Low VOC Paints Are Not a Food Group

Let's just get this over with, and I can write this post without violence. Yes, some paints are "greener" than others. "Green" paint is sometimes friendly to people and the environment. But I want no comments involving puns on green paint vs. "green" paint. Are we agreed? Ok.

Volatile Organic Compounds weren't so scary until we began to read the acronym, VOC, attached to numbers predicting cancers, birth defects, asthma, auto-immune diseases and environmental disaster resulting from the widespread use of paints manufactured using VOCs. The worst case picture (we don't say "scenario" any more since everybody wore it out) is you waiting until winter to paint a room or rooms with oil based paint, letting it dry without ventilation, and breathing the fumes until spring. Or using latex (water-based paint) and breathing the vapors as the paint dries. Paint can continue to release (outgas is the word, but doesn't that sound naughty?) VOCs for over a year after it is applied. The link article is very sobering. Not for the kiddies, really.

On the outside of your house the issue of personal health and safety while painting is changed a bit. Are you paying a pro painter to risk his/her lungs for you? Well done. Are you going up a ladder with a can of oil based primer (best stuff for durability) and daubing the house, fighting the headaches and that foul taste in your mouth that tells you something horrible is invading your svelte and harmonious body? Did you think latex exterior and interior paints were entirely safe and vegetable derived? Sorry. I used to work for Dow Chemical. I know where latex comes from, and the stork does not bring it. Your exposure to potentially harmful chemical substances is significantly increased when you open a can of any conventional paint, whether oil or water based.

Low VOC paints have the reputation of being a compromise on quality and durability. That's partly true. Low cost paints labeled "low VOC" are missing some things that would make them better, and they include some things that should have been taken out to make the paint not just low VOC, but actually safer to breathe and drip onto your skin. You have to spend money, at least 50% more of it per gallon, to get a good quality low VOC paint that has been formulated to be low in toxic substances. You can spend more, even. And when you're painting the whole house outside or inside, that cost increase is noticeable.

The truth is, you can ventilate a space, or pick a breezy day to work on the outside of the house, and reduce your immediate exposure to VOCs by quite a bit. But the months of outgassing (what's that smell?) will still expose you to the bad stuff in the paint. If you want to paint indoors, try to seal the room off and ventilate it for some days after painting. Wait until warm weather to make it easier to do the right thing. Use oil based primer if you can on the outside of the house, because even Ralph Nader will laugh at you if it peels, but be careful, don't bathe in it, and select a high quality latex for a topcoat.

Spend your hard earned cash on premium low VOC interior paint that will protect your lungs and liver without sacrificing color or durability. And still seal off the room and ventilate if you can. Paint can have literally hundreds of ingredients, not all of them listed on the can, and you can't be sure at all that they took out the right stuff. And if your friend Jeff comes over and asks if you used green paint, and you're looking at a white room, chase him with a wet roller.