The watchword for paint in recent years is VOC. It stands for volatile organic compounds, things like benzene and formaldehyde that are used to make interior and exterior paints. Not only are they rough on the areas around the paint factory, they tend to leach gases into your home for months after the walls are freshly painted. Luckily, a lot of companies are now producing paints without so many of those chemicals, such as low-VOC and zero-VOC paints.
Since we have a little one on the way, I thought it'd be a good idea to test one of these paints in the future nursery. I chose Sherwin Williams' low-odor zero-VOC Harmony paint.
Frankly, I was unimpressed. I'm not sure what other brands of similar paint are like. But Harmony smelled worse and stronger than regular acrylic latex paint (even though it claimed to be low odor) and the coverage was not that good. It took three coats of white to get a nice, even finish, even with primed white walls. I've had much better luck with American Tradition and Behr brands.
Harmony also only comes in gallons, so if you only need a quart, for an accent or a project, you are out of luck. Oh well. Back to the drawing board. Next time around I am going to try Benjamin Moore's brand of low-VOC paint.
1 comment:
Yolo Colorhouse paints are truly low-odor, no VOC. We painted our new bedroom and bathroom with them. Available in quart, 1 gallons and 5 gallon sizes. They've got a limited palette of colors, designed to look nice together.
I did the trim with some Dutch Boy no VOC paint, and it was pretty decent on the odor front, too.
In both cases the rooms didn't smell like paint for days or weeks on end afterwards, like with regular paints, so it was nice stuff to work with.
Good coverage, too.
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