Spraying finishes in basement

[Nick Giovas]

I have a unique situation and need some help coming up with a safe solution.

I am in the process of building a custom home theater in my basement. Part of the design of this theater is custom stained oak soffits, columns and trim. I have been experimenting with a variety of finishes for the wood and have come up with a finish that is exactly what I originally envisioned. The issue is that the only way I have been able to produce this finish is with an ML Campbell Microton spray stain.

All of the wood is built into the room and cannot be removed for spraying. To make matters worse, the theater is completely soundproof, which means it is also completely air tight. Air is controlled through two air inlets and a large air return, but I certainly can't ventilate the room through the ducts while spraying (in fact they will be blocked to prevent fumes from getting out to the rest of the house). Is there any possible way I can spray this stain in this situation? Is it possible to spray sections with a respirator and then close off the room and use some type of carbon filter to remove the fumes?

I will be honest, I designed and built everything without ever thinking about this being an issue. I'm stuck and don't have a good solution. I was hoping someone might have some suggestions for me. (no, painting the wood is not an option ;)).

Thanks in advance,

Nick

[Jamie Buxton]

Spraying stain isn't quite like spraying the clearcoat that will go on top. You just don't spray a whole lot of stain, whereas you apply lots of clearcoat. That is, you can get away with procedures that won't work as well for the topcoat. However, that stain does seem to be lacquer-based, so flammability and odor are both issues.

Here's what I'd do... There is a people door into the theater, right? I'd bring two ducts from outside through that door, and seal the doorway with one of those zip-up doorways that painters use. Here's one, but there are many: http://www.zipwall.com/. I'd put a blower on one of the ducts to suck fumes out of the room. This scheme should remove fumes from the room, and lower the fumes penetration into the house. I'd put the sprayer outside the room, with a long hose coming into the room. This is so that there's no sparks inside the room which might ignite the fumes. I'd wear a really good respirator with an organic-vapor filter. Make sure it seals to your face.

For the top-coats, I'd spray a waterborne. No explosion worry, and less stink.

[Nick Giovas]

Thanks for the suggestions Jamie. I didn't think about using the water based clear. I also like the idea of the zipper door. The door into the theater opens inward, so I could easily attach it from the outside.

I'm still a bit concerned with safety. I may call M.L. Campbell and see if they can suggest similar colors in a wipeable or water based stain. I would think I could reproduce the same color with something safer.

[Grant Wilkinson]

I had a similar issue, and ended up using aniline dye for the colour and water based poly for the top coat. The only fume issue was with the shellac that I used as a barrier between the water based aniline and the water based poly. Since the shellac was alcohol based, the bigger issue was combustion, not fumes. I decide to brush on the shellac to keep the fumes to the minimum. It worked out fine.

[Nick Giovas]

Thanks for the suggestion Grant.

[Scott Holmes]

I too would use dye to color the wood then shellac to seal it in. Brushing the shellac can cause the color to move; spraying limits the possiblity of the dye moving. An organic rated resporator is a MUST. I've heard the drunk you get from spraying shellac is very very bad; the hangover is even worse. (remember the DNA would go into your lungs and then straight into your blood stream).

Shellac cloud is not nearly as volitale as say, nitro-cellulous lacquer. To get it to explode you probably couldn't even see your hand in front of you.

[John TenEyck]

Scott's right, the flash over point for DNA is around 11% IIRC. You'd probably pass out from lack of oxygen first. But I would still provide ventilation to get rid of the vapors.

John