How does one do it? I usually did all the painting outside but right now it's winter like with temp as low as 20F (about -7C) and high barely reaching 40F (about 10C) so outside is out. I can't do anything in basement, the open flame furnace will go boom if I used spray paint. The garage is detatched and unheated so that's no good in winter time either. The barn is worse, very drafty, full of wild animal, and no power or heat. So how does one spray paint anything in the cold weather without stinking up the house? Not to mention any overspray (wall, table, etc) might get me killed
I just painted a rocket in my garage and its uninsulated. Was fine, but had to close the door. I warn you though, I went on to the chatbox later and everyone asked me if I was high. So... yeah.
Always refer to the recommended temperature range for painting. It's labeled on the can. If it's too cold, you are not going to like the finish. It will give you an orange peel effect. If you have electricity running to your garage, use a couple of space heaters to warm it up. If over spray is an issue, consider building a paint booth. Plenty of examples online that can be done with little expense.
I do this all the time, and it's a very popular question that we get from others interested in the hobby. Here are some tips that I can share that should help you out. Before we begin, understand that painting in the cold will take longer. You can not rush it or you will not like the desired results. Also, it's not so much the cold that will jack up your paint as much as the humidity. I've found painting on a high humidity day, or a day when it's raining outside is far worse for paint then painting when it's simply cold outside. That being said, pick the day you choose to paint wisely. If the conditions are just not right for painting, you will just have to wait... hence why painting in the cold will take longer. Because of this, make sure you budget for the extra time required in your winter painting projects. OK Here we go... 1) All of your paint should be kept in the house at room temperature. If your paint cans are cold get them into the house and let them warm up before you start. NEVER try to shake and spray from a cold can, you will not like the results. If you want to speed the warming process up you can drop the spray can into a glass of warm water, or if you have more then a few to do, time to head to the bathtub and to get them soaking in a warm bath. 2) All of your painted parts should be kept in the house at room temperature as well. If not, make sure they get up to room temperature before you attempt to paint. Never paint a cold part. 3) Prep a drying area in your house. This should be a room in your house where no one will go for 8-10 hours. Preferably 24 hours if you can stand it. In here you should clear off some space to set your painted parts to dry. Drop cloths, card board boxes, etc should all be laid out a head of time. 4) Prep a painting area in your garage out in the cold. Same as step 3. I normally lay down flattened card board boxes first. The USPS is great for free boxes by the way. Then I put my parts on the boxes to paint. This way as soon as I'm done, I can simply pick up the flat box to move my parts without having to touch the wet parts. Now we are ready to paint. Shake the cans to desired instructions in the house before you start. Move the parts to the garage. Paint parts Quickly move parts into drying room. Take your time to paint correctly. Do not paint fast or heavy, but... be as quick about it as you can. Once the parts have been moved to the drying room, close the door, and use towels and low tack painters tape to seal off the door. This will "HELP" to keep the paint fumes sealed in, but you will still smell it in the house until the parts are fully dry. 6-8 hours. You may still want to run a box fan in the house to move the fumes away from where you are primarily in the house. I think you will be quite happy with the results that you get. Lastly here are some other tips that will help. Paint in small batches. Take a few parts out, paint, move to drying room. Come back, grab a few more parts and move to outside, paint, and then move to drying room. The less you "paint" the more time you can take to get it right and not feel rushed. Even if you have to do 3 batches of the same color, it's better to break it up into 3 small painting sessions than 1 long session. Between sessions, make sure you bring the paint cans back inside to warm up. Also, don't forget to lay down new boxes before each session. We need to be able to move those parts easily and fast without touching them. Clear coating in the cold is the worst. You can tend to get cracks in the finish coat quite easily if you go to heavy and you rush it. Go slow. If you have to repeat the process a few times over a few days to get the desired result, it's worth it. Again, do not rush. Use matte paints when you can. High Gloss Paints have extra thinner in them and they spray on super thin and are quite thin when they come out of the can. High gloss Paints can easily bleed under masking work because of this as well. Matte Paints are not as thin and will not run on you as easy and tend to give you tighter lines and less bleed as well. You can always do a high glossy on the clear coat if you are after that super high gloss effect on your project. When transferring your project from the cold to the drying room, move fast, but not so fast you are careless and dump your wet artwork into the snow. Nothing will ruin your day more. We don't have to be "The Flash" fast here. Even working fast, you should be able to get the parts primed, painted and into the dry room in less than 5 minutes. 5 minutes in the cold is not going to kill your paint job. It's the drying time in a warm house that's the key to great work. Do NOT try to use a hair dryer or a heat gun to speed up dry time. You will get it wrong, the paint will crack as it dries to fast, or you will end up warping or melting your plastic parts. Textured paints are GREAT for winter projects. When you paint something with a texture, you have less to worry about when it comes to cracking or blemishing as it works into the texture and is less visible. Blemishes are most often noticed on flat sold color paint jobs, so if you can use textured paints, you will get much better results. Flat solid color paints can be used without issue, I'm just saying that if you have options, choosing a textured paint will leave you with less to worry about. Here's to painting in the cold! I wish you the best, and hope the tips help!
