How To Make A Spray Paint Booth

Got a project that requires spray painting or staining and you want to avoid making a mess while keeping dust and dirt out? Then make a spray booth, it's easier than you think. Follow along and I'll show you how to make a spray booth with some PVC pipe, plastic tarp, and duct tape in minutes.

Materials

The materials for this project are pretty cheap and easy to obtain:

2x 10 foot sections of 1/2" PVC pipe.

8x PVC 90 degree elbows (1/2").

5x PVC T-fittings (1/2")

1x Plastic sheet (thicker is better than thin).

Duct tape.

PVC pipe cutter or hacksaw.

Tape measure.

Step 1: Cut PVC

Cut two ten foot lengths of PVC pipe into a total of ten two foot pieces of PVC pipe. This is done easily with a PVC pipe cutter which are very cheap. Otherwise, a hacksaw would work but makes a bit of a mess.

Step 2: Assembly

You're making a box which requires two sides to start. Each side is a square made up of four pieces of the two foot PVC pipe along with four elbows. Make two of these two foot squares.

Now, we'll connect one square to the other with the remaining two pieces of two foot PVC pipe. Make marks in the middle of the top and bottom of each square side. Cut all four marks and insert a T-fitting into each. The T-fittings will now connect one side to the other with the remaining two pipes. See image above for the end result.

To glue or not to glue, that is the question. And the answer? Depends on your preference. If you want this to last then use PVC cement and glue as you go. If you want to be able to disassemble it into pieces you can either skip gluing completely, or glue the squares but not the two cross pieces.

Step 3: Make A Stand

For my spray booth, I wanted an easy way to pop parts in and out so they'd be held in place while spraying. So I cut the bottom pipe that connects to the two sides in half and inserted a T-fitting that points straight up.

I can now mount parts on a scrap piece of PVC pipe and simply "plug" them into this holder to make spraying easier.

Step 4: Wrap It

Lay out your plastic tarp, completely opened up. Set the PVC structure in the middle and begin wrapping the plastic around it. You'll use the duct tape as you go and trim off excess plastic that you don't need. Make sure you're putting some tension on the plastic as you go so it's wrapper tightly.

For mine, I made a flap in the front that I can fold up to spray and then put back down while a part is drying (so dust doesn't blow in and ruin my paint job). As you can see above, the flap folds open easily.

I also made a flap in the back that allows me to open the the bottom half of the back of the spray booth. This will let me put in an HVAC filter along with a window / box fan to draw air and excess spray mist out through the filter. This is optional but a good idea on larger spray jobs so you're not creating a massive fog filled spray booth.