Painting Your Home When You Have Allergies

Recently we had some repairs and painting done through our home warranty.
While we did requested that they use a low VOC paint because of our sensitivities and allergies, they forgot.
As a result we spent the next several days with the air purifiers working overtime all the windows wide open, and every fan we own on.  A truly good thing it's July and not December, but we still experienced everything from headaches, breathing problems, irritated eyes, throats, and skin.
Not really a very fun experience but I will say I'm supper glad that everything is finally done.

So, this of course got me thinking, what does low VOC actually mean?
VOC stands for "Volatile organic compounds", these compounds are found in a variety of different things including paints, cleaning agents and adhesives. The gases that these chemicals release can cause physical symptoms like the ones we had. The fumes are not just damaging for as long as the strong smell remains but can continue for quite some time.  If the paint you are using has high VOC levels it's not only stronger smelling but it can apparently take years for these fumes to completely dissipate.  Low VOC paints on the other hand have no strong smell or fumes and can take just days to dissipate.  I've read the suggestion that painting with a low or no VOC paint over top of an old existing paint can seal it to some degree (although there seems to be some debate on how effective this can actually be).  But I also discovered that you can use a non-toxic sealing primer that will block VOC's as well as Formaldehyde. Something I didn't even realize existed.

I found a list of Low and No VOC Paints, most of these are found in the US but some are also available in Canada, including Benjamin Moore, Behr, CIL, and Cloverdale paints.

I have to admit for painting interior walls my favourite is Benjamin Moore.  They offer Low and No VOC paints and I find that their paints stand up very well (it's nice to be able to wash a wall if you need to and not have it change to some strange colour). It also goes on easily and has good coverage.

It's a good idea even when your using low or no VOC paints to have good ventilation.  So open the windows, turn on a fan, and of course use gloves.






source:
How to Reduce VOCs from Existing Paint in Your Home
Allergy-Friendly painting: How to Skip the VOC's