I’m trying to separate fact from myth here. Can I paint (actually apply a Thompson’s water-seal type product) to a new swing set in my basement? The basement is all one open space and that is where the furnace is.
So I know that spray painting around an ignition source is a no-no. But will brush-on sealers produce any sort of flammable vapors as they dry? Does it depend on the type of product?
I could try to ‘paint’ outside, when the weather allows and move the pieces in and out, but what a pain. So if there is no danger, I’d rather do them inside allowing me longer working hours and more flexibility.
Guy is cleaning out his basement when he drops a full can of silver spray paint. It hits the tip of one of the claws on a claw hammer sitting on the floor and is punctured. Now jet powered, it careens all over the basement while spewing silver paint all over the guy chasing it. It zips under a hot water heater, whose pilot light ignites the paint…promptly burning the house down.
Just sayin’ what? Not a single part of that really has nothing to do with the OP. The person you speak of wasn’t actually painting at the time, it was a pressurized container and he wasn’t taking steps to prevent it. You should probably make sure there’s no hair spray or Pam in your house either. (BTW Pam is pressurized with propane)
Personally, I’d take a whiff of the sealer and see if how bad it smelled. If it’s high on the VOC’s, even if ignition isn’t an issue, it’s gonna stink up your house.
Do you have windows you can open? Do you have a fan you can put in a window to keep the fumes headed outward? Do you care how long the project takes (it may be easier to do a small section at a time and give the basement time to air out).
Regular applied with a brush alkyd enamel produces fumes, not to the extent of spray but your basement will become pretty stinky for a few hours. You will have to ventilate or your whole house will smell, and paint thinner is not healthy. These products always have a warning to use a well ventilated space.
If it is warm enough, open a couple windows, but dont let it get cooler than the recommended temperature on the paint tin. You can always turn off the furnace and the water heater if you are worried about igniting the fumes. It should not get that bad but why find out.
There are some very good water based acrylic enamels now. I would look into that first.
I just re read the OP and realized that this must be a wooden swing set, so you are talking about an alkyd stain. Scratch the suggestion of the acrylic enamel in that case.
There are some water based exterior wood preservatives and stains but I have not used them.
Uh, YEAH! All paints emit flammable fumes, dude! :eek: Please note fumes are more flammable than the paint itself! And, your basement has several sources of ignition. Please do not become a memebr of the Darwin awards. Can’t you wait until Spring to paint a swingset outdoors where it belongs?
Know how to turn on the pilot lights on your furnace and hot water heater? If so, turn up your thermostat so your house gets a little hotter than usual, then shut off your furnace and water heater. Open windows and do your thing with the paint. When you’re done, let the house (or at least the basement) air out. Then turn the furnace and water heater back on.
Best party I ever went to, was in Boulder at a house owned by a former '60’s radical who wanted to indulge his daughter. Free spray paint-- get creative, go for it anywhere in the basement. (“Pink Floyd: The Wall. The Other Wall. The Floor. The Window. The Washing Machine, &c…”) As I recall, there was only one person who was affected by the fumes, and that was after she painted like 20 eyes in the shower…
Er, this may be a stupid question… but your location says “GA”, and I have to assume that’s the American kind of GA. What on earth are you doing painting a swingset indoors? Do you have bubble childen who are not allowed to taste unalloyed outside air?
ETA - come to think of it, what kind of GA person has a basement that doesn’t see daylight?
It is a Christmas present, so I’m trying to get it assembled in “chunks” in the secrecy of the basement, then carry it up and do final assembly in the yard. The question isn’t about whether I’ll survive the fumes – I’m constantly in some sort of cloud of vapors at work, nor whether the house might pick up an aroma, but as to the safety of painting where the furnace is. Furnace is the only gas appliance down there and it has an electric igniter, so I can just turn it off. But even with a fan going, I’m not under the illusion that I can evacuate all of the fumes with a box fan in the window – standard daylight basement, two walls are partially framed with doors windows etc.
Just do it. And while your at it, fry up one of those post Thanksgiving “on sale” frozen turkeys down in the basement. The smell will cover up the fumes from the water sealer.
Seriously, it’s not gonna hurt you to wait and seal the swingset in the yard after Christmas.
OTOH, people paint inside there houses all the time with few problems.
Honestly, I doubt you’d have a problem. If you want to be safe, open two windows, throw a box fan in one as an exhaust and do the painting near that one. You said the furnace is the only gas appliance and it has electric ignition, so just flip the switch on the side while you’re painting (and until the fumes have mostly aired out) and you’ll be just fine. (Turning the furnace off will also help keep the smell contained to one part of the house.)
As someone noted upthread, if you turn the furnace off, you might want to bump the temp up 5 or 10 degrees before hand to give yourself a buffer. Having the furnace off and windows open, the house temp is going to drop pretty fast.
I have applied oil-based stain and spray-on polyurethane varnish in the basement before. This was to a coffee table, so large amounts were involved. Not only did I wear a respirator, but I had plastic sheeting on the floor and hanging from the ceiling to control overspray. This won’t stop vapors from spreading though, so I did a few things:
I shut off the furnace, and extinguished the pilot on the water heater.
-I opened windows on opposite sides of the basement, and used a blower with some ducting/hosework to move air out through one of the windows, drawing fresh air in from the other. This limited the buildup of vapors in the basement.
Limiting buildup of vapors is both a safety issue (toxicity/flammability), but also is important to limit the degree to which you stink up the rest of the house. Even in spite of these measures, you WILL stink up the rest of the house, I promise. Best bet is to do this on a day(s) when nobody else is at home, and keep ventilating the basement long after you’re done spraying. If at all possible, open some windows in the rest of the house to help control odor (not just one, but at least two so that you get some cross-flow through the house).
Just man up and do it! You could have had it done by now. People paint in doors during the winter all the time with propane heaters running. Running a fan would definitly help disapate the fumes; I’d be more worried about me breathing the stuff in than it igniting.
So you want to paint wood which your children will be using - are you using anything else than a water-based, lead-free, spittle-resistant, paint? Because that’s what recommended for children. And water-soluble wood paint should not emit any dangerous fumes.
I’d recommend a truely green store (if you have that in your area) and a good consulation (if you have experts instead of salesmen).
You could have had it done by now. People paint in doors during the winter all the time with propane heaters running. Running a fan would definitly help disapate the fumes; I’d be more worried about me breathing the stuff in than it igniting.