Choose your paint right

This is the season when homes are painted and given a vibrant look, getting ready to welcome the festival of lights and a new year. We all pay all attention to the hues and colours to be chosen but do we ever pay any attention to the amount of toxics present in the paint? These toxics cause more harm than inhaling outdoor pollution. Apart from temporary and relatively less harmful effects like nausea, dizziness and headaches, long term impacts due to paints releasing pollutants could be liver damage, loss of coordination and others.

So while you pay attention to the colours, look for water-based or latex paints and not solvent or oil-based paints. Conventional paints consist of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), formaldehyde and lead. VOCs are given out for up to five years after the brushes have dried. Water-based paints have extremely low volatile content, most of the times it’s almost negligible. They’re usually referred to as ‘green paints’ or ‘eco-friendly’ paints. They’re much safer and don’t pose any potential health hazards.

Solvent-based paints deliver higher performance in comparison to water-based paints because of which most customers don’t opt for the environmentally-friendly ones. Most of the big brands pay attention to these factors, so opt for only the best brands.

In the olden days, homes were painted using natural dyes like plant oils, plant dyes, clay, chalk, milk casein, cow dung and bees’ wax. The preservatives were also natural. Wish we had learnt all these things from our ancestors…..