Tips for Healthy Indoor Painting

• Schedule painting for dry periods in the summer, when you can leave windows open for
ventilation (2-3 days)
• Don't use exterior paints indoors
• Take frequent fresh air breaks while painting;
• Watch out for tell-tale symptoms like watery eyes, headache, dizziness, or breathing
problems.

The US Environmental Protection Agency, an official body not known for over-hyping hazards, has found that there may be hundreds of individual VOCs in an indoor air sample. Some of these willl come from paint, particularly new paint, which can “offgas” VOCs for up to two years after painting. Most offgassing, of course, occurs in the first few days after painting, while the paint is “fresh”.

There are two main problems with VOCs - human health, and the health of the planet. For most people, the worst they will suffer from the outgassing of VOCs are headaches and perhaps some dizziness or drowsiness. But it's not uncommon for VOCs also to irritate the eyes, nose and sinuses. Other more serious side-effects can be shortness of breath, nausea and depression. Further up the hazard scale, VOCs have been known to affect the nervous system, and cause blood, liver and kidney diseases. There is some evidence they may even cause cancer if the exposure is prolonged. Professional painters, for example, have a 10 per cent overall increased risk of cancer, but much higher risk rates of specfiic cancers such as eukemia (87 per cent), cancer of the liver (43 per cent), oesophagus (32 per cent), and lung (30 per cent)

Children are also more susceptible than adults to VOCs, according to a recent US symposium. “Children are still developing physically and they have higher breathing rates than adults, resulting in higher relative doses of pollutants than adults experience when exposed to the same air concentrations, “ say these experts. “Child-related concerns include the rising rates of asthma and frequent problems with poor air quality in schools (due to) …elevated levels of formaldehyde and other VOCs”.

At work, VOCs are believed to be a major contributor to the “sick building syndrome”. At home, the ever-increasing air-tightness of new housing is making the VOC problem worse. A recent survey of people who had bought newly-built houses found a significant correlation between the amount of VOCs and throat, respiratory and eye symptoms, even at “relatively low” VOC levels.

Of course, if you're unlucky enough to suffer from asthma or chemical sensitivity, VOCs can be some of the most noxious pollutants in your personal environment. Even ventilating the room while the paint dries won't help much. "Some people are particularly sensitive to the low levels of VOCs that are given off from paint, long after it has been applied," says environmental architect Pat Borer, co-author of The Whole House Book: ecological building design and materials.

As for the planetary environment, it's only recently been appreciated just how damaging VOCs can be. When they're at ground level, VOCs react with sunlight and oxygen to form a chemical smog. This can not only cause respiratory problems, but it also damages plant life.

The worst example is in Los Angeles, but every major urban area has the problem to some degree. In cities, of course, the main culprits are not paints but car exhausts, but nevertheless paints do contribute to some extent - in fact, about 5 per cent of environmental VOCs are from paint, according to a recent European Report.

VOCs' worst effects, however, are in the atmosphere, where they not only contribute to the greenhouse effect, but also damage the earth's protective ozone layer.

The third big environmental problem comes from half-used paint tins. These are often dumped into landfill sites along with the rest of our rubbish, contaminating both the ground and ground water.

Article Source: http://www.diyarticlelibrary.com

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