Setting up in a garage

4david said:

How do I set up in my garage without having fumes rising up into the rooms above?

I do not intend on reclaiming here. Basically it's fumes from coating, inks, some ink degrader for cleanups, fabric gun, dryer...

Thanks

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Where are you? Your climate might really affect the answers.

socceronly said:

Where are you? Your climate might really affect the answers.

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North east

Keep your garage door open. You'll be fine.

Honestly? If you leave the door open and stick a couple box fans at the back of the garage to circulate air, you're probably fine. A garage door is a pretty big opening and should give you plenty of airflow.

If your dryer has a vent, pipe that outside, or put the pickup for an exhaust fan near there.

I assume the walls and ceiling are finished/sheetrocked? If not, I would do that.

NE gets cold, so you might want a more controlled form of ventilation than an open garage door. I installed a 10" bathroom type fan in the wall and ran a 12" diameter SonoTube to above where I cure shirts. The fan is on a speed-control switch, so I can adjust the flow as needed (some types of fans are not compatible with that). Then just crack open a door or window and you'll have a flow of fresh air from there to the fan, and negative air pressure as compared to the rest of the house.

I started printing in my garage, it was great in the spring fall and summer, but my water pipes froze in January, as I didnt have a heat space. My garage was 45ft x 23ft and had 2 press and 1 oven, clean out space and large area for my inks and stock. However it had down falls being a garage.

I moved out to a retail space 2 year of running my business and my business tripled being in a retail space instead of my home.

If using plastisol be very careful. Plastisol gives of a massive amount of fumes when curing. They might be odourless but they are very potent. They will be hot so they will rise and build up in the roof space and go up into the rooms above. The fumes can hurt the lungs of kids or old people if they are in the room above the garage.

Install a good extractor above your flash and vent your conveyor to the outside.

Before I installed an extractor system I would go home with a sore throat and chest pains after a long days printing. My workshop is about 310 cubic metres ( 405 cubic yards ) and I have 2 inline extractor fans each capable of moving 850 cubic metre. They only cost about £100 each, plus some ducting, so you are not looking at much money to safeguard your kids health.