DIY Re-usable Garage Paint Booth for under $500

This is a video on how I constructed a modular, re-useable and expandable paint bay for my double garage. It is built with wood and plastic sheeting and is used to paint by Jurassic Jeep YJ.

[@zaktheinstaller]

Jurassic Jack is the MAN!!! Reminds me of my boy.

[@oliver4524]

Oh sweet, sure beats the hilarious contraption I rigged up to paint my last project at Christmas time. 3487 projects in the queue before I'll be painting my jeep, hopefully I remember this ingenious idea at that time, what with being 125 years old by then and all haha

[@from755]

The filters you have will remove the particulates, but you need an activated charcoal filter along with it, to remove the hazardous materials.

[@johnniemo]

That is great advice. I think I have a revised design to vent out a window so I'll try that next. The charcoal is a good backup plan. I see they are around $50.

[@eksine]

I tried making my own once and the overspray made a cloud that took a while to dissapate. i was using one filter for the intake and another for the exhaust. I had the fan coming from the intake into the booth causing positive pressure. I don't know if I didn't use enough filters or what but I had a ton of dust getting circulated throughout the booth landing on my panels and the poverpray cloud took too long to clear. I had to run the fan on low because at medium there was took much dust. hopefully I just didn't use enough filters. I heard it doesn't matter if it's positive or negative pressure because i think proffessional booths are positive. I guess I can try your way because I need a new booth really soon

[@Dontworryaboutit12]

I always had luck with negative pressure in a cross draft. So just a huge exhaust fan that sucks air through the front door, that’s a filter.

[@NiallFitzpatrickirl]

Really good video. I hope to do similar very soon. I have to mention this because I've seen this commented elsewhere but have you thought about the risk of igniting your fumes from one of the electrical appliances? Because you have negative pressure you are pulling the fumes past the fan. If a spark in the fan motor gets exposed to the fumes you could blow yourself up. this also goes for the lights and power strips you have in the booth. If you've already considered this then I apologise but just thought I'd mention it in case you are at risk. other than that. great setup. I'm thinking of going positive pressure.

[@johnniemo]

Great question. So this was my primary concern about building a home paint booth. I worried about this a lot.... I researched it a lot and found very little data on it. This was the tipping point for me about working from home or renting a booth. In the end I accepted the risk. I did look into spark free fans, but they were extremely expensive. In the end, I felt that I would be safe due to the limited concentration of ignitable gases. I made sure I had a lot of high airflow to keep the fumes down. I have no scientific backing for this, but this was the logic I used. Don't paint too much at once. Get very high air flow. If the air is clear, you are safe. Unfortunately not a great reply, but this was my thought process. Positive pressure might work okay, but that is a whole conversation element on it's own.

[@NiallFitzpatrickirl]

@@johnniemo that's cool, I just wanted to bring it up in case you had not thought about it and went kaboom :D

[@buchmannray]

I never even thought of this, but I think ten feet wide is closer than I would like when I paint my Vette. I'm thinking 11-12 feet. Hmm

[@tonyguo4600]

Nice work man! I am wondering how do you control the temperature of the inlet air or just let it be? I am worrying if the temp would be too cold for the paint during winter even I will be in a garage

[@johnniemo]

Control would be a strong word. My garage is heated with a forced air, down draft furnace. So it has a thermostat outside of the paint booth and it reconciles there. I set it to around 20C when I'm painting. With the exhaust fans going, the furnace pretty much runs steady during the winter time. I didn't measure, but it would get down to 15C by the time the fumes had cleared. I try to close up the exhaust fan as quickly as I can once the fumes are gone to let the paint cure. I used fast dry products where I could and I didn't have any issues. It really all depends how much heat you can generate in your garage (and how cold it is outside).

[@stevepope5484]

I was lame enough to stoke the far side of my 40x 40 garrages wood heater.then close it down.raise the shop door just above my fan. Which no longer runs. It was a large belt driven fan.30 inch i guess. Id block the roll up door on either side of the fan.

[@juandurand2408]

Hi good job hey boss where did u get the plastic?

[@johnniemo]

www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0040ZC5AO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I'd recommend going no thinner than 4 mil. IF you want to re-use it for many years, I'd go 6 mil.

[@stitchthisditchthat259]

So you just put filters up top and no fans blowing air in ? Thought you were supposed to put the filters on the exhaust and have the fan blowing in as well? How is it working out for you

[@johnniemo]

There is a lot of debate about negative pressure vs positive pressure. After a lot of reading, I felt negative would work better in my situation. The primary issue with my approach is the potential for explosion. However I think high volume mitigates that issue, hence two large fans. In the end, I had an excellent quality paint job, so I'd say it worked fine. Just keep the air moving.

[@chris01479]

What fans do you use to blow the fumes out? Do you recommend if I should get 1 or 2 fans as one for blow air in and one for blow fumes out?

[@johnniemo]

Such a well timed question! I actually just re-assembled the paint bay a second time and used a single fan this time. I have found it's simply not enough. If you are painting something as large as a vehicle, you want two fans. The big reason is you want to keep the concentration of ignitable gases to a minimum. Airflow could quite literally save you. I just use garden variety box fans. However if you could get access to an old belt driven furnace fan, that would be the cat's meow. In that way you get the motor out of the paint fumes.

[@67polara]

Love it but nothing will remove the smell. Reducer is essentially a gas when it comes out of paint no filter can remove it. But your neighbors aren't in your driveway so you should be fine.

[@dgc474]

Hi does your boy have adhd or asd both my kids do Loved the video funny to see that you allowed your son to touch your face without missing a beat (funny because I have people comment on how i do it also ) It just becomes normal ,people just don't understand

[@johnniemo]

Ha! Yes, he's on the spectrum. However it seems to be amplified when he's on camera. He doesn't usually behave that way.

[@sinistercharger]

Do you have the fan blowing the Air into the booth from one end and just have an exhaust panel at the other end?

[@johnniemo]

I just have two fans blowing out. The in side is filtered but is passive.

[@shawnrenaud2252]

Jurassic Jack appearance/courtesy, Xanax.

[@akiratogawa2095]

How you disassemble and store this when not in use?

[@johnniemo]

Each of the 6 panels are stand alone. I stack the 4 8x8s together and I stack the 2 10x8s together. Kinda like books on a shelf. Then I move each stack outside and put between my garage and the fence. Unfortunately the plastic did not survive the elements over 3 years of sun, wind and ice. I think I would have been better off with 6 mil plastic. Perhaps something UV protected. OR I could wrap them in a tarp. Unfortunately I can't include a picture. photos.app.goo.gl/ZTCGwKyoxMbsFoBu5 photos.app.goo.gl/NSbdFTsUaDyZjGey9

[@georgespangler1517]

That kids a bratt