Above 1200 Sq/FT Paint Shop

[FrancisJ]

40'x40' (cedar siding) w 12' overhead doors (height was req'd to paint orange, green and even yellow (JD 410E Backhoe) equipment -- I have two of these barns, one for mechanical and sheet metal work, this one is the "Paint Shop" -- homemade paint "booth" with 10-mil clear plastic walls and ceiling, explosion-proof exhaust fans and LED lights. Turns out the concrete floors in these DIY Paint Shops are a big contributor to dust -- I blow it off, vacuum it, wet it down and still get occasional nibs, dirt and bug bombs. I'd prefer a $125,000 professional full down draft paint booth but simply can't justify the cost (I paint maybe 1-2 automotive restoration projects a year on average - doing a 1985 W350 Crew Cab (One Ton 4x4 Power Wagon) in Toyota Nebula Green and White as I write - warning: be careful when restoring low production vehicles such as this one -- you'll spend most of your time researching / locating hard to find parts).

Note: these barns were "patch" jobs -- originally T-111 over 2x4s, no insulation. I pulled the T-111, then used a Zip System along with T&G cedar siding and PVC trim to fight insects -- cedar is not perfect but can help with moisture and insects. I'm currently building a barn at a new location and using 2x6 pressure treated walls, ZIP and LP Smartsiding to "bulletproof" the installation.

 

[Adaylate]

Beautiful monitor top barn!
What coating is on your siding?

 

[FrancisJ]

Currently DEFY semi-transparent, but I've been thru the ringer with most of them, even set up a test platform at the farm where I tested:

Thompson's (garbage), Cabot (ok), Australian Timber Oil (semi-ok), Behr (ok to better than ok), TWP (runner up to DEFY), Sherwin-Williams (total garbage), Flood (almost garbage) and Sikkens (less than ok, expensive, not worth it)............frankly, none of the above last longer than 3-5 years. The problem with Cedar is you can't "power wash" it to remove the old stuff (it's too soft, gets damaged easily) and end up sanding it down completely to apply new semi-transparent stains -- that's time consuming especially dealing with T&G "joins" and power sanders.

Please note I don't want to give Sherwin-Williams a totally bad name -- I use their automotive paints along with Eastwood, PPG's Shop Line, TCP Global and find Sherwin-Williams to be just as good (if not better) than the other usual suspects.

 

[rixtrix1]

Thanks for the rating on the various products! Can't you seal the concrete to stop the dust?

 

[Adaylate]

Thanks for posting the test results!
I have used Sikkens on two 12x16 sheds. Both had fir board and batten siding. The Sikkens did ok for me but weathered to a much darker color than I was wanting.
Sherwin Williams exterior house paint I'm using on my current project seems to be working fine.

Good luck with the Power Wagon!