Environmentally Friendly Exterior Painting Advice
// August 11th, 2010 // Comments // Real Estate
“Green” is no longer just a color, it is a concept also. Everyone needs to reduce our damage on the planet before we destroy it utterly, and here is an alternate way we can help that you may not have considered previously.
“Green” paints are fairly common for interiors, but rare for exteriors since strong smell is never a problem. The standard premium exterior paints are all water based and one hundred percent acrylic and low-no odor. Using “green” paints does not always reduce environmental damage of paint. In reality “green” paint can increase the overall effect on the environment when not used properly.
Make sure to do your research first when looking for residential exterior painting Minneapolis. When trying to minimize harm to the environment, I wouldn’t always identify a “green” paint. Instead, I would focus on these 4 areas:
1. Preserving the substrate long term and reducing maintenance. This saves the trees, keeps landfills from filling, reduces fuel usage by painting contractors and finally saves you money- this comes at the expense of more up front prep, more gallons of paint, higher priced paint and more labor. Choosing a well designed paint system and overall maintenance plan is way more environmentally friendly than starting over with a brand new Green authorized home.
There are more VOC’s in the sealant we are using than in most of the paints we use. However, urethane sealants are better than acrylic’s by 400%, so this still reduces the final impact in the long run by protecting your substrates.
2. Reducing waste: Measure how much paint is needed fastidiously and buy your supplies from a local paint business. It is often possible to under order and pick up an additional gallon if necessary. Do not purposefully over order additional paint, it too often gets thrown out, freezes in the garage or doesn’t match anyway after fading.
Looking after your house constantly needs less labor and materials and reduces the quantity of waste to be disposed of. When a home is not maintained, one maintenance issues often makes a contribution to another which speeds up rot. Not caulking causes the window to rot, which causes the insulation to become damp which in turn causes the walls to rot. All of these items finish up in a rubbish heap and have to be harvested from forests in Washington, made in another State and then sent out to yet another State, all as the caulk was not maintained.
3. Work and fuel usage: Get the work done once properly. 2 coats would also be advocated, as the 2nd coat requires no more tape, poly, preparation, etc, but greatly increases the life of the painting. It requires only 25-40% more work and materials, this means less trips and less gallons.
For houses, we avoid special paints from distant places. Having paint shipped in is expensive and ineffective. Highly regarded paint from California or Ireland is just about never an environmentally sound choice if you live nowhere near there.
4. Recycling- We take this seriously. First, we usually try and under order, in order not to have excess paint. Each gallon we purchase either ends up on your house or is recycled. Our oils and oil water mixes are utilized in making concrete. Our leftover acrylics are used to paint houses of indigenous Americans in South Dakota. Ask your contractor what he does with the excess paint.
For the majority of homes, I would recommend 2 coats of a twenty-five year 100% acrylic paint from a country wide supplier who has a store in area. For more specialized surfaces like metal coatings and decks, I will not make just one advice. Each project should be researched separately to ascertain what coating system will protect the structure best in order to keep the planet Green and not cost you a fortune. Be certain to inform your contractor that you need to preserve your structure so as to have the least effect on the environment.
Have a discussion on how the business makes an attempt to minimise impact and maximise longevity. Work with the contractor to decide what paints and procedures will attain your goals best. Hopefully this helps in your search for environmentally friendly residential painting Minneapolis.

















































