Have you used low-VOC paint?

[BookGoddess]

We want to paint an accent wall in the living room. The wall is not that large and though none of us are chemically sensitive I want to lessen our exposure to toxic paint fumes. I've seen low-VOC paint at the hardware stores.

Have you used a low or no VOC paint? What brand would you recommend? Any help is appreciated.

[thriftyqueen]

I used the Sherwin Williams Harmony paint. It was great. It had a lighter scent than most paint.

[jocelyndale]

I've used ChemSafe, Envirosafe, AFM SafeCoat, and Duron's Genesis.

The first three were all no-VOC formulations, including the tints. Duron's Genesis is a low-voc, but the tints contain VOC, especially the darker colors.

I tolerate ChemSafe the easiest, Envirosafe the next best. AFM makes me sicker than sick. Duron smells like a very faint "paint" smell, but with proper ventilation, it didn't make me horribly ill.

I prefer the first two because the tints used can go very *dark* without adding VOC. For price, I'd have to go with Duron.

[anotherKatrina]

I've used Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin-Moore low voc paints. B-Moore may even have a no voc paint, I don't quite remember. Both brands were very good.

B-Moore has little sample-sized jars of paint. Not low voc, but awesome for trying out colors without wasting a lot of money in the process.

Keep in mind that the no/low VOC paints have color limitations. Deep colors often cannot be low voc because the pigment is the poison. VOC's are needed to get the deep colors. (But I just noticed the pp just mentioned this.)

You could also consider clay-based paint www.greenplanetpaints.com. The price is comparable to the S-W Harmony paint.

[BookGoddess]

Thanks everyone!

How well does the low/no-VOC paint stand up to smudges and marks? Is it easy to remove those? I don't expect pristine walls but it would be nice to be able to remove marks without too much elbow grease.

Does it go on like other paint? Is it harder to apply or about the same?

We're going with a lighter shade for the accent wall so hopefully the color we have in mind (a sage green) isn't too deep for the paint.

[nadia105]

We have used Benjamin Moore's Eco SPec and were very happy with it. It went on easily and there was really no smell. As far as marks on the wall, I tihnk it is about the same as the regular Hirshfields paint that we have in another room (done before we knew about low VOC).

Oh, I don't think you will have any problem with a sage green and VOCs, that should be plenty light enough.

[Naturalyst]

Originally Posted by nadia105

We have used Benjamin Moore's Eco SPec and were very happy with it.

Same here. Loved it. Good coverage. No smell. Cleaned-up easy.

[aradia]

We just painted our family room with the Sherman Williams Harmony, no VOC, and it worked very, very well. It was the only one that was locally available, most stores had no idea what I was talking about. I will continue to use this on the rest of our beige house. You can buy quart samples for $5 each. They will color match to any chip/item that your heart desires.

Anyhow, my husband was very pleased with the coverage, viscosity, and workability. The man at the store said all but the darkest color on my sample sheet could be replicated without VOC's, and that was extremely dark. They also gave me a large discount since I got nine gallons, 25% off and a coupon for next time for 15% off. We also did a sage green with a darker accent wall, very sooooothing.

As far as cleaning, I've gently used the Magic Eraser on a couple spots/marks, and it worked well. I think it cleans up the same as the Behr brand that we put in the mud room. Finally, it depends on what finish you want, we got the eggshell which does not clean as well as the higher shine's, like semi-gloss, but we don't like the look of the semi-gloss on the walls of the family room.