I find myself answering some of the same questions over and over again on a daily basis. One of these is about the different sheens of paint. There is an amazing amount of confusion on this topic. Most but not all paint manufacturers agree on basic terminology here. There is also some debate about what sheens should be used where and in what rooms. I will attempt to put this all into some perspective.

First off let’s establish the generally accepted order of sheens, ranging from the flattest to the shiniest. It goes something like flat, matte, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss, gloss. Like I said earlier, be careful, because some manufacturers like to be clever and switch things around a bit to confuse us all.

FLAT: This category can include everything from a dead flat paint, which is best used on ceilings or very low abuse walls, to a more durable finish, which I prefer to call Matte, (see below). Flat paints are not a good idea in bathrooms, or kitchens or any room that really requires that you wipe the surface regularly. The benefit of flat paint is that it diffuses light in every direction thereby hiding surface imperfections. It is often seen as the most elegant of sheens since it doesn’t compete with art work or other furnishings in the room. You’ve probably heard the term “museum flat” used to describe this look. Museums will use this non-reflective flat to highlight artwork that is dramatically lit.

MATTE: Here is where it gets most confusing. Many people refer to flat paint as being matte. In the paint world, matte is generally speaking, a sheen that is slightly higher than most flat paints. This sheen is designed to be a smoother more durable finish than traditional flats, and allows for more scrubbability. It is an ideal finish for walls where you want durability but not much sheen. I hesitate to recommend it for kitchens and baths, although there are some low use situations where this could work.

EGGSHELL: This is generally considered to be the most versatile and popular sheen. It is a great all around sheen that works almost anywhere. It’s smooth finish and low sheen refer to the photo above, not a color. This is one of the most common misperceptions around eggshell. When I ask if someone wants eggshell paint they sometimes say, “No I was looking for something a bit darker.” So you see the fun never stops. I do not recommend eggshell paint on large ceilings as its light reflection causes all sorts of problems on this difficult-to-paint surface. Roller tracks and things you never knew were there will suddenly jump out at you with a vengeance.

SATIN: Less shiny than traditional semi-gloss, satin is a great choice for wood trim, kitchens, and bathrooms,  especially in older homes with less than perfect substrates. Satin is really too shiny for most living spaces such as living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, etc.

SEMI-GLOSS: This is the sheen most people think of when they think of painting their trim. Its higher sheen makes it more washable than the others, but it also reveals more surface flaws as well. In high abuse kitchens, and high humidity bathrooms, semi-gloss adds another level of protection. Aesthetically it can make a bold statement in a contemporary setting.

GLOSS/HIGH GLOSS: These two terms are often used interchangeably. They essentially refer to the same thing. Gloss finishes are reserved for the most pristine surfaces, or where you need ultimate protection. The resins used in these paints are harder and more impact resistance. This sheen is rarely used in large doses. It is most often used where its brilliant sheen is seen as a design element. Front doors are one place where both practicality and aesthetics combine to make this a great choice. Surfaces painted with gloss finishes must be prepared perfectly. It is like throwing a beacon light on the surface: you will see every flaw.

I hope this sheds some light on the topic. I realize that I concentrated mostly on interiors in my comments but the same logic can be used on exterior surfaces as well. Lower sheens are less durable but hide imperfections, higher sheens are more durable but reveal flaws. In other words, no flat paint on your trim and no gloss paint on your stucco! I will cover exteriors in more depth in a later post.

In these times of increasing consolidation of all industries, the independent paint store as we have come to know it is increasingly under attack. As conglomerate paint companies become ever bigger in their size and reach, it is harder and harder to represent truly independent brands that are not controlled by a centralized company dictating to different market niches. As a result of this growing centralized control, independents such as G&R Paint Company are increasingly under pressure from the remaining few national brands to become more and more focused on their products alone.

This winnowing of choice brings heavy consequences to independent paint stores and ultimately to the consumers who rely on them for superior products, knowledge, and service. We have all experienced this phenomenon in other aspects of our daily lives. We are bombarded with endless marketing that points to fewer real choices in the end. Every-town USA is beginning to look and feel more alike.

