Feeling Sick Over the Smell of New Paint?

Prince Charming and I are pretty amazed that God has blessed us with our new house. The outside looks better than we ever hoped for, right down to professional landscaping. But the inside is severely stuck in a time warp. We love it, though – especially because we’ll get to update it just the way we like over the next few years. It’s great to not have to worry about major repairs and take things one room at a time.

One of the quickest ways we’ve made rooms feel like home in six short weeks is also one of the easiest ways: paint.

I LOVE choosing paint colors and watching a room transform simply by changing the color of the walls. But as much as I love deciding what palette to use in our new home, I know that paint isn’t the healthiest remodeling method.

Kinds of paint
Have you ever gotten dizzy or had a headache after smelling paint fumes? Because paint is made of chemicals – actually, pigments suspended in solvents, thinners, and drying agents – it has all kinds of nasty fumes. The kinds of chemicals used largely depend on the kind of paint used.

• Latex, or acrylic paint is the most common kind of paint. Acrylic paint does not contain solvents. It can be cleaned with soap and water.
• Oil-based paint does contain solvents. To clean up oil based paint, mineral spirits or turpentine is needed. Ventilation is needed when using oil-based paint.

• Spray paint usually includes vapors from benzene, butane, fluorinated hydrocarbons, formaldehyde, and propane. These vapors continue to be released up to a year after painting.

• Ammonia, an eye and respiratory irritant, is used as a pigment solvent.

• Dibutyl phthalate, an eye and skin irritant, is used to help paint’s spreadability. (It’s also toxic when ingested.)

• Glycol esters, known to damage organs, are also used as pigment solvents – they help pigment mix into paint bases.

• Heavy metals like cobalt and cadmium damage kidneys, livers, and are classified as neurotoxins. They’re used in paint as pigments and drying agents.

• Toluene, a toxin to the kidneys, liver, heart, and nervous system, is used as a paint solvent.

Volatile organic compounds
Ever wonder where new paint smell comes from? Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are chemicals added to pigments and some latex paints because they help paint’s durability and spreadability. VOCs evaporate at room temperature, leaving the new paint smell. Exposure to VOCs can cause burning eyes, dizziness, headaches, and nausea.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, studies cite that levels of several VOCs “average two to five times higher indoors than outdoors. During and for several hours immediately after certain activities, such as paint stripping, levels may be one-thousand times background outdoor levels.”

So what can homeowners do? I’ll share some safer paint options on Wednesday.

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Hilary Kimes Bernstein

Hilary Kimes Bernstein is a Christ follower, wife, mama, and journalist. She writes about making healthy decisions that honor God and happen to help the environment at Accidentally Green. Short and sweet - like her writing - Hilary is the author of several healthy living eBooks.

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