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Should I turn this space in my basement into a priming booth

CubedRoot

Well Known Member
Well, its winter time here in TN (Finally), and I am about halfway through my empennage. I still have plenty of parts to prime, but since I am spraying outside the weather pretty much dictates when I can proceed with my work.

I am building the plane in my unfinished basement. My lower level houses a garage, a utility room (with the furnance, water heater, server rack, etc), and then my build area (which includes a section for my wifes workout equipment). Each of these spaces are completely separate, and my build area is heated and cooled and fully insulated, but has no drywall up.

It's in the shape of an "L", with my build area in the longest section of the L. On the shorter side the L, there is a stubbed and studded area for a bathroom. Currently, this area gets used for storage, and I keep my trash boxes over there for the debris from building. I have been seriously considering enclosing the bathroom area off with plastic and using it as a spray booth for AKZO, so I don't have to rely on weather for my outdoors spraying.

Here is a diagram of the lower level:
jhtFS24l.jpg


I have marked out on that diagram, in red, where the bathroom area is laid out. I have stubbed in the pluming and studded the walls. But, it its not finished. The part marked "Future Area" is the area where I am building the plane, and my wifes workout space. My plans were to go ahead and finish the bathroom so I would have one for my build sessions, but now I am considering using that area as a temporary paint booth.

The rest of the house sits on top of the lower level, and there is thick insulation between the upper and lower floors. This is a new construction home, and the sealing is very good between the floors to meet the local fire codes.

Here's some photos of the area to get an idea:
2uxO81il.jpg


And a bit closer in:

GQ3u6eYl.jpg


Here is what I have been thinking, and I like your guys input:

1. Completely seal all walls and ceiling with medium plastic, sealing all seams with duct tape.
2. Get a cheap door for that door frame I studded in to make access easier and help seal.
3. Build a header box on to attach to the lower portion of the open studded wall (with the light switch and hose bib plumbing in it). Build this box big enough to house a HVAC filter to filter out particulate
4. Use a HArbor Freight ventilator (or two) or some other blower to suck the air from this "plastic room" and expel it via a hose
5. Attach the exhaust hose to a board that I can temporarily stick in the window when I want to spray so that all the AKZO and Acetone fumes are vented outside.

Now, I am currently using Acetone to clean my parts. My regular routine has been to use a respirator while I clean the parts in the basement, and then move outside to spray the AKZO primer. AKZO is pretty mean stuff, so I have been spraying outside to keep fumes down, BUT, even when I bring the parts in to the basement after spraying, they still have a smell to them. My basement will smell like Acetone and a faint AKZO smell for a couple days after a priming session. Luckily, my wifes sensitive sniffer can't smell any fumes in the upstairs living area of the house.

Would it be safe to do this, given I cover all 4 walls and the ceiling with plastic, seal it good and vent it outside using a blower? I still need to think about where to pull the fresh air from, and I was thinking about using a vent in the top area of the plastic and pulling from the basement area. I'll have to open the door into the garage to pull fresh air from the front side of the house, instead of the back where the exhaust is, but that might be OK.

Is this a good idea? Any concerns about explosions from using a ventilator? I have seen some on Amazon that are using sealed motors, but they are in the $200 range, and I am not sure they'd be any safer than the HF blowers.
 
With sufficient ventilation, yes, but . . .

Well, its winter time here in TN (Finally), and I am about halfway through my empennage. I still have plenty of parts to prime, but since I am spraying outside the weather pretty much dictates when I can proceed with my work. <snip>

I believe AKZO has some powerful chemicals in there. My wife is very sensitive to some of my primers and I have to leave my top shirt in the garage (sealed from the house) and use the outside route back to the house to prevent attached or trailed fumes from following me in. You might consider a double door arrangement like a clean room if anyone in your home is sensitive to these odors. I can not even open the can in the basement! The odor carries upstairs and she gets wheezy very quickly with an odor that I would not know is present.

