HVLP VS Airless Paint Sprayers VS Conventional Spray Guns

Paint booths can be expensive compared to application equipment.  Even for a standard smaller open face paint booth the cost can be a few thousand dollars.  If your considering building a paint booth you will want to compare the costs, benefits, and drawbacks of time and money in building the paint booth to the costs,benefits, and drawbacks of purchasing a paint booth.

Building a Homemade Paint Booth Benefits

• The Biggest Benefit is you may be able to save costs on your paint booth
• Ability to customize a paint booth without significant costs added that a paint booth manufacturer will require to provide engineering design of the paint booth to ensure it meets all code requirements

Building a Homemade Paint Booth Drawbacks

• Code Compliance- Spray Booths are governed by a variety of codes including NFPA 1, NFPA 33 , OSHA, and International Fire Code.  Ultimately your local authority having jurisdiction, which is most often your fire marshal is the one who will dictate what is needed.  However, without a pre designed booth it can be challenging to meet all the requirements that the certifying bodies mentioned above require.  If you build a paint booth to meet all the requirements it will most likely cost more than a pre engineered booth.
• Finish Quality- A pre built paint booth will provide an isolated enclosure and can have an air make up incorporated preventing any contamination of your finish.  If you build a paint booth you would have to find a way to keep dust and contaminant to a minimum.
• Safety- A pre engineered paint booth is designed for a proper number of air changes per minute to eliminate Volatile Organic Compounds from becoming excessive in the painting environment.  This helps prevent risk of a fire as well as provide greater safety for breathing.
• If you build a paint booth you it most likely will at best meet the requirements of a spray area - a spray area is one of two environments for paint application that is listed by NFPA 33 and requires different considerations in a variety of ways

Buying a Pre Made Paint Booth Benefits

• Code Compliance- With a pre engineered paint booth from an approved paint booth manufacturer like Global Finishing Solutions  you will meet all known national codes.  Ultimately your local code enforcement agency can ask for additional requirements but all national codes will be met
• Safety - A pre designed paint booth is designed to help reduce the risk of a fire and will provide provide appropriate air changes which help with safer breathing air
• Finish Quality- If you need your finish to be top quality there are a variety of things that can be done including an air make up unit feeding the paint booth or intake filters.
• Ease of Building - A pre designed paint booth will have engineered drawings allowing for easy erection of the paintbooth as well as be designed to appropriately stand erected for a long time (we have seen booths that are 20 - 40 years old without a problem)
• Support - Reputable paint booth manufacturers will have local support in case there is ever an issue with your paint booth.
• Insurance savings - many times your insurance carrier will provide a better rate with a pre designed paint booth then if you have designed your own paint booth, this is not always true.

Buying a Pre Made Paint Booth Drawbacks

• Cost- A pre designed paint booth can have higher costs associated with it then a home built paint booth
• Flexibility- Depending on your shops configuration a pre made paint booth will typically be made of rigid walls which will require dedication of shop space, if space is an issue and you will not spray a lot of coating (less than a gallon every 8 hours) you may be able to get away with a prep station consult with your local fire marshal, paint booth distributor, and state to determine applicability.

Overall between the two if you want to make sure to be safe, meet required codes, have the best finish possible, and ensure ease of building a pre designed paint booth is the right choice.  Building your own paint booth can save on cost but there are a lot of code and safety issues to be aware of , which is why it is not a recommended route.