Spraying paint in basement?

[Matt Day]

I'm going to be making some casework (likely out of plywood) that I'll need to paint/prime white. I have an HVLP gun and would like to spray them, but I don't have any conditioned area except my basement (and it is freezing outside and in my garage) and essentially no exhaust to the outside.

Can paint be sprayed indoors without risk of combustion like there is with some finishes? I have one very small opening to the garage that I could get a minor amount of exhaust with, but it's about 4"x4" which I know is not much. I haven't selected the paint yet but spraying vs rolling/brushing is a factor.

I'm a newbie to spraying (obviously?) and couldn't fine a lot on the www I think mainly because the search string keeps referring me to rattle can spray paint.

[Fred Belknap]

I'm no expert but water base paint shouldn't be combustible. I would use a good respirator.

[Sam Murdoch]

Here is one among a few other posts on the subject - http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...n-for-spraying

Type - temporary spray booth into this forum search and you will get more info on the subject.

[Brian W Smith]

Very deep subject on many levels.

The first thing that pops into my head is comparing paint overspray and breathing vapors....vs....wood dust problems.I view them both pretty much the same.Meaning,they both are serious health risks.

The difference,yet are closer than most think,is volatility.The big decision is how far you want to take "explosion proof".Makes for a tough topic......what one person deems acceptable risk may scare the beejeeba's out of the next guy.

Tuning an HVLP "system" makes it about as friendly to the work area as anything out there.Their deposition or transfer rate is one of the highest,if you do your part.And thats the trick,you really have to buckle down and eliminate as much overspray as possible.....we're trying to paint the case,not fog up the room.Get some back lighting and see exactly what's going ON the product vs wasting it as overspary.Try and think how dust can be carried away with air direction and velocity.Then try and wrap your brain around how the paint spray differs.

Just like dust,it's best to eliminate as much as possible,then collect it as close as possible to point of it's creation.Good luck,it can be done.

[John TenEyck]

Water based products are not explosive, however, there still are health risks. You need to wear a respirator with an organics cartridge while spraying, but even after you are done spraying there will be residual particles in the air and vapors as the paint cures if you don't exhaust outside. To me, that would not be a show stopper, but as said everyone's comfort level is different. But just getting the paint onto the cabinets w/o overspray settling on it just about necessitates air movement to carry the overspray away. To do that you could build a temporary spray booth out of sheet plastic and install a blower or fan in one end. Put some filters in front of the blower to catch the overspray, and change them as necessary to keep good airflow. You will still have residual organic vapors, but the temporary booth/blower should take care of most of the overspray and allow you to create a high quality finish.

I regularly spray waterbased products in my basement shop. I use my dust collector blower to evacuate the spray booth and blow it out an adjacent window. If you have an opening out of your shop you may consider doing something similar. I used to use a smaller blower before I came up with the DC idea, and it worked, too, just not as well. In my case, I don't use any filters because I'm exhausting the air outside. Anyway, give it some thought and I bet you can come up with a workable solution.

John

[Curt Harms]

I recently sprayed a small project in my basement workshop. I covered the table and area around the table with plastic sheeting and put the work piece underneath an overhead air cleaner. I used an Earlex 5000 HVLP and find no 'evidence'. There are pics and instructions for temporary spray booths around the interwebz if you're so inclined.