You would have to consider how to heat and keep all the air separate from the home air - supply and discharge.

It would be very handy to have such a room in cold weather!!
 
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Looks great. Make sure the room is ventilated so that fumes do not get to flame sources, like heaters.
 
Would not be me. I did not even want the remaining fumes in my hangar while I worked on other parts while the paint was curing. I used my old helicopter hangar and when I was done painting I was out of there and could work safely in my aircraft hangar. My wife works on hair in a lower roam and her chemicals run thru the hole house. I'm sure that is not good for us either.
 
Fumes

I live in the CO mountains @ 7,500' so I can relate. I sprayed a few parts in the dead of winter when it was too cold to paint outside. My rig is a temporary plastic booth vented outside through a dryer vent installed in the garage wall.
You can paint outside pretty cold as long as there's no precipitation. Keep everything inside and warm. Get everything ready outside and inside. Run parts outside, spray, run back in. Bring the gun back too.
There's also other cleaning methods that don't involve solvents. Wash parts with Bon Ami cleanser and grey scotchbrite. I use the kitchen sink for small stuff. In the dead of winter, I scrub parts in the shower. No smell and it's very effective at removing aluminum oxide.
 
Just for the fire hazard alone, I would not build a paint booth in my wood house! I built a booth in my barn and constantly fought with the balance between having enough air flow and loosing too much heat. Even giving in to the lose of heat, the fumes would linger on for hours or days after the painting was done.
 
So it seems like the consensus is don't do it.... even if I essentially make a 6 sided visqueen plastic cube where none of the wood or insulation would be exposed.

I was thinking that if I used a good 6 mil plastic sheeting and put the plastic on the inside (where there would be no exposed parts) and then sealed it top and bottom with duct tape that it would be sufficient, but it seems like that may not be a good idea.
 
No need to

No need to, you will have many days warm enough to paint. Just paint outdoors. I use an epoxy primer and have excellent results. Watch out for over spray on near by cars.
 
No need to, you will have many days warm enough to paint. Just paint outdoors. I use an epoxy primer and have excellent results. Watch out for over spray on near by cars.

As much as anything, the issue in the Winter is available light. When you get home from work and it is dark or about to be, that makes outdoor priming much harder. Worse, epoxies are temperature sensitive and the setup for priming pretty much guarantees that it'll be cold and dark by the time you get everything set-up to prime on a weekday evening.

Personally, if I was the fellow who asked the initial question, I'd call Aircraft Spruce and order a few spray bombs of Zinc Chromate and a Charcoal breathing mask. Then I'd do the prep work inside, then run the parts outside under an exterior light and give 'em a squirt. Take 'em inside the garage to dry and recoat if you missed a spot or two in the dark.

Chromate primers are excellent at corrosion protection. Not as good as epoxies, but a chromate primed structure will outlast the builder unless the airplane is based on the ramp at a costal airport.
 
Go for it

I would set that room up as a booth in a heartbeat. My downdraft collapsible spray booth has been incredibly useful. It keeps overspray off of anything else in the garage and pretty much eliminates the vapors so that you can even work in the same area without getting exposed to the nasty stuff. If you are priming the plane, there is a lot of priming to do, and it will be nice to have a booth available whenever you need it. I had to do mine in batches since I didn't have the space to keep the booth up all the time. I have painted without my booth and with it. The quality of the work with the booth is head and shoulders above without it due to a number of factors including controlling particles that can get in the paint or even bugs, better lighting than outdoors, better control of temp than outdoors. Controlling the mess and odor are the other big perks. I would never consider spraying indoors without one, and running outdoors each time I need to spray a part would have got pretty old quickly.

As you noted you will need to protect everything in that room from the chemicals you will use. Don't forget the floor. You will also want to be able to rip it all out and throw it away once you are done. Keep the door shut all the time too. Basically you need to seal that room off from the rest of the house. Fix any tears in the plastic or that will expose the insulation and rest of the house to the nasty chemicals.

Good luck!
 
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