Volatile organic compounds. Never heard of them? You will, especially if you've got a painting project lined up this spring. VOCs, as they are usually known, are those nasty solvents that off-gas when you paint, leaving your eyes watering and your head aching if you've been using an oil-based product and lingering as that unpleasant new-paint smell if you've slapped on less potent latex. VOCs also contribute to the formation of particulate matter and ground-level ozone, both main ingredients of smog.
The solvents are basically vehicles for transferring paint to a surface. Once applied, they evaporate and you pay the price.
The solution: low- and zero-VOC paints. They've been on the market for better than 10 years, but as a niche product with an often less-than-stellar reputation among users. Difficult to apply, with poor coverage and durability, they were good reasons not to go green. That's changing fast as the paint industry, nudged by government and green building advocates, launches new low- and zero-VOC products with superior performance.
Manufacturers are firing up zero- and low-VOC production capacity "because of demand and because it's environmentally the right thing to do," according to Jim Quick, president of the Canadian Paint & Coatings Association.
VOC content in Canadian paints has dropped 54 per cent in the past two decades, he adds, and we're likely to see that reduced by another 30 per cent in the coming years.
You need to watch for exaggerated or misleading VOC claims. For example, so-called zero-VOC paints likely contain 10 to 15 grams of VOCs per litre, according to Tom Hill, president and CEO of The Coatings Alliance. That's because EPA testing is not a precise science.
And don't be fooled by a tin of eco-innocent base or white paint: the minute you colour it, you're adding up to 20 grams of VOCs per litre thanks to the colourant. Dark paints, because they have more colourants, are also higher in VOCs than light shades.
Hill mentions a couple of still-unsolved problems with low-VOC paints.
They don't survive freeze-thaw cycles, so be careful where you store them. Also, they tend to set up quickly, so overlap marks can result unless you paint like Superman.
Rapid drying can be overcome, says Hill. "We used to say, 'Make sure you have real good ventilation.' Now we're saying to put a humidifier in the room, keep the room cooler and don't have particularly good ventilation. That will keep the paint open longer so it flows and levels better."
Patrick Langston, The Ottawa Citizen
Dave - 360renos
How to make your home stand out when selling
We can help your house sell quickly and at a good price -- even in a slow market.
It takes a lot more than sparkling windows, scented candles and chocolate-chip cookies to sell a home in today's market.
Improvements should be made so that the property shows well, is consistent with the neighborhood and does not involve capital investments.
Beyond any doubt, the best investment you can make is new paint. Painting can make a room or an exterior façade look brand-new, and totally transform the look and feel of a room or the entire residence. It is always wise to be somewhat restrained when choosing colors for a home-staging paint project. Avoid choosing colors that are too individual or flashy and favor neutral colors and schemes. This does not mean painting everything white, however.
Use subtle color schemes to accentuate the home's strengths and minimize weaknesses. Dark colors, for example, tend to make a room feel smaller, while lighter colors and pastels can make a room feel bigger.
There is another benefit to painting as well: the process of preparing the interior or exterior surfaces of a home for painting automatically allows us to go over the entire area receiving paint in great detail, and this can often expose items or areas requiring repair. It seems you always discover where the caulking has let go, where the wall is dinged.
It is always preferable that we discover and deal with these items before the real estate agent (or worse, the prospective buyer) points them out to you!
Dave - 360renos
It takes a lot more than sparkling windows, scented candles and chocolate-chip cookies to sell a home in today's market.
Improvements should be made so that the property shows well, is consistent with the neighborhood and does not involve capital investments.
Beyond any doubt, the best investment you can make is new paint. Painting can make a room or an exterior façade look brand-new, and totally transform the look and feel of a room or the entire residence. It is always wise to be somewhat restrained when choosing colors for a home-staging paint project. Avoid choosing colors that are too individual or flashy and favor neutral colors and schemes. This does not mean painting everything white, however.
Use subtle color schemes to accentuate the home's strengths and minimize weaknesses. Dark colors, for example, tend to make a room feel smaller, while lighter colors and pastels can make a room feel bigger.
There is another benefit to painting as well: the process of preparing the interior or exterior surfaces of a home for painting automatically allows us to go over the entire area receiving paint in great detail, and this can often expose items or areas requiring repair. It seems you always discover where the caulking has let go, where the wall is dinged.
It is always preferable that we discover and deal with these items before the real estate agent (or worse, the prospective buyer) points them out to you!
Dave - 360renos
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