heated paint booth need advice

[BryanM]

I am working on a livestock trailer in my pole barn and its cold outside!!! Here lies my problem, my barn uninsulated. I came up with an idea, kind of a quick indoor building made from tarps that would double as a paint booth.

I was wondering if anyone has ever tried heating a tarp structure before???

My ceiling is 12ft and I probably could hang a few sheets of foam board for the ceiling and hang a trap curtain around my work area and set my heater inside the tarps. I would go ahead and try but I dont have any tarps. Just looking for some advice!!!
Or any suggestions thanks

 

[Kep]

Everything will depend on what the outside temp is, if the paint booth is vented properly you will never get enough heat to do more than raise the temp inside the building more than a few degrees. Most of us that do any paint work at all wait for the right weather to do the painting.

 

[BHD]

yes I have tarped off sections of my shop and heated it that way, I just used the cheap blue tarps that are like harbor freight sells,

if your going to paint it when it is cold out, heat up the trailer and the area, and for most heaters turn them off during the actual painting, then when the air clears it is usually safe to turn the back on,

but the fumes and the paint dust or mist can be very flammable and an explosion can happen if the concentrations of the fumes and dust obtain the correct level, so if your using any type of fired heater make sure the fumes are out of the area,

many of the flammable fumes will hang on the floor and can be volatile for a period of time after the spraying, If you have any other pilot lites extinguish them as well, during the painting process,

 

[westcliffe01]

The only thing about plastic sheeting and tarps is that they attract dust. Given that prep work for painting almost invariably produces dust, the problem is how to eliminate dust after prep and before painting. I have never solved that problem yet.

 

[Sherweld]

I've done several major remodel and construction projects using only a clear visqueen barrier to allow as much light on the project as possible. I found the temperature difference during winter conditions (around freezing, no wind) to be pretty consistently 20F to 30F warmer inside the barrier with little effort. It is surprising (to me at least) how effective a single sheet of visqueen can be as a temperature barrier.

Totally second the heat source advice above. An explosion resulting from a room full of vapors is major.

 

[BryanM]

First let me thank you guys for replying. And let me re assure you that I would never Try and paint in a room/enclosure with a open flame or ignition source.

I have quite-a-bit of work todo before painting. I have am trying too see threw other peoples experiences if it would beworth setting up a aka paint booth made of tarps to trap heat in, to both work in and use as a paint booth.

If it would raise my temp inside the 20x30ft enclosure 20-30 degrees from outside tarp temp it might be worth it. Remember its inside a pole building out of wind. And with my propane torpedo heater (150000) I can heat the whole barn 20 degrees higher than outside temps. But it sucks the propane down and makes the side walls sweat when its really cold out. The roof has osb and shingled so it doesnt rain inside.

My basic question is still leaving out the painting, do think its worth trying and what is better 6 mil visqueen or 10 mil elcheapo tarps?

 

[Nuno]

Hey,

i have had the same problem a few weeks ago,
build a few things and have to paint but my Barn is also unisolated and we have had down to -13/-16ｰC at this time (inside the Barn only 2or3ｰC more than outside)

i build an paint booth with a few Wood Planks and various Tarps and Foil i have laying around.
Ok, one side of the Paint Booth is an Brick Wall. have close all corners and edges the best i can with nylon cable straps and heavy duty tape and heat the booth up wit an propan heater

i make the painting on 31.december and we have had this day -14ｰC outside.
inside the Booth i have an temperature between 32 and 36ｰC after s few minutes but if i turn the Heater off it cools down very fast and it will not be an optimal temperature for painting.

i let the Heater run all the Time but let them stay outside of the Booth but let them blow the heated air through an opening into the Booth.
I use an HVLP Paint Gun to reduce the Paint dust and it works very well.

i recommend to use any type of hardener that will speed up the drying of the Paint,
i Use for my Paint Job an Resin Paint and mix it with an Tinner Hardener Mixture so that after painting it takes around 3 Hours at 32 to 36ｰC to dry the paint (normaly without Hardener at 20ｰC 6 to 9 Hours)
don't turn the Heat off after drying or the paint will be dull,
let the Booth cool slowly down.

thats the way i have do the painting