low voc, instead of no voc paint for nursery and kid's room - WWYD

[Anonymous]

After talking about it for weeks, and me writing it all down for him, DH went off to the store and spent 400 bucks on paint that is the WRONG type. Aside from the frustration I am feeling at this, I am thinking about common sense. We are not wealthy, this was a project with a fixed budget and we don't have money to replace the paint.

I feel like my frustration with him and my desire to finish this project is clouding my judgment. We go to pretty great lengths to reduce and avoid environmental toxins, so on the one hand, I feel like why voluntarily introduce a harmful off-gassing substance to my kids' rooms? On the other hand, I think, well, you'd have to live in a bubble to avoid it all. And yet, again, I come back to the introducing it on purpose thing.

I know there will be plenty of people who will come on here telling me I'm paranoid and paint won't kill me or my kids, etc, and I appreciate your opinions, but I'm really hoping that folks who DO care and think about these things, and do worry about off-gassing, will weigh in. I'm not having much luck with google, it seems like there is a ton of conflicting info out there on whether or not low-voc is good enough.

If it matters, the specific brand of paint we got is <50 / liter VOC (I think the high limit is like 150 and regular paint is like 350).

[Anonymous]

I care a lot about it, but I think you are fine if you use low VOC paint and let the rooms air out before you put them in there.

[Anonymous]

Here is what I know. The darker the color the more voc's. The voc's are mostly an issue when the paint is wet and newly dry. Basically, when you can smell.

[Anonymous]

Many would mock us, OP, but I understand your concern, and especially your frustration at your DH. I ultimately decided to use Benjamin Moore's Aura paint, which is low-VOC but not non-VOC, because I had heard bad reviews on the quality of the non-VOC paints (peeling off, unpleasant odor, streaks, etc) and also because we planned on moving in the house months later, instead of immediately.

I would use the low-VOC paint.

[Anonymous]

Paint and air out the rooms. Your kids will probably get a ton more VOC's from your car - sitting in it, gassing it up, and whatever goes into your house from an attached garage. Also your nail polish remover, unless you go outside to use it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Paint and air out the rooms. Your kids will probably get a ton more VOC's from your car - sitting in it, gassing it up, and whatever goes into your house from an attached garage. Also your nail polish remover, unless you go outside to use it.

Actually (OP here), believe it or not, that is not true. And I'm not saying that to be argumentative with you at all - I'm saying it because it's what is really getting to me. I've done a bit of research aiming to basically reassure myself that I can use this paint, figuring I'd see just that, but in fact, most of our exposures to VOCs come from the home. Indoor air is much more polluted than outdoor air, and nine percent of all VOC's in our environment come from home paints. I definitely did not know that.

I'm frustrated with DH but it was just a mistake. I'm taking it out here instead of on his ass. I should share some responsibility, because, long story short, our long-time paint store Fragers had that fire. So I looked for other places to get benjaman moore paint (we like it and have used it twice before) but the locations were inconvenient. DH was like "good news, Home Depot can tint any paint to match BM colors and they can do their Behr brand as no-voc." Okay, sold. So we go that route, paint is actually a little bit cheaper. But it turns out DH has purchased paint and primer in one, which we didn't need and cannot remember if he specifically asked for the no-voc. So yeah. Trying to be cool, mistakes happen and all, and he feels bad, so I'm not mad, I'm just frustrated. Anyway, the maybe bigger issue is that unlike Natura paints, which remain no-VOC even after adding tint, all bets are off with other brands. So even if DH had gotten the no-voc, once the custom paint was mixed, they don't tell you, but they're not "no voc" anymore. The brand we got definitely falls into this category.

So, while we scrapped plans for today, I think what we'll do is keep the whites (ceiling, trim) as is, and replace the tints with the natura. The heat wave is going to break this weekend so we can probably leave windows open a lot next week.

So frustrating. I know it's not completely his fault but a simple phone call since we'd talked about it so much might have been good to do. Appreciate this space to vent. The compromise will put us out maybe 150 more, not 400, and we'll have lost one day of work. I feel okay with the compromise.

Thanks for the paint advice and free marital therapy, as always, DCUM! (I'm not really into that smiley face yet, still faking it some. Believable?)

[Anonymous]

omg!!! that was a ton of words about paint. use it for gods sake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:omg!!! that was a ton of words about paint. use it for gods sake.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:omg!!! that was a ton of words about paint. use it for gods sake.

+1

-1 I actually did not know any of that either and appreciated the info. I thought low voc meant low voc. it doesn't seem like they should be allowed to label it that if the tint adds more voc's.

[Anonymous]

$400 dollars paint?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$400 dollars paint?

For Behr paint? How many rooms are you doing? No more than two gallons per room. I can't see how you got over $200 for the paint.

[Anonymous]

Well I'm 8 months pregnant and just stripped and painted my kitchen cabinets with Ben Moore Low VOC paint. I asked my OB first and he said it was perfectly fine.

[Anonymous]

I am fine and we have painted for years with oil-base. Low voc is fine. You are silly.

[Anonymous]

17:34 again.

It is true that you have to be VERY careful of the"low-VOC" labels out there. However, low-VOC Ben Moore's Aura was an acceptable choice for us.

To 21:02, saying "I am fine and we have painted for years with oil-base" is an idiotic comment.
We are talking heightened long-term risk for cancer, particularly for the baby! You could develop cancer many years from now, partly caused by your increased exposure to toxic paint solvents. The baby's risk would be even graver, since exposure to carcinogens during infancy multiplies cancer risk. This is why we need more science education at the high school level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:17:34 again.

It is true that you have to be VERY careful of the"low-VOC" labels out there. However, low-VOC Ben Moore's Aura was an acceptable choice for us.

To 21:02, saying "I am fine and we have painted for years with oil-base" is an idiotic comment.
We are talking heightened long-term risk for cancer, particularly for the baby! You could develop cancer many years from now, partly caused by your increased exposure to toxic paint solvents. The baby's risk would be even graver, since exposure to carcinogens during infancy multiplies cancer risk. This is why we need more science education at the high school level.

Not the poster you are responding to and I do actually agree that it's silly to make that comment when the effects could crop up years and years from now. I'm the poster who just stripped and painted my cabinets and I too researched it and spoke with my doctor first. It does seem that low VOC should be fine. Mind you I wore gloves and did most of my painting outside. But of course had to paint cabinet frames inside. I was amazed that there was absolutely no odor. None. And of course I do understand that does not mean it's not off-gassing to some degree. But you do seem to be very overwrought about this and seem to be over analyzing to a point of really causing yourself distress that is above and beyond. Unfortunately we cannot avoid every single chemical out there in the world. But it does sound like you are doing everything you can to avoid them. So by that alone you are already giving your child a great start.