Can I prime at Home?

[JT1]

I've been doing the metal work on my car for years in my 3 car attached garage. I've been holding surface rust mostly at bay with Pickelx 20. I've sprayed some rattle can weld thru primer in that time, but no "real" paint. I am almost done this stage and need to move onto bodywork/primer.

I have a good friend with a commercial business, including a modern booth that I can use to paint in, and I plan to actually paint the car there. It is not geographically desirable, so I really can't do the body work there.

I could take the car there, prime the whole thing, then bring it home for filler. I've seen may opinions on filler over epoxy, or whether filler needs to be on bare metal.

This car will not be used as a daily driver, will probably never see any rain, so I think either would probably be fine. However, I'm fairly sure that in the course of doing body work, I will again hit bare metal and need to prime at least some spots again, not to mention eventually spray 2K to level, possibly (definitely?) over an over again

Seems like an easier work flow would be to pick a panel or an area, do the bodywork, then epoxy it.

But I'm not sure how dangerous epoxy primer is? Initially I thought it had isos in it, but further reading seems to indicate isos are mainly in clears, if at all.

I'm in south east Pa, so the weather will probably be good enough for another month or two to spray it outside. I live on some acerage, so I wouldn't be spraying near neighbors. But, I'd need to mix the paint inside the attached garage, and bring the car back in to let it dry/cure.

Obviously I can wear a mask while spraying, or even while mixing if I need to, but if a mask is needed for mixing, I don't think it is something I should do in the attached garage. If harmful chemicals keep coming off while curing, I guess that would eliminate spraying at home as well.

Thoughts appreciated...

[Len]

If you're going to spray in an attached garage I'd recommend that you seal the door into the living quarters by covering it with plastic and taping the plastic to the door frame so that it doesn't allow any toxins into the house. At minimum wear a good cartridge mask when spraying in a well ventilated garage or outdoors. Epoxy primer isn't as dangerous as hardened top coats but you still need good protection when you're spraying so keep the mask handy and use fresh cartridge filters when you spray.

[Wayne]

I spray in an attached garage. The door between the house and garage is metal so I seal all edges of the door with duct tape. To enter the house you have to go up two stairs to a landing and then the door is on the right so I stick a fan on the landing and blow the fumes away from the door to the other side of the garage where I have a fan in the window sucking the fumes out.

[JT1]

I guess I wasn't too confident in drywall sealing out vapor?

It is a modern house, 5/8 on the garage walls, two layers of 5/8 on the ceiling, but there are some holes for wiring and stuff?

That's why I was leaning towards doing the actual spraying outside. I know harmful stuff continues to come off when hardened paint drys, wasn't sure about epoxy though?

[Len]

I guess I wasn't too confident in drywall sealing out vapor?

It is a modern house, 5/8 on the garage walls, two layers of 5/8 on the ceiling, but there are some holes for wiring and stuff?

That's why I was leaning towards doing the actual spraying outside. I know harmful stuff continues to come off when hardened paint drys, wasn't sure about epoxy though?

Epoxy is probably not as dangerous as primers and paints that generate isos but I'd keep the garage vented for a few days while it cures. I'd probably shoot one or two panels at first, allow it to dry a little and pull it in and give it the smell test to see if any fumes penetrate into the living space. If you smell it then move it back outside and change the plan of attack.

[Wayne]

I guess I wasn't too confident in drywall sealing out vapor?

It is a modern house, 5/8 on the garage walls, two layers of 5/8 on the ceiling, but there are some holes for wiring and stuff?

That's why I was leaning towards doing the actual spraying outside. I know harmful stuff continues to come off when hardened paint drys, wasn't sure about epoxy though?

I have tried to fill every crack I can in my garage. Depending on the size of the hole you can caulk it or use some spray foam.

[Phil V]

Jt, Epoxy primer is relatively benign compared to iso hardened paints like 2K acrylic urethane high build primer and urethane single stage and clear coat.

With the epoxy you're worrying a lot more than you really need to. The iso based urethane paints are a different story. Even the iso's aren't going to penetrate through any drywall (1/2" or 5/8" drywall). Also an important fact to keep in mind is that the iso's in automotive paint are relatively short lived danger period. Don't breath ANY overspray while painting and don't seal the garage up after you do spray iso's in your garage. If you can smell ANYTHING in the living area then you need more frehs air ventilation in the garage. Just keeping the garage door cracked a couple inches is usually enough air movement after ALL the paint overspray is gone. My personal suggestion is to work on a couple panels at a time doing bodywork and priming. If you stick to one panel at a time then you will have considerable down time waiting for bondo to harden etc etc. If you're working on two panels at the same time then you can work on one panel while the bondo is drying on the other panel. (prime them both at the same time).

[JT1]

Jt, Epoxy primer is relatively benign compared to iso hardened paints like 2K acrylic urethane high build primer and urethane single stage and clear coat.

With the epoxy you're worrying a lot more than you really need to. The iso based urethane paints are a different story. Even the iso's aren't going to penetrate through any drywall (1/2" or 5/8" drywall). Also an important fact to keep in mind is that the iso's in automotive paint are relatively short lived danger period. Don't breath ANY overspray while painting and don't seal the garage up after you do spray iso's in your garage. If you can smell ANYTHING in the living area then you need more frehs air ventilation in the garage. Just keeping the garage door cracked a couple inches is usually enough air movement after ALL the paint overspray is gone. My personal suggestion is to work on a couple panels at a time doing bodywork and priming. If you stick to one panel at a time then you will have considerable down time waiting for bondo to harden etc etc. If you're working on two panels at the same time then you can work on one panel while the bondo is drying on the other panel. (prime them both at the same time).

Thanks! Just the information I am looking for.

One more thing, I am working on a bare shell, when using epoxy primer and a modern gun, do you need to mask off the whole rest of the car when spraying the primer?

I saw a thread about "dry" epoxy landing on the backs of panels that was being primed piece by piece.

http://autobodystore.com/forum/showt...pray-dry-spray.