• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • DIY Ideas
  • Green Products
  • Ecofriendly Travel
  • Environmental News
  • Simple Ways To Go Green
  • More
    • Electronics & Gadgets
    • Health & Beauty
    • Hobbies & Crafts
    • Home & Garden
    • Jobs & Money
    • Outdoor Fun
    • Travel

Green Living Guide

Real People. Real Experiences. Real Helpful.

a Fun Times Guide site

Home » Home & Garden » DIY Ideas » Painting Soon? 6 Low VOC And No VOC Painting Tips You Need To Know

Painting Soon? 6 Low VOC And No VOC Painting Tips You Need To Know

Pin
Share
Tweet

Some articles on this site contain affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to yourself.


paint_bucket.jpg Indoor pollution is a real problem in our modern age.

The paints we use to adorn the walls of our homes can really contribute to that problem, which in turn contributes to the pollutants in the air we breathe in general.

House paint can include such nastiness as formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, and ethylene glycol — to name a few.

These chemicals can spend time evaporating and becoming part of the air you breathe years after you’ve painted your living room.

It’s a scary thought, but what can we do to help prevent this type hazard in our homes?

Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to go green when you are painting your house.

 

Some Ideas To Get You Started…

#1 – Choose paints that have low or zero VOC’s.

VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compound, and the more of these there are in paint, the more likely it is that you are going to have pollution problems. Carefully read labels — because even some low VOC paints can still give off quite a lot of VOC’s and cause health problems! If you’ve ever felt dizzy, sick or even light-headed after or during painting your home, then you’ve been a victim of VOC’s.

 

#2 – Choose water-based paints.

These paints are actually called latex paints even though there isn’t any latex in them. Water-based paints are safer than oil-based paints because they have lower VOC’s than the oil-based ones.

 

#3 – Use lime wash instead of traditional house paint.

In lime wash, limestone is mixed with water to form a natural paint that is the basis for whitewash. A downside to this alternative is that limestone is corrosive to eyes and skin so you will need to wear gloves, as well as goggles when applying it. Also, lime wash can only be used on porous materials such as brick, wood, concrete, and plaster because it actually sink into the subsurface of your walls. They would be useless on drywall for example because of this.

 

#4 – Choose clay-based paints.

Clay-based paints are another natural paint that you can try. They are combined of earth-based minerals and water. The biggest downside is there aren’t as many colors to choose from. Another downside is that they tend to be expensive. However, if you like earth tones — and blue, white, or orange tints — and don’t mind paying more for your paint in order to Go Green, then clay-based paints may be the ideal solution for you.

 

#5 – Use milk-based house paints. 

Yes, there are milk-based paints available to paint your home with. Milk-based paint’s main ingredient is casein, a protein that comes from milk. The casein is separated from milk and then mixed with clay, earth pigments, and water. In a way, it’s a variation on the clay paints, with similar earth-tones which I personally love. One downside to milk-based paints are that they can be difficult to remove when you are ready to paint again.

 

#6 – Buy less paint.

Who hasn’t bought more house paint than they needed and then had leftover paint that they couldn’t bear to get rid of? The bad thing about this, especially if it is a paint that has high VOC’s, is that those VOC’s can evaporate and continue to pollute your air for years, even with the lid on the can! One way to avoid this is to use one of the many online paint calculators available and figure out how much paint you are actually going to need first. Then only buy that much.

 

For a little more info about VOC’s, check out this video:

 

Indoor pollution is always going to be problem as long as we live our lives inside semi-well insulated apartments and houses, because we often don’t get enough ventilation. Choosing paints that are more eco-friendly will definitely help to reduce our indoor pollution.

While the natural-based paints have their own issues, I think the advantages to using these paints far outweighs any disadvantages and in the long run I believe they will really help our air quality — both inside and out.

Regina
Regina

My favorite things to write about are topics that have to do with pregnancy, weddings, saving money, living green, and life with dogs. When I’m not writing, I love to spend time with my husband, read, create 3D artwork and Native American beadwork.

Pin
Share
Tweet

Filed Under: DIY Ideas, Home & Garden Tagged With: air pollution, decorating, green building, home improvement, VOCs

Primary Sidebar

About Us

JeffreyI think every little step toward living green is an awesome one... but eco-snobbery sucks! My goal is to help newbies learn the most important steps toward living green -- individually and collectively. Personally, I strive to have as little impact as possible on Planet Earth while I'm here.

Jeffrey: View My Blog Posts

JoshuaAs an advocate for good health, I usually try to choose the 'greener' option over other more dangerous and/or wasteful options. Generally, if it's bad for your health or the planet, I try to avoid it. In my effort to live green... on a budget, I like to find new (healthier) budget-friendly ways to do things -- from eating and cleaning to recycling and home decorating. My goal is to help you take the chore out of living green by sharing fun new ecofriendly ideas that you can try today... or any day! My all-time favorite way to live green is to repurpose items and give them a new use -- I've written a lot of useful DIY articles.

Joshua: View My Blog Posts

LynnetteMy experience with living green consists of taking baby steps (like making one big change each year as my New Year's resolution) -- because I've seen too many people burn out on trying to 'Save the Planet'. I share a lot of Simple Ways To Go Green, as I find new and successful strategies that have worked for me. While I'm baby-stepping my ecofriendly habits in life, you will find me at the corner of Good News & Fun Times as publisher of The Fun Times Guide (32 fun & helpful websites).

Lynnette: View My Blog Posts

Top Searches

alternative energy bamboo carbon footprint cars CFLs Christmas cleaning clothing and fashion coffee conservation cycling decorating Earth Day eco-celebrities energy savings food Free Stuff funny gadgets gardening gifts green building green events green kids health home improvement landscaping LED lighting money organic food organic products paper partying green plastics recycling reduce reusing / repurposing reviews shopping shopping bags solar power videos water work

Footer

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
Fun Times Guide logo
Shop Our Favorite Items

Copyright © 2004-2021 The Fun Times Guide | Privacy Policy | About | Contact | Sitemap