Three Tips for Choosing Eco-Friendly Paint for Your New Home

Jan 21

The crowning touch on any new home is the final interior and exterior paint job. If you are concerned about the environment and your family's health, it's important to learn about eco-friendly home painting options.

1. Minimize Harmful Vapors

The vapors off-gassed by both interior and exterior paints can pose a major hazard. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in paint can affect respiratory health, and frequent exposure may lead to an increased risk for some types of cancers. Other issues caused by VOCs include everything from allergy-like skin irritations to migraines.

The health effects of high VOC paints tend to be more severe when used indoors, but VOCs in paints and coatings have been found to increase outdoor air pollution. Even worse, the off-gassing of VOCs can continue for several years, long after the foul odor of fresh paint has dissipated.

Vapor Options:

Fortunately, there are many modern alternatives to high VOC paint. Low and no VOC paint is available for both interior and exterior use. Keep in mind that no VOC paint isn't actually completely free of VOCs; they just contain so few VOCs that they can be labeled as such. You will have a greater color choice if you opt for a low VOC paint, but a no VOC option may be better if you’re sensitive to the off-gassing in your household.

2. Choose Latex-Based Formulas

Another option for house paint is the base formula. Generally, you will have the choice of either oil or a water base. Oil-based paints used to be the norm, but they are not as ecologically friendly as water-based paints. For one, oil paint produces more VOCs than latex paints.

Oil-based paints can also contain elements that don't break down naturally in the environment, which can lead to an ecological hazard if the paint begins to peel away.

Latex Options:

You will have two main alternatives to oil-based paints. In general, most people opt for latex paint. It is much more environmentally friendly, you can use it in both interior and exterior paints, and it is long-lasting. Latex paints also come in a huge range of colors.

The other option is to use natural paint. These paints are more commonly referred to as milk paints. Milk paints are not as weather-resistant as latex options, so they are only suitable for indoors. Just like latex, you can have milk paints tinted to the color of your choice, so it is easy to customize.

3. Consider the Additives

Most paints contain additives. Eco-friendly paints should contain additives that improve the paint quality, the environmental friendliness, or both. Additives are designed to prolong the life of the paint or to guard against issues like mold or mildew. The types of additives should be listed on paint labels. Often, the purpose of each additive may also be listed, or you can ask your home contractor for more information.

Additive Options:

The most common additive option are fungicides. Avoid paints that have petroleum-based fungicides or depend upon harmful chemicals. Zinc oxide is a natural destroyer of fungus, so it is typically added to eco-friendly exterior paints in order to prevent mold and mildew problems.

Another common additive is chalk, which is often used in interior paints. Chalk thickens the paint and aids adhesion, while also increasing porosity so that the walls can breathe and not retain moisture. A variety of pigments are also used in paints, so it is important to verify that these are natural and do not cause any health concerns for those in your household.

Justin Hastings