Low VOC Paints

Milhaus

Anyone know what the scoop on volatile organic compounds (VOC) in paints is? What do they cause? Why is the primary benefit of Low VOCs?

Norrrrrrrrrrrrm

Which suppliers carry these paints?

jvsloan

Both Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore carry low VOC paint lines.

Woz the Painter

VOC's are things like solvents,laquer , mineral spirits, denatured alcohol, etc.

Most VOC's have a strong odor, can get you buzzed, may cause cancer etc.

The primary benefit is if your doing occupied offices, homes etc. most people won't bitch about the smell or accuse you of trying to kill them or their unborn.

pstorey

Off gassing is important too. It's not just the immediate fumes that we need to consider
http://www.natureneutral.com/learnOff.php

George Z

From our website:

http://ecopainting.ca/environmental_standards.html

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Wolverine-Eric

V.O.C. stands for Volitile Organic Content... Basically, it is comprised of the stuff (solvents) that evaporate... In waterbased products, a small percentage of the water is calculated in the formulation as well... Most water based paints have some amount of solvent in them. The solvent is actually referred to as 'co-solvent' since the water is considered to be the primary solvent. The co-solvent is there to help the resins acheive good film formation.

We have made products for another company that is zero VOC.

Pstory & GeorgeZ are both making really good points. There are many things in latex and other household paints that are toxic. In fact, NMP is a common ingredient that will need to be labeled as toxic starting next year.

BUT, you also have to consider what leaches out of the dry film over the next couple of years. Some common paints create bad indoor air quality for years!

From what I have seen, the 'big guys' are just lowering the VOC and calling that 'green'. Personally, I think that a true 'green' product is going to be devoid of ALL toxic chemicals and petrochemicals!

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Milhaus

You guys are great...thanks for the input.

myleensjodin

For truly NO VOC paints, google search EnviroSafe.

buildgreen

This may be dead, just wanted to add my two cents as I used to run a store selling green building materials -- including paints.

Everything I've read here seems good so far. VOCs is a generic term for anything carbon-chain molecule that's volatile around room temp. They work really well as solvents and that's why they are predominantly used -- they can carry resins and because they are volatile, they evaporate quickly, cutting down on dry times.

Someone raised the issue of the big guys calling their stuff green -- this may be an important distinction for a professional. It's true that all the major paint companies now have a low- or zero-VOC line. However, since VOC regulations were developed to combat smog (VOCs come out of your car's tailpipe too), companies only need to report those VOCs that contribute to smog. Thus a paint that has Zero VOCs that create smog may very well have other VOCs that are hazardous to your health. Some companies have taken to referring to a "True Zero" paint -- one that doesn't exempt any VOCs from the calc. Some brands I recommend are AFM Safecoat, American Pride, and Yolo.

So if you have a client that just needs the VOC content to qualify (like a client doing a LEED certified job), then go with any paint that's low VOC (typically less than 50 g/L for flats). BUT, if you have a chemically sensitive client, then you may want to go with one of the brands above... I'd certainly recommend a client sniff test, since some people are more sensitive than others.

On an application note : Follow the dry times on the can, adjusting for humidity, temp, etc. The paints listed above are high quality paints -- not your $10 gallon can from the local hardware store -- and the only problems I've seen are when someone throws up the second coat 30 minutes or an hour after putting up the first... won't work -- water solvents take a bit longer to dry and are a bit less forgiving...

Milhaus

Buildgreen - thanks for the thorough explanation. I'll check into the products you mentioned.

On a hijacker note, why did you get out of the green building materials store?

mark

Norrrrrrrrrrrrm

That was some good info...hang around some more.

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LaurieC

Greenbuilder- I went to The Road Less Traveled, a local store that specializes in green bldg products, and the owner told me the no VOC paint is thicker and doesn't need a second coat. Does that sound right? I'm new to the green thing, but trying to catch up.

orson

VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compound (not Content)

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Milhaus

We used Sherwin Williams top of the line on the last job we did. Rolled the primer and top coat to reduce but then didn't get the coverage we expected. So, we sprayed another coat on and it covered. The weird thing is that we used less paint in the sprayer than we did rolling. Don't know how that works but it did. Maybe it didn't actually require as much to spray because it was already painted?

mark

MakDeco

Another one out there is Mythic paints and as other mentioned Yolo and American pride are good low VOC and Non Toxic paint.
Is anything really non toxic to us? Maybe better then before but I think its hard to say anything is non toxic.

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