This phenomenon in the paint industry has a distinctly negative affect on color, my main passion. When I hear designers and homeowners raving about some great color palette, more often than not it is NOT something that was created by one of the national brands. In fact my own Philip’s Perfect Colors relies on the partnership that I have with C2 paint , (a co-op of independent dealers) to bring it to market. Boutique brands and individual creative efforts are what are bringing truly great color choices to the market. If we leave our color work to the national and multi-national brands we are sure to get the type of vanilla offering that will appeal to many but excite none.

I have had to make a choice in my own business recently to eliminate one of the biggest paint manufacturers in North America because of their unwillingness to help me create a succession plan for G&R Paint that included all of the unique brands that we currently offer our customers. I was faced with a difficult choice to either eliminate the unique interesting brands that help to differentiate us in the marketplace, (and thus ultimately insure our survival) or let go of the biggest most dominant brand in the store. I am happy to announce that we have chosen the latter. If I am committed to one thing, it is bringing the best and most unique color work and paint quality to my customers. This cannot always be found under the heading of one brand; therefore it is necessary by definition to have multiple competing brands within the store environment to insure that the customers always have whatever it is that fits THEIR needs. We at G&R Paint Company thank you for your continuing support, and for allowing us to be “Your Source for Color.”

I am often asked, “What have you got that is a really good finish for decks that will last a long time. It seems no matter what I use I have to re-do my deck surface every couple of years?” The truth of the matter is that no matter what you use, you will have to re-do your deck surface every couple of years at least. This is the nature of the beast unfortunately. This is no small point, and one that should be seriously considered when making the decision to build a deck structure of any type. They require CONSTANT maintenance! With that said, natural wood decks can add beauty to any home not to mention adding additional space that is great for entertaining or just relaxing.

There are many different types of deck stains available on the market with varying degrees of opacity. In general the more opaque or solid the deck stain the longer it will last. This is akin to putting on a shirt rather than just sunscreen. While the sunscreen may give you an SPF of 15 or 30 or 45, a shirt will give you a much more complete sunblock. Likewise the more solid the deck stain is the longer it will protect the surface from the UV rays that eventually wreak havoc on your wood deck. Unfortunately the more opaque the deck stain the less we can see the natural beauty of whatever wood we have used to build the deck. So it’s a Catch 22 situation here. I typically recommend solid covering deck stains for older decks that are so much trouble to maintain that the only reasonable thing to do at this point is to cover it completely. These types of stains are available in both oil and water based formulas, and for my money I prefer the water based products because they fade less over time and are generally easier to apply and are more Eco friendly. The oil based ones are better only if you need a quick one coat fix.

On newer redwood or similar type decks a more translucent stain is usually desirable. This type of product will give you just a hint of color and lets more of the wood grain show through. These products do not last much more than one or two seasons realistically. If you want to maintain that fresh new look you are simply going to have to go out and wash and reseal the deck every couple of years. We have found nothing that last longer than that. In this category you have oil based finishes that require ONLY ONE COAT, and in fact if you try to apply more than one coat you will end up with a sticky mess that will never dry. This is a case of less is more. I can’t tell you the number of people that make this type of mistake and then call me and complain that the stain never dried…IT WON’T! There are also some water based products that perform well and some of them will allow more than one coat to be applied. Cabot’s SPF deck finish is one such product that we have had good success with, and it can even be applied over damp wood.

There is another class of products represented by Sikkens that seems to outperform most things on the market. These products allow for 2-3 coats to be applied in sequence and have a satin finish that gives a very distinctive high end look to decks. The idea here is that once the finish coat begins to show signs of wear it is an easier maintenance to clean and re-coat every few years before you get back down to the bare wood surface. This type of product seems to work well over the increasingly popular hardwood decks such as ipe or mahogany. These decks are so hard that nothing seems to penetrate them. We commonly have people tell us that many finishes fail after only six months. So the approach of building up a finish on the surface seems to work well on this type of decking.

