Paint Booth Size & Dimension Guide

If you're running any sort of auto body shop, you're going to need a paint booth on hand. Paint booths are essential to the productivity of an auto shop business. An enclosed structure, they allow quick production and painting of various vehicles and parts in a controlled environment with superior lighting and air flow. These benefits enhance the quality and dry time of the projects and allow the best paint job possible.

Paint booths are also crucial to the safety of a body shop's employees as the constant airflow prevents buildup of chemicals from paints and thinners and reduces fire hazards.

When it comes to choosing the right paint booth for your auto shop, there are many factors to consider. One of the most important is paint booth sizing. The optimum size of your paint booth will be determined by the size of your shop, the output required, and the size of the vehicles you'll be refinishing in general, among a few other things. Dimensions are especially important in this area, as safety and productivity will be involved, as well as optimum airflow.

Typical Use

Paint booths are an essential item for any auto body shop. They tend to help make painting and refinishing vehicles and parts quicker, easier, and yield better paint results due to helpful lighting, a controlled environment free of airborne particles that could interfere with a clean finish, and helping speed up curing time. A properly vented paint booth is usually required by State and Federal regulations.

Paint booths also benefit home mechanics as well, and can be a pretty simple set-up.

Types of Paint Booths

The type of ventilation system your paint booth will use is an important factor to consider as well. With a cross draft paint booth, air is brought in from the front and vented out the back. These are typically less pricey to install, but if you're wanting to achieve a super clean finish, you'll probably want to include an air makeup unit. This will require an upgrade to a downflow type of Paint Booth. This resembles downdraft airflow and prevents overspray when painting multiple vehicles.

Downdraft paint booths provide the best finish when it comes to painting several items at once, as the air is filtered from the top down, and pulled away from whatever is being painted. They're typically a bit more expensive to install, as there will be concrete work required to accommodate the venting system in the floor, but the price can be well worth it for achieving high-quality finishes. Downdraft paint booths also tend to not work as efficiently with very large vehicles, as it's difficult to orient your project to the air flow, since it runs the width and height of the building.

Paint Booth Sizing

Paint booths come in a wide range of sizes to accommodate every vehicle type and varying shop productivity levels. You can purchase/build paint booths that are specifically designed for painting motorcycles or smaller vehicles or for larger projects up to semi size, depending on your shop needs. Dimensions range from motorcycle paint booths at 8' H x 10'D x 12'8" W to booths 45 feet in length that will accomodate a semi.

Best General Auto Shop Paint Booth Size

If you're looking for a general size that fits most vehicles, from cars, trucks, SUVs, and motorcycles, a paint booth that's roughly 14' x 24' and 10' tall, or something similar, works well. This size is good for most standard collision repair shops, as it's large enough to allow freedom of movement and plenty of space to paint on all sides of your objects and errs on the side of slightly larger.

Best Home Mechanics Paint Booth Size

Home mechanics will probably want to opt for something a bit smaller, but that will depend on your productivity levels. 15' by 8' with a 10' ceiling is a great place to start for a home mechanic. As always, be sure your paint booth has proper ventilation and lighting as well.

Tips on Choosing Paint Booth Sizes and Dimensions

In addition to productivity output and employee safety and ease of use, you'll need to make sure your paint booth has been inspected and the ventilation system meets local codes and safety specifications. This will also be hugely beneficial in obtaining a permit (you WILL need to do this) in order to have it installed.

You'll want to determine the general size and volume of the items you'll be painting and use those estimates, as well as your shop's size, the space you have set aside for your paint booth, and a few other things when it comes to sizing your paint booth properly.

Placement and size of the objects being painted should also influence your paint booth size decision. Ideal placement in the paint booth itself, depending on the type, is important for proper airflow, reducing exhaust in/outtake, short curing times, and good lighting. For example, in a cross draft booth, you'll want to minimize the width and the height of the item to be painted to obtain the optimum airflow by placing it lengthwise. With a downdraft paint booth, this won't drastically reduce exhaust in- or outtake, and won't need to be a consideration.
As a general rule, you'll want to make sure that there's at least 3 feet of access on all sides of the vehicles or parts being painted when they're inside the paint booth at all times. This allows free movement for your employees for optimum production and a higher quality finish as the paint flow won't be obstructed or diminished due to tighter quarters. So, for example, if you will be painting vehicles that are a maximum of 45 feet long, you'll want a booth that is at least 52 feet deep.
The size of your auto shop space will also help determine sizing your paint booth. In order to meet federal regulations, you'll need to make sure that there's at least 3 feet cleared space around the outside perimeter of the paint booth from all sides. This allows maintenance access and prevents fire and safety hazards.
Once again, if your paint booth is too small, it will inhibit proper airflow and limit your employees' access to the items being painted. When choosing a paint booth, it's generally best to err on the side of it being slightly too big.
Proper placement for painting a single object or multiple objects also varies on the dimensions of your paint booth and paint booth type. For example, when using a cross draft booth, it's best NOT to place each object being painted in a line, as overspray from the first object will affect the finish on the next, and so on. This can be avoided by painting multiple objects in front of the entrance exhaust fan.
Proper airflow and ventilation is impacted by the paint booth size. The larger the face opening of a cross draft paint booth or footprint of a downdraft, the more air the spray booth will be removing from the building. Proper air removal is important for your paint booth to pass inspection, but with larger exhaust fans that remove significantly more air than smaller to average paint booths, you'll need to replace the air with an Air Makeup Unit. When more air is being pushed into the booth than being sucked out, this creates positive air pressure (rather than negative) and helps reduce overspray and drying time, as well as keeps the paint booth running more efficiently.
With a larger paint booth, lighting is also very important for achieving quality finishes and preventing oversight of any blemishes and color discrepancies.
Proper paint booth heating is also important. This will allow proper cure times and better finish quality, and can limit fire hazards.

Summary

There are a lot of factors to consider when determining which size paint booth you'll need, but as long as you keep the above things in mind, it should be pretty simple! Basically, you'll want a booth that provides plenty of room and access to the vehicles and parts being painted, has good airflow, and runs efficiently. As mentioned, it's usually better to err on the side of larger paint booths than one that's too small, so you'll want to consider your goal output, the size of your shop, your current output, and so on.

If you're a home mechanic looking to achieve professional-quality finishes, you won't need much more than a basic cross or downdraft booth.

When your facility is a professional garage or auto shop, you'll probably want something that can accommodate motorcycles as well as larger rigs and vehicles. Anything much larger than an average sized paint booth, you'll probably also want to consider if you need extra ductwork, lighting, heat, exhaust, or other add-ons and accessories in order for it to function efficiently and stay up to code.

Auto Body Toolmart offers everything you need to improve your existing paint booth or help you start from scratch. Browse our paint booths to get started.