spray painting and pregnant...?

[inabubble]

Ok, so I've recently primed and painted my 2 daughter's shared dresser (soon to be 3rd daughter's shared dresser as well ) I used the fume free/low VOC stuff, and did everything outdoors. Well, I'm now to the point of needing to do 2 things -- spray paint the handles a bright turquoise, and spray the entire dresser with a polyurethane protective coating. I reallllly want to finish this dresser before baby comes (I'm just 29 weeks now), but neither do I want to do anything stupid, of course.

Am I pushing it by thinking I could wear a mask and spray outside and still be ok? Or should I see if I can convince the man to do it, and hope he does a good enough job for me?

 

[LDC]

I personally wouldn't spray paint - I've painted using low voc paints but I'm not sure about the base of spray paint.

Heres a link that might give some more information

https://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/2531.aspx?CategoryID=54&SubCategoryID=131

X

 

[mellyboo]

Id still do it .. but only outside and with a mask ! better safe then sorry!

 

[inabubble]

Thanks for the link, LDC. I'm thinking I'll discuss it with my midwife, and I also have a friend who I might trust to spray the knobs for me. Not sure about the protective finish though... maybe I'll just wait on that until after baby is here.

 

[oh_so_blessed]

I'd def make the man do it. lol! You can do all the tape work yourself.

That said, if you insist on doing it, just be sure there's at least a light wind on the day you are doing it and stay upwind! A mask will NOT keep fumes out. Just particulate. Breathing the VOCs is a bad idea.

 

[babybirdangel]

I spray painted today, I did it outside and made sure to cover my mouth and nose with a towel. I just held the towel over my mouth area and took a lot of breaks to let the area air out.

 

[oh_so_blessed]

I'm going to restate this just so it is not missed:

No amount of masks/towels/etc will keep harmful fumes from spray paint out of your lungs.

To give a reference here:
A molded face mask keeps out particles in the micron range (> 3 microns or 3x10^-6 meters)
Toluene, a common, highly toxic, solvent in spray paint ~ -0.0006 microns

Be sure to work in a well-ventilated area (ie, a fume hood or outdoors), upwind of the paint fumes (you should not smell them).

If you're unsure of how harmful spray paint fumes are, look up your product's MSDS worksheet.

 

[Jinnah]

Sounds like a bad idea. I would have someone else do it. Low or No VOC paint is fine in a well ventilated area, but that's about it.