Another common type of deck stain is one that is referred to as semi-transparent. This is just what the name implies. It falls between the more translucent stains I have just mentioned and the previously discussed solid covering stains. The benefit here is that there is more pigment to protect the wood and these types of stains are available in a wider variety of colors to co-ordinate with your house. The downside here is that the wear patterns are more noticeable and more difficult to correct on subsequent coats down the road. Eventually this type of finish will have to be completely stripped off in order to get back to a uniform substrate.

So you can see that no matter what choice you make for staining your deck surfaces, there is one constant theme- MAINTENANCE! The more attention paid to this the more likely you are to be able to retain the beauty and stability of your deck surfaces. It’s sort of like regular exercise…you know you should do it but…

It seems the paint industry and TV commercials are all abuzz with claims of self priming paint. What exactly is behind these claims, and do they make any real practical sense? I will attempt to open a dialogue on this topic and encourage anyone with any comments or experiences to participate.

My opinion on the subject is that there are a few reasons to use the same paint as a prime coat and there are many reasons not to. In general this marketing strategy feels like the decades old trend of dumbing down the painter trade and making everyone who can hold a paint brush feel like an expert. The truth is that painting can be a very complicated affair, and attempts to make it seem otherwise could end up making the situation far worse. Just ask any one of the sales associates that work at G&R Paint how complicated the questions are that they face on any given day. The pitfalls are many and the consequences can be expensive…I digress!

Just as an experiment I recently took four equal pieces of pine trim board and coated them three times with four premium satin acrylic products that we sell at G&R. One of these products subscribes to the self-priming marketing strategy while the other three do not. I left a portion of each coat as it was so that after the final coat all three coats could be observed individually and collectively. It was obvious that all four products were self-priming to the same extent. None of them exhibited qualities that would be sufficient for a two coat only job. Even after three coats (all put on in equal amounts with the same brush), it could be observed that the results would have been superior with the use of a primer to adequately seal the bare wood.

Let’s talk about why we use primers in the first place. There are three primary reasons for priming. The first is to promote adhesion to the substrate, the second is to block out difficult stains and dramatic color changes, and the third is to seal the substrate so that the topcoat sits on the surface and performs to the best of its ability. Historically there have been different specific primers to do any of the three functions outlined above. In recent times there has been a movement within the paint industry to cover all three bases in one primer. All purpose primers as they are referred to, do many things well, but might not be the best primer for any one individual situation or problem. In addition to all of these there is the need to sand between coats on many projects to give the best possible finished appearance. We actually sell a primer called “Sand-able Acrylic Primer”. Now the fact that it has great adhesion is a plus, but not the primary attribute that we are looking for. Pigmented shellac has always been the best product for covering difficult stains from fire and water damage, in addition to being an odor barrier as well. Try using a self priming paint in a room that has been occupied by a heavy smoker, or one that has either water or smoke damage. I think you will quickly come to the conclusion that self priming as a concept is inherently limited in its scope.

So when does it make sense to use a self priming paint. Surely there must be some situations where this is a valuable tool. In general I would say that this is a plus on lower quality work where the finished result is not expected to be the very best it can be. If I had a single window ledge or other small project to complete in a hurry,  I might opt to use just one brush and one self priming product to get it done.  Here there is some real value, but low expectations. One exception to this rule is direct to metal products, (DTM). These are industrial coatings that are designed to go directly on metal substrates. Many of these types of products can be just as good as using a primer and topcoat system. This is by far the exception not the rule when it comes to self priming paints.

I could talk all day about the benefits of the many different types of primers available on the market, and on any given day I usually do. There continue to be good reasons to use these products in conjunction with a high quality topcoat to achieve superior results. Let’s not be lulled into a false sense of security by marketing that seeks to exploit our inherent desire to take the easy way out. At the end of the day, (or the end of your paint job’s lifespan) we are still better served by doing things the old fashioned way.

