One of the first blog posts I wrote was on eco paints (see Eco paints demystified). Now that I’m at the stage of specifying paints for our renovation project and am facing painful budget constraints, the price difference between environmentally-friendly paints and high street brands is really hitting home! So I thought I’d look again at the health/environmental benefits of eco-paints and persuade myself, and you, that they really are worth the extra cost. I’ve learnt a bit more about assessing paints so I give you 4 basic tips on what to look out for. I’ve also got a few ideas as to how to stay within budget when it comes to internal finishes.
To recap, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are unstable compounds that are varied and ubiquitous in modern building materials and are commonly found in paints, wood products, flooring, adhesives, insulation – the list goes on…….. At fairly low levels they can lead to asthma, rhinitis (a hayfever-like irritation), dizziness and nausea whilst at high levels they can be linked to cancer; liver and kidney complications; and problems with the central nervous system. The average person spends over 90% of their time indoors which explains why poor indoor air quality can have such a huge impact on our health and well-being.
I have tied myself in knots trying to assess the eco-credentials of various paints – making paint is a complicated business and many paint technicians are trained chemists – but this is what I’ve learnt along the way:
- Don’t be fooled by a paint being water-based – many nasty toxins and solvents can be suspended in water.
- Look at the grams of VOC per litre (g/l). A paint with less than 4g/l is classified as minimal VOC. Sometimes VOC levels are expressed as a percentage where 0.0-0.29% is classified as minimal and 0.3-7.99% as low. I buy paints with minimal VOC levels because in real buildings (unlike in test laboratories) temperature and humidity levels fluctuate and change VOC off-gasing tendencies.
- My rule of thumb is that the most environmentally friendly paints are those that publish a full, comprehensive list of their ingredients. If you can’t find it online, then speak to the technical assistants who should provide you with the information you’re after.
- Finally, there’s a big distinction between natural and synthetic VOCs. Substances such as citrus oil and eucalyptus oil contain natural VOCs which can actually be beneficial to health and wellbeing. Many of the eco-friendly wood paints contain these oils but as a result are unable to class themselves as low VOC.
There can be a huge variation in price between eco-paints – some are 50-70% more expensive than others. The most expensive eco-paints tend to be the designer paints which have a beautiful array of unrivaled colours and cost between £65 – £75 for 5 litres. An option, which I’ve just found out about, is Keim Optil which is a no-nonsense, commercial eco-paint which costs £42 for 5 litres or may be less with a trade discount. I love the fact that Keim have an agreement with local German farmers where they plough dried residues of waste paint into their fields! I’m going to use this on all the walls that we’re painting white. Another option is Earthborn Ecopro which is cheaper than their claypaint range but just as good and arguably more eco because it’s made in the UK rather than Germany. A 5 litre can of white matt emulsion costs £35 and can be bought through Mike Wye & Associates who are one of the most helpful and knowledgeable suppliers of eco friendly building products that I’ve spoken to.
Another plan I have for some spaces is to leave the lime plaster in its natural state thereby saving on paint and labour costs. This look is typically used in Italian villas and French chateaux and I love it.
Also, on one wall of our kitchen, depending on what the bricks look like underneath, I’m going to leave them exposed. This is great if you’re trying to achieve an industrial style and is both cheap and eco because the fewer materials used the better.
Thank you for doing this research – this is a really helpful article. Trying to find eco/low toxic paints – and convince my partner that spending more than double the price will be worth it is difficult. These suggestions are very helpful, thank you
Hi Nikki, thanks for getting in touch. Yes, I agree that it’s difficult to reconcile the extra cost of the eco paints within a budget. I find the Keim paints more reasonable in cost and the Auro paints used to be cheaper than others but I don’t know if their price as gone up now. Keim don’t go in for expensive marketing so you have to do a bit more work deciding on colours and getting testers etc. I also find that the coverage of the eco paints is a lot better than F&B so you can get away with buying smaller quantities. All the best, Natasha
Hi,
I also found myself in the same boat and spoke to the technicals teams at Dulux and Johnston’s.
In their trade (not retail) range Dulux came out best in terms of VOCs with Dulux trade ultra Matt at 1g per litre (walls and ceilings) and Dulux durable flat Matt (woodwork) at 1g per litre. I believe EU regs are 30g and 100g for these categories respectively. If you tint the paint the VOC levels rise to 8g pr litre of 0.3-0.7%.
Thanks Joanna, that’s great to know.
Hi, what wood/metal paints are minimal voc & not too pricey in the uk?
Hi Jen the eco-friendly wood paints that I’ve used are Edward Bulmer paints and Auro. Auro are a little cheaper than Edward Bulmer although they are made by the same company. These paints are made of natural materials – no plastics, no petroleum-based products. Little Greene also make good, low VOC wood paints but they are not made with purely natural ingredients like Edward Bulmer and Auro.
Hi Natasha
Ian West of Lakeland Paints sites this study.
here is the summary…
“The take-home message from these studies, according to Nazaroff, is that everyone – but especially cleaning professionals – should be cautious about overuse of products with high levels of ethylene-based glycol ethers and terpenes. Rooms should be ventilated during and after cleaning, some products should be used in diluted solutions as opposed to full-strength, and cleaning supplies should be promptly removed from occupied spaces once cleaning is done. Also, people should avoid the use of ozone generators or ionizing air cleaners, especially in the same space where terpene-containing cleaning products or air fresheners are being used.”
In other words the way to encounter this danger is to work with ethers and terpenes, continuously, in polluted areas and in confined spaces.
The chance of doing this with natural paints is remote in my opinion but oil paints using them are now a minority purchase as water borne natural paints have largely replaced them in modern usage (a few old fashioned painters still choose them I have noticed).
Most modern paints are based on ethylene derivatives as far as one can work out, but as you observe most companies like Lakeland don’t declare their ingredients.
I find the US websites much more helpful as they require greater disclosure. For instance, the ECOS site to list the Lakeland ingredients or the Farrow & ball site to list their ingredients.
It should not be this hard though!
Hi Ian, this is an interesting piece of research and emphasises how important it is to scrutinise the ingredients in paints and cleaning products to minimise the risks of indoor air pollution. Many thanks for sharing it here.
hi – the citrus oils – plus other essential oils – as discussed at #4 above are mainly terpenes, which, far from being healthy have been shown to react with low level ozone (all around us) generating carcinogenic microparticulates which are drawn deep into the lungs, this research was carried out at the Univ of California Berkeley (and others) and relates to terpene-containing paints, as favoured by some of the German paint-makers and also cleaning agents etc – ie anything containing terpene essential oils – for example –
https://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/05/22_householdchemicals.shtml
if you search terpenes ozone on the net you will find many such results. thanks ian