Eco-Remodelers

My wife and I decided to start our painting projects in our new house.  Painting is never fun… it’s a boatload of work. And we knew we’d be blowing our whole weekend on it. But, when we bought the house, every single room was painted white. This had to be done before we moved all our furniture in.

Plus, we knew that more than likely all the rooms had been painted with regular paint that emits what are called Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOCs for short.

Why are VOCs, found in regular paint, so dangerous? These chemicals in liquid, solid, or gaseous form are found and paint and are part of your house where you live and breathe. And where your family lives and breathes. Chemicals, such as formaldehyde and benzene are added to help the performance of the paint. These dangerous additives continue to “off-gas” into a room for up to five years! But technological advances have allowed companies to create low-VOC or Zero VOC paints and stains.

After some research, I went with the Harmony paint line available at Sherwin-Williams. We painted our daughters’ rooms pink and purple and this paint, with no odors and no VOCs, worked perfectly. It’s a bit thicker than normal paint, but worked fine with a roller as well as a brush. We knew our girls could sleep in rooms with no gases that can lead to respiratory problems, cancer, or other problems causes by chemicals found in normal paint. And… we would sleep well knowing they are safe.

The paint was slightly more expensive than regular brands I’d find at Home Depot or Lowe’s. I paid $34.99 per gallon and I saw regular Behr paint at Home Depot selling for $28.99. It was definitely worth it.

We painted our youngest daughter’s room a bright pink on Saturday and painted our oldest’s room on Sunday with a color called “Potentially Purple”. We used an Eggshell finish to give the room a bit of a gloss that wasn’t too shiny but would allow easy cleanup from all the crap that kids get into (and ON walls…)

We’ll probably use the same paint in our master bedroom. I might try a few other low- or zero VOC paints in other rooms, just to test them out. The Harmony brand meets or exceeds the GS-11 criteria for any paint used in an LEED-certified homes.

Painting any room is all about preparation. Painting an interior room is very easy, if you do the correct things before you start. You should remove all the plates that cover electrical outlets and light switches. Use the blue painters tape to mask off areas you can’t remove. Put down plastic or a canvas drop cloth to protect your carpeting. I always use a primer on tough stains, or to cover up a dark paint color. After all this prep work, you’re ready to start painting.

Need to remodel a room? Use the zero VOC paint. It’s a great way to revive any room and a great way to protect you and your family.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 11:15 am and is filed under Eco-Friendly Products, Indoor Air Quality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.