It is summer in San Francisco. The street cars are clanging, the tourists are freezing, and the fog horns are blowing. Another sure sign of summer in San Francisco is surfactant staining on exterior paint projects. The weather conditions in San Francisco represent a laboratory like setting for surfactant staining to occur. Surfactants are soap like ingredients intentionally formulated into latex (water-based) paints. These surfactants act as coalescing agents, and generally help keep what is essentially an emulsion, in suspension. We forget that acrylic resin is a petrochemical byproduct and as such does not mix with water easily.

The presence of surfactants in latex paints normally poses no problem at all. Gradually these surfactants are released by the coating and disappear into the air without anybody noticing. What happens under adverse weather conditions is that a large amount of the surfactants are drawn to the surface rapidly giving the appearance of a sticky Coca-Cola like substance. Surfactants are drawn to moisture (that is their job) and are as such “hydrophilic.” Since these surfactants would have left the coating eventually anyway, their rapid appearance here does not indicate a paint failure in any way, other than in appearance. The remedy when this happens is to simply leave it alone and let it weather off naturally from the rain, or give it a slight rinse with a garden hose, (you will see the surfactants bubble up like soap suds). The worst thing you can do in this situation is to apply more paint which only results in more surfactants being applied to the already surfactant laden surface. Patience is required. I have seen many of these situations through the years and with only a few exeptions they have all resolved themselves with time. In rare cases the staining left from the surfactants eventually had to be reprimed and repainted.

To prevent the problem in the first place it is best to paint early in the day, so as to give the paint film adequate time to form before it is re-introduced to heavy dew or moisture. The unpredictablitity of fog in San Francisco (other than that we know it will surely come sooner or later) makes a painter’s life hell. The only truly safe bet is to paint on days when the fog is non-existent and not expected back soon. This makes for a short painting season!

The same type of problem can be observed in bathrooms painted with latex paint. Here sometimes the only remedy is to paint with oil based paints which by definition have no surfactants in them.

All in all this is a sticky subject that leaves a lot of painters and homeowners puzzled. The one thing I hear over and over again is, “I’ve been painting in San Francisco for 25 years and I have never had this problem before.” To that I can only answer, you have been exceedingly lucky, have you bought a lottery ticket lately?

I’ve been meaning for sometime to post a definitive article about what full spectrum colors are , and what makes them superior to ordinary paint colors you will find in all paint stores. So let’s get started with the basics. There is no absolute definition of a full spectrum color since it would be impossible to re-create the full spectrum of light with any colorant combination. This is bound to add to the confusion, but with that in mind I can define what I’m talking about. A full spectrum paint color as we know it consists of one that employs no fewer than three chromatic colorants, one yellow, one red, one blue, or any two of the above with one of it’s complements, violet, green, or orange. All of Philip’s Perfect Colors are also what I would term “complex colors” which means that they have at least 4 colorants. So if you combine “full spectrum” with “complex color” you get one that has at least four (preferrably more),  colorants and some element of yellow, red, blue, and or any of their complements. Most importantly of all they contain no black colorant of any kind.

Now that we have the WHAT let’s explore they WHY. The reason for employing no black colorant is simple-it reflects no light. Since ultimately paint color is a reflection of light off of a wall it makes little sense to add a colorant that is not going to contribute in any meaningful way to this luminosity. In fact, it only serves to “dechromatize” the other colorants being used. I liken it to taking a black baseball bat and smashing the other colors. This image works for me, you can image whatever you like. The bottom line here being that if we want to create walls that truly “sing” we have to employ a multitude of “notes”.

By using complementary colorants instead of black to “dechromatize” the other colorants we create a more complicated stew while at the same time retaining and even adding to the overall luminosity. I like to use a food analogy here. I can prepare the above mentioned stew with a lot of salt and pepper and you will definitely have flavor, but it won’t be very subtle. On the other hand if I substitute 5,6, or even more spices delicately balanced in just the right proportion you have something much more complex and satifying to your palate. You may not even be able to identify exactly what the spices are that you are tasting because the sum has now created something greater than the parts. You just know that it tastes great.  In the same way you might not be able to immediately identify what’s in the color as it fools your eye so to speak. Is it blue? Is it green? Is it gray? You see what I mean.

