When Wilmington, NC custom home builder Mark Johnson Custom Homes decided to build a LEED home in Landfall, they aimed for the highest LEEDS Certification possible. Low or No-VOC products are required to build according to LEED specifications. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) come from carpet, cabinet stains and tile waterproofing but most commonly in paint. Sherwin Williams created GreenSure Harmony paint as their Green alternative. But what makes No-VOC Paint “Green”?
First we must go into detail what VOCs are and why they are harmful. Typical household paint contains up to 10,000 chemicals, of which 300 are known toxins and 150 have been linked to cancer. Some of the most harmful chemicals found in paint are VOCs.
VOCs are unstable, carbon-containing compounds that readily vaporize into the air. When they enter the air, they react with other elements to produce ozone, which causes air pollution and a host of health issues including breathing problems, headache, burning, watery eyes and nausea. Some VOCs have also been linked to cancer, as well as kidney and liver damage.
As paint dries, these harmful VOCs are released into the air at high levels. Indoor VOC levels are routinely 10 times higher than outdoor levels and up to 1,000 times higher immediately after painting. Although VOC levels are highest during and soon after painting, they continue seeping out for several years. In fact, only 50 percent of the VOCs may be released in the first year.
Armed with this information, consumers have begun to demand safer alternatives. Low-VOC and No-VOC paints, which are now widely available and sold by most major paint manufacturers, have become the Green solution.
Courtesy of: Horton, Jennifer. “How Low-VOC Paint Works.” 09 July 2008. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://home.howstuffworks.com/low-voc-paint.htm> 13 May 2009.
