How to Avoid Those Toxic Paint Fumes
Renovating or painting your home can be an exciting experience, but have you ever considered the dangers behind simply repainting your living room? Most paints contain Volatile Organic Compounds, also known as VOCs, which evaporate as the paint dries afterwards. VOCs are added to the paint or lacquer typically to act as solvents and can have serious impacts on human health. Oil-based paints are worse than water-based paints, but ordinary water based paints can still bel an issue.
Health implications for VOC exposure depend upon the type of compound, its concentration and your length of exposure to it, and can result in the following:
- Nose, eye and throat irritation
- Headaches
- Loss of coordination
- Nausea
- Kidney and liver damage
- Damage to the central nervous system
- Immune system damage
Some VOCS are known carcinogens, meaning that inhaling them is likely to increase your risk of cancer.
Whilst there are a range of serious health conditions that can result from exposure to paints (being a painter is a UN recognised hazardous occupation known as ‘Painter’s Syndrome’) , there are several alternative products on the market which are low VOC and provide safe alternatives. For those who wish to further reduce the presence of VOCs and other toxins in paints you purchase refer to Ecospecifier (www.ecospecifier.com.au). Some examples of low VOC paints include:
Livos Australia
Livos offer a range of low VOC plant-based oils, coatings and treatments for interior and exterior wall, floor and timber applications. Unlike conventional coatings, LIVOS oils impregnate and protect the surface of timber, rather than creating a plastic coating on top. This allows for easy rejuvenation with no sanding required, the rejuvenation process is quick and simple to carry out if or when required.
D
ulux Professional Enviro2
Dulux provides a low VOC topcoat paint making it a safer product for indoor use in your home. Whilst there is still VOCs present, they are at a very low concentration, <1g/L untinted. This product has been Ecospecifier verified and provides a detailed toxicity analysis on the Ecospecifier website.
The Dangers of Renovating an Old Home
Renovating your home may come with potential health pitfalls, especially if your home was painted before 1970. Walls that were painted prior to this may be toxic due to the presence of lead-based paint. Lead paint, even in the smallest concentration, poses a great risk to human and animal health. While undisturbed well maintained lead painted walls pose minimal risk to human health; however once disturbed the paint scraped from lead painted walls becomes hazardous. This is especially so if flame or high temperature heat guns are used to remove it.
Resulting lead laden flakes and dust can spread throughout the house and garden. Removing the paint through dry sanding or by using power tools can create lead dust that can be inhaled or implanted into fabrics around the home, such as in carpets or furniture. Lead dust deposited around the family home poses future health risks and is extremely difficult to remove. This poses a great risk to young children who frequently put their hands inside their mouths and can absorb and retain higher concentrations of lead in comparison to adults. Lead is especially detrimental to the neurological development of children.
Lead is toxic in both low and high concentrations. Exposure can occur through inhalation or digestion. Effects of lead poisoning from low levels of concentration include:
- Muscle pains and fatigue
- Headaches
- Nausea and vomiting
- Coma
- Fatigue
- Stomach pains
- Seizures
- Anaemia
- Miscarriage
Effects from high levels of lead poisoning may include:
- Brain damage
- Severe kidney damage
- Reduced fertility in males
- Cardiovascular issues
- Cognitive damage in young children
If your home was, built before 1970, it is recommended that you arrange to conduct tests to confirm the presence or non-presence of lead so that the proper steps can be taken to minimise exposure if needed .
There are a couple of different ways to test for lead paint:
- Colour change tests which are available from hardware stores although these are not 100% accurate
- DIY-Sampling Lab Lead Analysis Kits which can be purchased online from http://www.leadsafeworld.com/solutions/lead-group-diy-sampling-lab-analysis-lead-test-kits/ this kit will provide instructions on how to conduct the test which is then analysed by a registered laboratory
- Hire a professional who will use a portable X-ray fluorescence machine to determine the presence of lead. This is a non-invasive way to inspect the paint in your home.
If it is found that there is lead present in the paint on your walls it is recommended that:
- Professionals are hired to safely remove the paint
- If the paint is in good condition you are able to paint over it if you prefer not to remove it
- If you choose to remove the paint yourself;
- Seek professional advice on how to best remove the paint
- Do not sandblast or dry scrape the walls
- If removing paint outside do not do so on a wet or windy day
- Remove children and pregnant women from the area
- In the future choose paints that have been certified and verified for having low toxicity, such as those found listed with Ecospecifier (www.ecospecifier.com.au)
Explore more about the product ranges that have been eco-certified and listed by Ecospecifier, by using The Product Search Engine on Ecospecifier Global
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