The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Painting in Winter?

I need to paint my outer firewall of my 54 GMC, but now that it's winter I am wondering if I will run into any problems due to temperature and moisture. I heat my garage with a kerosene and blue flame heaters and both heat the garage well, but also generate a lot of moisture during the combustion process. My question is will I run into any problems painting my firewall under these conditions? I do not intend to paint while the heaters are burning, so no need to worry about blowing myself up. After the fumes clear I will then restart the heaters. I have also considered running a dehumidifyer in the garage to combat the moisture issue. Any thought? Thanks.

Cujo8,

Please do not think I am being a smart-a** with this reply.

My first thought in response to your question is "Are you using a good respirator and covering your entire body?"

My second thought is "Do you have an exhaust fan?" A good paint-shop/paint-booth exhausts and/or filters 50% to 100% of its air per minute.

My third thought is "This is asked every year about this time - I hope that this year people come up with good suggestions on how to keep the air in our "make-shift" paint booths warm and clear and safe."

Tim

With just a firewall you wont have any problems. Just make sure the firewall is around 65 degrees or better and nice and clean before you shut the heat down. I just painted a firewall this morning and it was 22 degrees out side and 70 inside. Looks great but i did it in single stage.

I use a portable propane heater to heat my shop, but I don't run it while I paint. I will run it prior to painting until everything is warmed good. When I get ready to paint, I unplug the heater, turn on the exhaust fan and open a window on the opposet end of the shop. As soon as I'm done and the shop has aired out, I shut off the fan, shut the window and start the heater to recover the heat lost from ventilation so the paint will cure properly. Depending on what paint is used, using medium or fast reducers and catalysts seems to help when it is cooler.

I have a Tyvek painting coveralls and a 3m activated carbon painting respirator. I will be using single stage paint and I will only be painting the firewall at this time. I was thinking that once I started the painting process that I would only be actively painting for 5-10 minutes, so I was not planning on running any exhaust fan. More like a "Hit and Run" or may be I should say "Hit and Leave", since I do not want any runs in my paint. I already have the PPG single stage paint from when my truck was painted, but what type of primer would you guys recommend under it?

Prima k36 is compatible with the ppg paint (its their primer).

Any PPG primer that is recommended by PPG to go with whatever line of PPG topcoat you have.

The DPLF line of primer is excellent and is compatible with most other PPG primers, sealers, and topcoats. You should consider getting a color that is closest to the final coat color (in terms of tone/darkness - I do not know the correct term).
http://www.ppg.com/cr-refinish/phase1/frmFindProduct.asp

You might want to search this forum for an excellent "Basics of Basics" article about primers and sealers by MARTINSR.

Aiming some flood lights at the area to be painted would warm the surface and help drive out any moisture from it. That could be done while the heaters are still on or shortly after they are off.