Living Like Ed - (Page 47) have a low level of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), but wherever you may be, you’ll want to buy nontoxic paint—or nontoxic anything—whenever it’s available for a project you’re doing. You can even find zero-VOC paints, if you try, as well as nontoxic paint strippers. RACHELLE’S TURN It wasn’t just a challenge to find this stuff a few years ago. It was a challenge to live with it. The nontoxic paints RACHELLE’S chipped really easily. But now they’re making better and TURN better paints, with a great choice of colors, and they’re longer lasting and more durable. And that’s a good thing, because my husband will never use anything else. Using nontoxic paints i important. If you’ve gone into anyplace s newly painted and smelled the intense fumes—and I kind of like the smell—that stuff’s really toxic. Van Gogh and all those painters went crazy because of all the heavy metals and toxins in the paint. It’s like the expression “mad as a hatter,” which refers to all the chemicals used to shape the hats, which eventually caused neural damage. That toxic stuff just makes you crazy. So thank goodness they’ve come up with some nontoxic paints that are good for the environment and good for your health and good for your home’s style, too. 47 1: home Traditional paint has got all kinds of nasty stuff in it: petroChoose Earthchemicals, solvents, mercury, Friendly Paint formaldehyde, benzene, lead, cadCOST: from mium, chromium, dibutyl, and di$10/gallon ethyl phthalate. This frightening chemical cocktail then releases VOCs into the air. You might assume that VOCs are only a problem right after you paint, when you can actually smell that new-paint smell when you walk in a room. But it turns out paints and other finishes release low-level toxic emissions for several years. And it’s definitely not good to be breathing this stuff. dramatic effect on your energy bill. The single best thing you can do for your home’s bottom
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.