Basic Personal Safety for Furniture Painting

by Phoenix Restoration

With so many people making a business out of restored / painted furniture, I thought it would be helpful to remind others to take personal safety seriously - even if it's just a side hobby.

basic personal safety for furniture painting, painted furniture

When I’m lazy about safety, all I need to do is think about my kids for a few seconds to get my priorities straight: not taking time for safety is selfish!

#1 - Wear a Respirator-Mask. Whether you paint with VOC-free paint, regular acrylic/ latex, or highly toxic solvent based paints, I would recommend that you have one of these 3m Niosh respirators (or something equivalent). This mask filters particles and fumes.

You may not need to wear it while painting if you’re using VOC-free or low-VOC products, but it would be prudent to wear while sanding. It should also be worn while working with strippers, primers, stains, glazes, polys and waxes that are not 100% natural (like beeswax). When I wear this mask I cannot detect a hint of the noxious fumes that are part of using these products.

Make sure and replaces the cartridges every 30 days or so, depending on your volume.

If you are spraying solvents, please consider buying this full face mask. My friend, Sucheta, calls it her Meth Mask. I guess if you watch Breaking Bad, you get that joke.

# 2 - Wear Gloves: I have different gloves for different situations to protect myself from dermal exposure, cuts, splinters, and making it more comfortable to lift.

Just being in the shop means I have cheap, disposable latex or nitrile gloves on. These provide light protection for whatever I’m doing. I also wear these when painting (brush or sprayer) because they barely inhibit my skill while protecting my skin from potential absorption or just the messiness of working with paints.

When polishing brass, I wear standard kitchen gloves. I recently learned that oxalic acid in my favorite brass cleaner is some nasty stuff and can be absorbed through the skin!

When working with stripper or other harsh chemicals, I wear chemical gloves:

When moving furniture, I wear work gloves. I keep them in my van in case I’m out and about and need them to move furniture at an estate or garage sale. I swear, wearing work gloves makes me 10x stronger since my hands aren’t getting all sliced up and splintered.

#3 - Wear Safety Glasses / Splash Goggles:

Eye injuries are a serious risk. In this line of work we are exposed to the risk of flying debris and chemical burns, all of which can be devastating and permanent. Like my gloves, I have different types of goggles. I don’t like standard safety glasses – I’ve never found any that fit well. Instead, I just wear some costume glasses (like the ones I’m wearing in my photo) to protect my eyes from flying debris. I wear these while using my sander, staple gun, or just general tinkering in the shop.

When painting or working with liquids, I wear splash goggles with my respirator. I don’t yet have the full face mask, but this combination basically accomplishes the same thing – but it is not very comfortable!

#4 - Coveralls: This is more about the safety of my kids than my own personal safety. When I set up my spray booth earlier this year, I decided to get some full coveralls so that when I’m doing a quick task – like spraying – I can put these on while working and take them off and be ready to interact with my kids without changing or showering. These are about $8 and can be reused, but are ultimately disposable. Obviously, you can just have some dedicated shop clothes instead, but this works for me for certain tasks.

#5 - Ear Protection: Noise at high levels can cause permanent and irreparable hearing loss. When operating your sander, compressor, or other power tools, consider wearing ear protection. I use foam ear plugs or wear gun muffs.

#6 - Knees: If you kneel while working, wear knee pads or use a kneeling mat and move it around with you.

7. Dolly: Leverage every tool you can to help you move furniture so you don’t strain your back! I am preaching to myself with this point. I move many of my things alone and do a lot of unnecessary heavy lifting. One slip or misstep and I could throw out my back and have to quit this business.

One of my buyers showed up with this lightweight fully collapsible dolly cart! If I didn’t already have a dolly, I would buy this because it is light and compact.

Finally, I mentioned this in my How to Start a Furniture Painting Business Post – but I’ll say it again here: consider enrolling in your State’s Industrial Insurance program (L&I). You’ll have to pay premiums, but this means that you will be covered if you are injured on the job.

As much as I love this business and the results of my hard work, my first priority is safety. Thanks for reading. If you have any questions, please comment or email me at christina@phoenixrestorationseattle.com

NOTE: Please click over to my blog for links to products and website links that support the information provided.