Post by treswright on Jun 7, 2010 9:30:24 GMT -6
So I'm really tired of cleaning up overspray around my paint area in the garage and it only takes one project for it to be a mess again 
I looked at the LHS and on eBay at paint booths, but they were a lot bigger than what I need and I didn't want to use up more counter space than I have to. Over the weekend I whipped one together and it was so easy that I figured I'd post the info here in case it might be helpful to others out there in cyber-land 
Originally I was going to make it out of wood, but as I was pushing my cart to that area of Lowe's I saw a stack of white melamine shelves and thought "hmmmm, that would be easy to clean!" So I grabbed a 12" x 6' shelf. That was just enough material to make a 12" deep x 12" high x 15" wide (inside dim's) booth. If you need a bigger booth than that they do make 16" shelves as well. Lowe's only has white melamine, but I think HD carries black too. I countersunk drywall screws to fasten the panels together (predrill them so you don't chip the melamine). The fan is a bathroom exhaust fan, it's flanged to fit through a drywall ceiling, so it sleeves perfectly through the back of the melamine booth with the grill sitting flush in the back. This particular fan has a 3" exhaust port, it's a lot easier to get 4" duct material though (because dryer ducts are 4") so I put a 3" to 4" adaptor on it and ran 4" ducting up into the attic and routed that over and elbowed it into an existing roof vent. I was originally going to do a soffit vent, but I couldn't get the 4" ducting between the roof decking and the top plate of the studwall, so went with plan "B". Rather than deal with cleaning paint off the interior all the time, I cut up an old shipping box and lined the booth with cardboard. When it gets gunked up I'll just swap it our for new cardboard. I cut the cardboard snug enough to where it holds itself in place without tape or anything. I placed a regular 12" x 12" A/C filter over the exhaust fan grille, it's a friction fit like the cardboard. It effectively traps the overspray while the fumes are exhausted out the roof. I also picked up an undercounter fluorescent light and mounted it just under the top of the booth. Here's what I spent:
Shelf 13.50
Fan 14.00
Light 18.00
6' hard duct 7.50
25' soft duct 17.50
Filters (3 pack) 8.00
Misc. (couplers, cord, switch, clamps, etc.) 14.00
Granted that's not "cheap", but the booths I looked at were 150+ and didn't include the ducting or the light. And after using it a bit yesterday, it is money well spent to keep the garage clean and to keep from breathing in all that junk while I'm working Here's a pic:
I looked at the LHS and on eBay at paint booths, but they were a lot bigger than what I need and I didn't want to use up more counter space than I have to. Over the weekend I whipped one together and it was so easy that I figured I'd post the info here in case it might be helpful to others out there in cyber-land 
Originally I was going to make it out of wood, but as I was pushing my cart to that area of Lowe's I saw a stack of white melamine shelves and thought "hmmmm, that would be easy to clean!" So I grabbed a 12" x 6' shelf. That was just enough material to make a 12" deep x 12" high x 15" wide (inside dim's) booth. If you need a bigger booth than that they do make 16" shelves as well. Lowe's only has white melamine, but I think HD carries black too. I countersunk drywall screws to fasten the panels together (predrill them so you don't chip the melamine). The fan is a bathroom exhaust fan, it's flanged to fit through a drywall ceiling, so it sleeves perfectly through the back of the melamine booth with the grill sitting flush in the back. This particular fan has a 3" exhaust port, it's a lot easier to get 4" duct material though (because dryer ducts are 4") so I put a 3" to 4" adaptor on it and ran 4" ducting up into the attic and routed that over and elbowed it into an existing roof vent. I was originally going to do a soffit vent, but I couldn't get the 4" ducting between the roof decking and the top plate of the studwall, so went with plan "B". Rather than deal with cleaning paint off the interior all the time, I cut up an old shipping box and lined the booth with cardboard. When it gets gunked up I'll just swap it our for new cardboard. I cut the cardboard snug enough to where it holds itself in place without tape or anything. I placed a regular 12" x 12" A/C filter over the exhaust fan grille, it's a friction fit like the cardboard. It effectively traps the overspray while the fumes are exhausted out the roof. I also picked up an undercounter fluorescent light and mounted it just under the top of the booth. Here's what I spent:Shelf 13.50
Fan 14.00
Light 18.00
6' hard duct 7.50
25' soft duct 17.50
Filters (3 pack) 8.00
Misc. (couplers, cord, switch, clamps, etc.) 14.00
Granted that's not "cheap", but the booths I looked at were 150+ and didn't include the ducting or the light. And after using it a bit yesterday, it is money well spent to keep the garage clean and to keep from breathing in all that junk while I'm working
Here's a pic:
"Paulie" 
:-XROFLAO 