We're paintng....again.

We have decided to paint all the rooms upstairs, since the colors are rather drab and gross. It's been a rough week, as a few days ago we had to put our dog down. On top of the 300$ for that, we have to spend 800$ for a fixer upper car. I would prefer not to board Kiko. I will if I have to, though. I was thinking of transferring Kiko to a room downstairs, seal it with foam and wrap, open up the window and put a fan facing out. And buy an Air purifier. Outside of the room, all the windows will be open. What do y'all think?

Unless you are planning to use oil-based, epoxy or lacquer paints, you shouldn't need to seal Kiko in any room.....all of the name brand latex paints are now offered in low VOC or zero VOC choices, dry quickly & most don't even smell like dirty socks any more.....

The only thing you'll need to check/do is possibly prime any surfaces that were previously painted with an oil-based paint...easily checked.....take a piece of white cloth, dip it in some alcohol & rub it over the paint you want to test...if it's a water-based latex, the paint will rub off onto the cloth...if it's oil-based, It won't.....if it is an oil-based paint, take some medium grit sandpaper to lightly scuff the paint surface, then prime it with a latex based primer, like Kilz or Zinser & let it dry throughly...at least 48 hours, then go to creating your new decor.....if you don't prep & prime an oil-based surface with a suitable primer, you won't be able to paint it with a latex paint. You can usually paint over lacquer with few problems, but prepping & priming like above will insure a good finish.....

Good luck.....

I agree with Weco. Paint in the U.S. and presumably many other nations is far safer than years past.

Recently painted the interior of my home and was concerned about the 7 birds in my interior "bird room," a downstairs bedroom. Kept the door closed during painting with the exterior window open.

Thanks for responding, guys! We did buy Latex Interior Satin Finish. Most of it has already been painted anyway, except for part of a room upstairs, and then the stairs themselves. We will have it all finished by today, so I'll hole him up in the room for a couple of days, and then bring him upstairs to my room after.

I guess the VOC content was 50 g/L, not counting adding the pigments, so it might not be low VOC anymore.xc

Huh ? ? ?

What are you saying, trying to say ? ? ?

On the gallon of paint it will say what your VOC content is. Ours was 50 grams per liter. But I realized that they were referring to the gallon of paint as it was, without pigments added. After you add the pigments and stuff, the VOC content is much higher than it previously was.

Tangie said:

On the gallon of paint it will say what your VOC content is. Ours was 50 grams per liter. But I realized that they were referring to the gallon of paint as it was, without pigments added. After you add the pigments and stuff, the VOC content is much higher than it previously was.

Click to expand...

Not necessarily so.....when you add pigments to paints, you add ounces or parts of ounces and all pigments do not contain VOCs, so, if you want to calculate exact VOC levels, you need to do your calculations on the particular color formulation you plan to paint on your walls, along with the particular finish, rather than assume there's going to be a significant increase in VOC levels when you add pigments.....

The "50 g/l" on your can label is not the amount of VOCs in that particular gallon container, but is an indication of maximum that manufacturer allows for their product in the size containers listed.....while an off-the-shelf container is probably not going to list any specifics and I doubt that a paint store would be able to give you specific information, you might be able to get exactly what you're looking for, from the paint's manufacturer, but you'd probably need to provide them the color chip specifics, the finish you plan to use and how many coats you planned to apply...you might want to look through the info on these links:

The Chemistry Of Paint - About Paint & Painting - Interior & Exterior House Painting. DIY Advice

What are VOCs in paint, and is more or less of them better?


Happy reading.....