Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: green building (paint)

[ken (gebser]

Denise Mordecai wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> We are about to embark on a project to paint the metal in our 
> community.  What experiences have communities had with low VOC and 
> low HAP paints?  for metal in particular and in general?  Has anyone 
> tried Sierra Performance or had good experiences with other paints?
> 
> Has anyone tried a phosporous-based cleaning solution for preparation
>  as an alternative to sanding?

Sherwin-Williams (the largest paint manufacturer in the US) has a pretty
good tech support department and they can answer all kinds of very
technical, very specific questions like yours.  They make paint for just
about all the cars in the country, battleships, nuke plants, the Golden
Gate Bridge and sundry other things.  Of course they are going
to push their own products, but this might be a pretty good place to
start.  You don't, after all, have to buy from them just because they
talked to you.  They can also provide (must, according to federal law)
materials handling data sheets.  From these you can-- with a simple web
search-- determine toxicity of a particular ingredient.

Specifically regarding sanding.  With lead paint the recommendation is
generally just to paint over it rather than remove it.  Exceptions to
this general rule include homes with young infants or pets who might
chew on the walls or trim or otherwise somehow ingest paint chips.


hth,
ken

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