its job properly and therefore has an important use value. You can take some time to make the cabin look professional and neat, but it would be a waste if it's not permanent.
  • Here is a small list of possible pipe cuts for a 240cm wide booth, using 3m long pipe sections:

  Pipes # Cuts ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ──────────────┐ 1 │██████████████████████8'█████████ ██████████████║░░░░░░░░░░░░│ └────────────────────── ──────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌────────── ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─┐ 2 │██████████████████████8'██████████████████████ █║ (4) 6, 35cm░░░░░│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─────────────────────────┘ ┌────────────────────── ─────────────────────────────────────┐ 3 │██████████ ████████████8'███████████████████████║ (4) 6, 35 cm░░░░░ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ────────────┘ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ────────────────────────┐ 4 │██████90 cm 2, 33 cm███████║███ ███90 cm 2, 33 cm███████║░░░░░░░░░░░░│ └──────────────────── ───────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌─────── ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───┐ 5 │███████████ 120 cm███████████║████████90 cm███████║█ ███████90 cm███████│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────── ────────────────────────────┘ ┌─────── ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───┐ 6 │███████████ 120 cm███████████║████████90 cm███████║█ ███████90 cm███████│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ────────────────────────────┘ ┌────────────────────────────────────── ────────────────────────────────────────┐ 7 │████26 0, 95 cm██║███50 cm████║████████90 cm███████║████████90 cm███████ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ────────────┘ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ────────────────────────┐ 8 │████26 0, 95 cm██║███50 cm████║█ ███62 cm 1, 9 cm███║████62 cm 1, 9 cm███║░│ └────────────────────────────────────── ───────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌───────── ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ┐ 9 │██████████████████ 152 cm 1, 9 cm████████║░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░│ └────────────────────────────────────── ─────────────────────┘
  

  Legend:

  ║ = one cut

  ░ = scrap pieces

  █ = PVC pipe used (approximately equal to 5 cm)

  Note: 2 cuts of 1.27 cm are divided into two groups of 4 (although the 60 cm sections left by the 240 cm ones are sufficient). This is done because making a cut of only 1.27 cm in a vise is very inconvenient.

  • Replace the filter regularly. The heating filter can become filled with paint residue. Whenever you replace it, pull off the tape that supports it or cut it with a blade. If you use the blade, be careful not to cut the plastic! It can be helpful to change the filter using a different colored ribbon each time so that you always know which ribbon to remove or cut, thus avoiding touching the wrong ribbon.

    

  Warnings

  • Always wear a respirator and goggles when painting. If you can smell the paint through the respirator, check if you are wearing it well or change the filter cartridge.
  • Keep a fire extinguisher handy.
  • Make sure you always have good air circulation and always paint with the fan on.
  • If you paint for long periods of time, take long breaks.
  • Be aware of nearby flames, such as a boiler pilot flame, hot water tap, stove, and do not smoke in an area of 7.5m around the cabin.
  • Call the municipal offices to ask if a booth in your garage is legal!
  • The flammable vapors of some paints can be injected from different sources into your garage. Local laws may prohibit the activity. Check it out.
  • Fan cassettes are not "bomb proof", so only water based products should be used, as highly volatile paint solvents can spontaneously cause fire and wear out the motor causing a short circuit and fire. Any spark could ignite solvents or paint, causing an explosion that would burn the structure and occupants.
  • Paint residue can spread everywhere if not controlled with a stream of air. There should be more air blown outwards than inwards. Use an additional fan to blow fresh air to the open side of the cabin.
  • Paint residue will stain clothing if not removed immediately. Once the residue has absorbed enough moisture, it will become a permanent stain. Wear old clothes you don't care about, or a painter's overalls that cover your arms, neck, and feet.
  • The fan will pick up some debris because the filters won't be able to catch all of them. Be prepared to clean the blades after using the cabin. Otherwise it causes that fan to be dedicated exclusively to the cabin.
  • Paint-laden air filters are highly flammable. Catalyzed paint (such as two-component car paint) will overheat if it is left there to dry and can cause filters to catch fire. Once you have finished a job, remove the filters and immerse them in water to reduce the risk of fire. Do not leave filters with fresh paint inside unattended.
  • Read and study all equipment instructions. Read the technical sheets and material safety sheets for the work to be performed. Often these instructions contain useful tips to paint well.