This ambiguity of color also helps in the coordination of other colors in the room or on an exterior color scheme. Full spectrum complex colors have a natural affiniy for each other because of the fact that they share many of the same pigments albeit in differing amounts. So your red has some blue in it, your blue has some red in it and so on and so forth. Another way of looking at it is that all colors are welcomed into the room since there is a precedent for everything set by the full spectrum nature of the wall color(s). This explains one of the reasons why it is so difficult to get exactly the right shade of a conventional paint color. There just isn’t much there to work with, so you have a greater chance of getting it wrong than you do of getting it right. The odds are definitely against you.

My favorite analogy is that of “musical colors.” If you’ve read my previous posts on this topic you have some idea what I’m about to lay out. Colors that are made with one or two colorants become boring and monotonous very quickly just like an instrument playing the same one or two notes over and over again would be. Simple music has it’s place but no one can argue the enduring quality of Mozart, Beethoven, and the other classical masters. Likewise Philip’s Perfect Colors have a timeless appeal that transcends the latest color fads while at the same time giving you ample color choices to play within these trends.

Finally look at nature. The color of our world informs us in the most basic way. Who among us doesn’t enjoy the spectacular show of a hillside painted with wildflowers? The key here is to remember that nature always balances itself.  What field of yellow flowers isn’t made the more breathtaking by the lonely violet ones poking their heads through? Travel the countryside and you will see the odd pairings that nature uses to balance and complement itself. Let us also remember that the vast majority of our natural landscape is made up of complex neutral tones. It is against this backdrop that nature shows her accents. Imagine what an unsettling place this world would be if the landscape were primarily a shocking red or yellow. I don’t think we can even imagine it. Our color sensibilities are so deeply hardwired into our DNA that we are not even aware of it. It is this deeply seated sensibility that Philip’s Perfect Colors speaks to.

The sky is the limit, or in this case the ceiling is. I have been experiencing a rash of problems from painters lately who are frustrated when it comes to painting ceilings. There are some basic principles that apply here that can help painters and their clients to have some realistic expectations.

The ceiling in any room is one of the most difficult surfaces to paint well. The problems most associated with badly painted ceilings are poor substrate quality (badly hung and taped drywall, or badly repaired plaster), and poorly applied paints that may not be suitable for ceilings. Ceilings are uniquely difficult as a result of the manner in which light reflects across them. Imperfections you might not even see on a vertical wall are highlighted on a ceiling by this phenomenon. It is therefore extremely important that certain measures be taken up front to avoid an unsatisfactory result.

Just because you love the look of eggshell paint on the walls doesn’t mean you are going to be able to have it on a ceiling (here me out designers one and all). The best finish for a ceiling is as dead a flat as you can get. C2 has a LoVo product Non-Reflective flat, that works well on ceilings when applied properly. Almost all manufacturers sell some type of ceiling flat. Bathrooms and kitchens generally do require ceilings painted in some sort of a sheen for moisture protection and stain removal. These rooms by and large tend to be smaller in scope and represent less of a challenge than large living rooms, dining rooms, and other common areas.

“I put four coats on and I can still see imperfections and roller marks, what’s wrong with this paint?” I can’t tell you how many times I hear this from painters. The truth is that once things start to go wrong they only get worse the more coats of paint you apply. The objective when painting a ceiling is to do it as fast as possible so that the paint remains wet long enough to even out and not show roller tracks. Surprisingly few painters use larger rollers for ceilings than they would for a normal sized wall. 18″ roller covers are the answer when doing large ceilings. They will allow you to get the job done exponentially faster than with a conventional 9″ cover.

Another common misunderstanding is which direction to roll the paint. You ALWAYS roll the paint in the direction perpendicular to the main source of light entering the room. If you have two sources of light pick the one that you see as you enter the room and paint perpendicular to it. This will allow the light rays to be scattered and diffused across the widths of the roller pattern rather than being telegraphed down the lengths of them.

