This is to the people that painted their cars in their own garage.

I have finished half of my garage with drywall and insulation. Today im building my workbench 8X2. im going to have 4 8ft fluorescent lights. An electrician is suppose to come by and hook me up and outlets also.

My question is, when i am painting in my garage what steps do i have to take for ventilation. A friend who painted 30 years ago says there is a lot of overspray and you should have a filter, but the overspray will clog it up.

I thought about buying some heating duct, hooking up a fan and putting that on the ceiling with some type of a filter. Should i buy one of those rectangular airfilters, 2 stage from home depot, for dust problems?
I know i will have tarp surrounding the lights to have my own painting booth.
I just want to know how much ventilation do i need and how much overspray is there?

Alot of it depends on what type of spray system you're using. The HVLP systems are great for keeping the overspray to a minimum, but I understand that they can get a little expensive for a one or two time job. The older, higher pressure systems are much cheaper, but you definitely get some overspray. There are a couple of forum members who paint cars on a regular basis. I just can't remember who they are right now.

Before we moved to our big shop, we used to paint in the garage in the back yard. We used cheap furnace filters in the windows of the shop to filter incoming air. Then a large exhaust fan was placed in an opening in the garage door. The fan pulls air in through the windows on both sides and down toward the floor and out the front door. It was decent, but hard to move enough air to keep overspray and fumes from getting too high.

Fumes can be your friend. (No flames, please. I was just kidding!)

Painted my first Fiero twice in a friends garage with just a dust mask the first time. Was blowing teal cannons out my nose for a week! Needless to say I got a resperator the 2nd time. Take care of your lungs, you only got one set!

The best paint jobs I've seen have been done in a big shop with no moving air,and no dust as a result.I've heard wetting the floor down is good to reduce dust,and also to spend alot of time cleaning the shop a day before,then leaving the fan on to get rid of the stuff you stirred up while cleaning.The filters should be high up to reduce dirt from the ground,with the fans in the middle of the opposite wall.
If you have time,the lights are real nice when they are recessed into the walls,and ceiling,with glass over them.This makes for less of a mess,as well as a clean,professional looking paint set-up.
Unless you're trying to kill yourself,I'd suggest a charcoal activated filter in a well fitting respirator,and a Tyvek suit.

I will be using a hvlp gun, its about 130 bucks unless i buy a cheaper one from harbor tools. I also plan to be using a two stage breathing mask. Its those charcoal and some other filter. I seen those suits that help with the dust.

Is the ventilation necessary? Or does it just bring more problems with dust.

I will be painting my beetle, hopefully this summer. I had it for 4 years. It is a total restoration project and i have to find a new chassis for it because the tunnel has too much rust. I plan to buy a rolling chassis from a guy in wisconsin, im from illinois. Sandblasting that with a sears blaster. Painting it with eastwood chassis black. Dissemble the upper body from the chassis (about 20 bolts), and remove the doors, hoods, fenders. I do have to weld in atleast 7 panels, going to be my first time welding with a mig, which i have to buy $500. Then Painting indiviual panels. The body will be the hardest cause it will be the biggest.

I know other people that spend about $5000 for the restoration but thats with a bodyshop doing the work. There are a lot of vendors selling parts and the vw beetle has 2 magazines on the newsstand. (vw trends and dune buggies and hot vws) My problem is buying the tools for this restoration which is going to kill me but having a kewl mechanic garage this summer. While my parents are yelling at me that we are going to move again in a few years. UGH! Maybe thats why im taking my time in college?

Years ago, we used to fix up and sell VW beetles. Those were good cars, if you have the time to maintain them. I had a 59 European Beetle. It was a blast. But then came the Nissan 280's I bought, and later the CRX Si. Much more dependable, they had a heater that worked, got almost 3 times the mileage as the VW and had that magical blue button that says "A/C" on the dash. But we still get calls to restore old Bugs from time to time and we take them in whenever we can.

I've painted 3 cars in my setup with a furnace blower mounted in a window with filtered fresh air entering opposite,with the right pulley on the motor that thing will suck the chrome off a trailer hitch.......