# screenprinting in my garage year round



## Hardwork12 (Aug 22, 2011)

Garage Setup – 
I am planning to set up my whole screenprinting shop in my garage. It gets cold in the winter and hot and humid in the summer. I know a humidifier and fan can fix the summer but what about the winter months? I know I cannot keep the ink in there because it gets too cold in the winter. But is it all right to keep my screen rack with newly coated emulsion that have not been burned yet? Do I need to keep the garage above the freezing temperature at all times during the winter?


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## ole Jobe (Jun 16, 2009)

The cold won't hurt coated and dried screens, but unused emulsion will be spoiled by freezing. I try to keep my shop above freezing just to be safe. God Bless.


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## Nuzzy (Aug 19, 2011)

At some point I'll be faced with this as well. Now I'll be heating the shop, but what is the temp the ink must be kept above to work properly? I've heard 60-65° for best transfer through the screens; does that seem accurate or am I way off?


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## StampedTees (Jun 15, 2011)

the warmer the ink is the better it'll past through the screens .. How warm it needs to be depends on your mesh count and the ink you're using I suppose.. Will you have a flash or conveyor dryer? If so just turn those on a half hour before you get printing and let everything get nice and toasty.


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## Nuzzy (Aug 19, 2011)

StampedTees said:


> the warmer the ink is the better it'll past through the screens .. How warm it needs to be depends on your mesh count and the ink you're using I suppose.. Will you have a flash or conveyor dryer? If so just turn those on a half hour before you get printing and let everything get nice and toasty.




Will have both. 

The current, main portion of our operation is in a far more temperate climate, and a smaller shop. I'm currently facing the task of building and heating/cooling our new secondary facility here in Michigan -- while being new to screen printing myself... Can you say learning curve!  Anyways, the shop will be quite a bit larger (insulated pole barn) and I need to ensure our heating system will be up to production task without unnecessarily killing the heating budget.


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## wonubee (Oct 2, 2007)

I print in my garage year round. I just store my emulsion indoors where it stays a more constant temperature. I move whatever ink I'm using (especially the white) indoors the night before I'll be using it and ya once you get your dryer and flash up to temp it gets nice and toasty.


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## foot print (Jun 2, 2010)

I print in my garage year round as well .. I live in Cali so I don't have to worry about to hot or to cold


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## Hardwork12 (Aug 22, 2011)

Thanks for all of the responses. I think Im just going to keep the screens and ink in the basement. There shouldn't be a problem with any health issues such as smells and fumes from the emulsion being kept in the basement?


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## wfredette (May 23, 2010)

Hardwork12 said:


> There shouldn't be a problem with any health issues such as smells and fumes from the emulsion being kept in the basement?


I have all my stuff in the basement, and get no complaints from my family upstairs.  Stored emulsion won't put off any fumes, and even when I'm coating screens, the odor is minimal.


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## Hardwork12 (Aug 22, 2011)

ok, thanks!!!!


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## Hardwork12 (Aug 22, 2011)

wfredette said:


> I have all my stuff in the basement, and get no complaints from my family upstairs.  Stored emulsion won't put off any fumes, and even when I'm coating screens, the odor is minimal.


But do you keep your coated screens with emulsion on the drying rack in the basement also? are there any smells that come upstairs from storing it in the basement?


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## wfredette (May 23, 2010)

Hardwork12 said:


> But do you keep your coated screens with emulsion on the drying rack in the basement also? are there any smells that come upstairs from storing it in the basement?


I do keep coated screens in the basement. While they're drying, I've noticed very little odor, and once they're dry I store them in light-tight bags. I find that the biggest source of fumes and odor is ink that is being heat cured - especially discharge ink.


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## Hardwork12 (Aug 22, 2011)

ok. Thanks.


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## Hardwork12 (Aug 22, 2011)

But I thought newly coated screens are supposed to be kept in a room with a humidifier and fan. doesn't keeping it in bag cause moister to happen?


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## wfredette (May 23, 2010)

Hardwork12 said:


> But I thought newly coated screens are supposed to be kept in a room with a humidifier and fan. doesn't keeping it in bag cause moister to happen?


I was referring to dried screens when I said I keep them in a light-tight bag. I usually coat a few at a time, dry them in a rack with a fan and then store them for use within a couple of weeks.


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## BoydRiver (Aug 12, 2008)

I'd like to know how big your garages are.
My Garage in the UK is just big enough to a Puegeot 206 in :-(


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## wonubee (Oct 2, 2007)

BoydRiver said:


> I'd like to know how big your garages are.
> My Garage in the UK is just big enough to a Puegeot 206 in :-(


300 square feet


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## BoydRiver (Aug 12, 2008)

That aint a garage thats an aircraft hanger


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## tpitman (Jul 30, 2007)

I use a dehumidifer in my 4x10 foot exposure/drybox room. The dehumidifer puts out some heat in the course of drying the air, so maybe simply enclosing a space similar to mine, and keeping your emulsion in there during the winter will solve your problems? Could keep ink that you intend to use in there, too, to keep it from getting too stiff from the cold.


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## valleyboy_1 (Jan 23, 2010)

Would like to revive this thread, is there a way you can get power to your garage so you can control the temperature? Screen printing from a garage seems to be the way to go these days.. However eventually I would like to upgrade to an automatic possibly


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## bomber315 (Jun 18, 2010)

?? power to you garage so you can control the temperature?? put a heater in your garage? im confused


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## valleyboy_1 (Jan 23, 2010)

Most garages do not have power, well at least round here where I am, just a big space for parking.


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## bomber315 (Jun 18, 2010)

hmmm well then if i were you i would probably just run a heavy duty extension cord to the garage and buy an electric heater to keep it above freezing. Or you could probably use the same circuit that you flash dryer runs on. Just not both heat sources at the same time. Chances are you will not need a heater when you are "in production".

This all depends on how much insulation, if any, is in the garage now


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## Blaqmat1c (Sep 13, 2018)

I also have a question about this I live in las vegas and it can get really hot here in the summer and I print in my garage should I worry about storing my ink and emulsion in a hot garage?


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## numbercruncher (Feb 20, 2009)

years back when I was at Riddell we had what we called ink explosions (it popped open the lids and spewed plastisol all over). We were told that was due to some puff additive in our ink that our manufacturer inserted as a bleed blocker (we printed lots of jerseys and moisture wicking apparel). Not sure if that was correct, but in the short term we used a larger bucket(say 6 gallon for 5 gallons of ink). In the long term we changed ink manufacturers. Never had issues w/ emulsion, though we usually kept it in our coating and drying area - which was climate controlled.


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