One technique that works well on very large ceilings is to spray the paint on with an airless sprayer followed by a very light back rolling to even out the paint. The slight roller texture also aids in scattering the light rays. It is essential if you are going to spray the ceiling that you back roll as well. If you do not back roll you are likely to get uneven paint build up resulting in unwanted sheen even when using the flattest of paints.

So what can you do if you have gone too far and the ceiling now looks horrible. I have found the best solution to be priming it again with an OIL-BASED primer (latex doesn’t work), and then applying one finish coat of a suitably flat ceiling paint. The oil-based primer seals all the mistake coats completely and allows you to begin anew. It also prevents the finish coat from being absorbed by the substrate.  Remember as I have said before there is no such thing as touch up, and on ceilings this is doubly true. Keep that electrician away from the newly painted ceiling unless he has white gloves on, I am not kidding!

So a little pre-planning by designers and painters can make everybody’s life (including mine) a little easier. With that said, don’t be afraid to put a little color up there while you’re at it. My favorite is PPC-BL7 Agua Verte. Use it full strength with rich colors or cut it by half for lighter value walls. It will make your ceilings feel like the sky above.

I cannot think of a single topic in the paint department that is fraught with more misinformation and mythology than that of paint touch up. I will attempt to shed some light on this subject. First of all we must start from the premise that there really is no such thing as perfectly touching up any painted surface. Unfortunately the paint industry has done everything possible to create and fuel this myth. Why would anyone consistently and repeatedly misrepresent (I call it lying) this very important aspect of their product? Quite simply it is because this is what we want to be told. Yes, sometimes we want to be lied to! Afterall who really wants to be told that the entire wall is going to have to be repainted after the electrician carelessly gets his dirty hands all over the freshly painted walls of your remodel? So you see we are all complicit in the big lie or myth of paint touch up.

Let’s look at this scientifically for a moment. If you are applying one mil thickness of paint over just a portion of another layer of paint, physics tells us that the light reflecting off this surface is going to reveal the difference between the two. This results in a spot that telegraphs itself, especially when viewed from an angle. So there is in fact no sound scientific basis to support the notion of flawless touch up.

Despite the above paragraph, I can’t tell you the number of times I hear the complaint from painters and homeowners alike, “This paint didn’t touch up, and when I use XYZ brand I never have that problem.” What exactly is going on here? Well quite simply sometimes you do “get away” with touching paint up. In other words, in this situation, under these lighting conditions, with this sheen of paint, with this particular color, nobody can notice (easily) that you have touched it up. Yet the fact remains that you can tell the difference if you look closely.

The lower the sheen of paint, the less likely that you will see a given touch up. This is because flat paint scatters light in every direction. In essence it is just confusing your eyes so that you don’t see what is going on. High gloss paint reflects light primarily in one direction (back at you), therefore it more readily shows the touch up. The surface and air temperatures at the time of the original painting, and at the time of the touch up attempt also play into the equation. Temperature has a large affect on the coalescing of an acrylic paint film, and subsequently the pigments contained in that film. Therefore when there is a wide discrepancy between temperatures of when the original paint was applied and when the touch up is being attempted, you get an exaggerated difference between the two. This is particularly the case when touching up exterior deep colors.

Another problem that presents itself when attempting the imposible (touching up paint), is that different pigments have differing weights. The result of this is that if the paint is not thoroughly mixed either when it was originally applied, or when it is used as touch up, you will potentially get quite a different color. I find this is the one that confuses people the most. I often ear, “I used the same paint from the same can, how can it look so different?” This is emphasized when using darker colors as they have more color pigments added to them. Application technique also adds to the complexity of the situation. A wall that was originally painted with a roller or by spray, certainly cannot be touched up with a brush; yet this is what all too often is attempted.

