Green Spring Spruce Up
Spring makes some homeowners think about sprucing up their home. Some of you may be thinking about selling your house. What if you could make your home more comfortable, save money and increase its equity value?
If these ideas appeal to you, consider a Green Spring Spruce-up.
Why Green? Greening your home can make it healthier, more beautiful and save you money. In this series of articles, we'll look at ways to improve the quality of life where you live.
Before you get started, consider these questions: What's more important to you - aesthetics, comfort, energy savings, or. . .? How much money do you want to spend?
Let’s start with the least inexpensive way to spruce up your home—putting on a fresh coat of paint.
If you’re living in an older home, it may have lead-based paint. Lead in paint can cause lead poisoning, which may lead to brain impairment, poor muscle coordination, inhibit reproductive ability and cause damage to the nervous system. Lead is one of many toxic chemicals that add to what is called the “body burden.”
Buying lead-free or water-based or acrylic paint is not good enough, however. Many paints contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs can be in different places in your home—paint strippers, wood preservatives, paint, carpet backing, plastics and cosmetics. VOCs can damage soil and contaminate groundwater. VOC vapors contribute to indoor air pollution. People complain about headaches from plastic, carpet and furniture outgassing. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says 2 to 5 times more VOCs are concentrated in indoor air than outdoor air , and that certain indoor activities may push the VOC levels to 1000 times that of outdoor air! Who wants to breathe that toxic air soup?
Eliminating as many environmental toxins as possible can lighten the body burden and enhance your life. Fortunately, today’s paints need not contain lead or VOCs in order to have vibrant and appealing colors. Visit different paint stores and check out their no-VOC primers and paints. Read the labels. Some shops sell small jars of colors you can test at home. Others require that you buy at least a quart.
When we repainted our entire house, I bought about 15 different color samples to try before choosing our final color scheme. We matched some colors with the upholstery on our sofa. We painted large swaths of color on different walls to get a sense of how we’d feel surrounded by new colors. We tried different painting techniques on large poster board and used a faux finish technique on one wall to create an elegant, warm backdrop for the piano.
The few dollars extra that you pay for no-VOC paint goes a long way to improve the air quality inside your home, and the lives of the people who live there.
Next time we’ll talk about saving energy, money and enhancing indoor air quality by changing windows. Meanwhile, have fun with paintbrush and color!
To your health,
-Barbara Chan
Barbara Chan is a Certified Green Building Professional, Sustainable Business Management Consultant, knitter, traveler and glass artist. She studied ecology when few people wanted to talk about the effects of DDT on humans and the environment. You can contact her at green@barbarachan.com.
Copyright © 2007 by Barbara Chan. All rights reserved.
If these ideas appeal to you, consider a Green Spring Spruce-up.
Why Green? Greening your home can make it healthier, more beautiful and save you money. In this series of articles, we'll look at ways to improve the quality of life where you live.
Before you get started, consider these questions: What's more important to you - aesthetics, comfort, energy savings, or. . .? How much money do you want to spend?
Let’s start with the least inexpensive way to spruce up your home—putting on a fresh coat of paint.
If you’re living in an older home, it may have lead-based paint. Lead in paint can cause lead poisoning, which may lead to brain impairment, poor muscle coordination, inhibit reproductive ability and cause damage to the nervous system. Lead is one of many toxic chemicals that add to what is called the “body burden.”
Buying lead-free or water-based or acrylic paint is not good enough, however. Many paints contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs can be in different places in your home—paint strippers, wood preservatives, paint, carpet backing, plastics and cosmetics. VOCs can damage soil and contaminate groundwater. VOC vapors contribute to indoor air pollution. People complain about headaches from plastic, carpet and furniture outgassing. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says 2 to 5 times more VOCs are concentrated in indoor air than outdoor air , and that certain indoor activities may push the VOC levels to 1000 times that of outdoor air! Who wants to breathe that toxic air soup?
Eliminating as many environmental toxins as possible can lighten the body burden and enhance your life. Fortunately, today’s paints need not contain lead or VOCs in order to have vibrant and appealing colors. Visit different paint stores and check out their no-VOC primers and paints. Read the labels. Some shops sell small jars of colors you can test at home. Others require that you buy at least a quart.
When we repainted our entire house, I bought about 15 different color samples to try before choosing our final color scheme. We matched some colors with the upholstery on our sofa. We painted large swaths of color on different walls to get a sense of how we’d feel surrounded by new colors. We tried different painting techniques on large poster board and used a faux finish technique on one wall to create an elegant, warm backdrop for the piano.
The few dollars extra that you pay for no-VOC paint goes a long way to improve the air quality inside your home, and the lives of the people who live there.
Next time we’ll talk about saving energy, money and enhancing indoor air quality by changing windows. Meanwhile, have fun with paintbrush and color!
To your health,
-Barbara Chan
Barbara Chan is a Certified Green Building Professional, Sustainable Business Management Consultant, knitter, traveler and glass artist. She studied ecology when few people wanted to talk about the effects of DDT on humans and the environment. You can contact her at green@barbarachan.com.
Copyright © 2007 by Barbara Chan. All rights reserved.
Labels: green design, green remodeling, healthy environment, healthy home, home improvement, sustainability
posted by Barbara Chan CPCC CMC @ 11:27 AM