One of the most common problem that occurs however is one that can easily be avoided. Many times a large 5 gallon container is purchased to do a job and then the customer comes back later to buy a quart  of the same paint for touch up. Yet another inescapable fact in the world of paint is that no two cans are EXACTLY the same. Once again we bump our heads against the immutable laws of physics and chemisty. The most reasonable thing to do is to take a small amount of the paint from the 5 gallon container BEFORE we start painting, and reserve it for touch up later. This small step is ignored at your peril. You know the old adage, “an ounce of prevention…”

One last thing that affects touch up is the quality of the paint itself. Interstingly; the cheaper the paint the better the chances are that you won’t notice the touch up. Higher quality paints have more expensive pigments and resins which can build up sheen especially in the flat/matte range. So sometimes the more expensive a can of paint is the harder it is to touch up.

So you see (whew!) this is really not such a simple thing. A paint film is a very complex thing and as such should be treated with the respect and dignity that you would normally reserve for the granite countertop or the newly laid carpeting. We expect a lot from out painted walls and sometimes they just need a little love. I hope this helps.

What’s the GREENEST can of PAINT?
(The one you don’t have to buy)

In this day and age of the “greening” of America we are inundated with green messages that can sometimes be confusing or misleading. This phenomenon is especially true when it comes to the paint industry. There is so much talk about No-VOC and Low-VOC paints, but what is the truth behind it?

What’s a VOC?

VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) are the chemical ingredients in paint that evaporate into the atmosphere as the paint is drying. Government agencies (EPA in the U.S.) define what constitutes a VOC, and this differs depending on which continent you reside on. Europe uses a different definition of what can be labeled No-VOC or Low-VOC than does the United States. Europeans calculate VOC including the water in the paint, whereas in the U.S. VOC’s are calculated by measuring only the solids in the can. This results in a more stringent VOC regulation in the U.S.- even if the stated VOC’s on a can are the same as its European counterpart. There are also some ingredients used in European paints that are not classified as VOC’s in Europe but are classified as VOC’s in the U.S., for example, texanol. So there is debate as to what constitutes a VOC in and of itself.

“NO” vs. “LOW”

What is the definition of a No-VOC versus a Low-VOC paint? The test used in the U.S. to measure VOC’s is EPA test 24. Test 24 is accurate down to about 5 VOC grams per liter. Below this it is unable to accurately measure the VOC content of any particular ingredient or the paint overall. So it is impossible to state that a paint is No-VOC without acknowledging that this testing method is, at that level, approximate. Low-VOC paints are generally accepted to have below 50 VOC grams per liter by definition. These are generally speaking more accurately rated coatings because they are above the 5 grams per liter accuracy threshold. It is important to consider that the quality of the coating is as important as the actual VOC rating. If a Low-VOC coating lasts twice as long as a No-VOC coating, then you may spend more time, money and ultimately release more VOC’s into the atmosphere by using the paint with fewer VOC’s.

Is COLOR a VOC?

No, color is not a VOC per se, although the colorants used in paint do contain some VOC’s. Color comes into the VOC debate when we consider how often we paint. Is it not more environmentally friendly to make color choices that we are going to be comfortable with over the lifespan of the paint coating? Often times in a desire to be trendy we may choose the latest fad colors only to grow tired of them before the room really needs to be repainted. If we pick colors that have a lasting appeal we can minimize the amount of painted used overall, thus reducing the net impact to the environment. Remember it is not just the paint but also the manufacturing and shipping processes that contribute to the carbon footprint of any can of paint. Therefore, the greenest can of paint is the one that we don’t need to buy.

PHILIP’S PERFECT COLORS

With Philip’s Perfect Colors you get state of the art “full spectrum” colors that use no black pigments to tone them. Philip’s Perfect Colors resonate with a deep cultural color consciousness that makes them timeless in their appeal. These highly complex color formulations are offered in the C2 LoVo product line. This Low-VOC product (25-40 grams per liter) offers uncompromising quality that yields years of protection and beauty to your home or commercial environment. For more information please visit www.philipsperfectcolors.com.