1. About.com
  2. Home & Garden
  3. Home Repair

Discuss in my forum

Low VOC Interior Paint and Other Healthy Alternative Paints

By , About.com Guide

Zero or No VOC Paint

Zero VOC or NO VOC paint is a misnomer and only means very, very low levels of VOC. Usually paints marketed with these titles will have VOC's in the range of under 5 g/L. Even when adding in pigment at the paint store which can add 2-5 g/L of VOC, the total VOC content for the mixed paint should be under 10 g/L which is excellent.

This low level of VOC content paint is as good as it's going to get with the larger paint companies.

An example of a paint that meets this spec is Harmony® Paint by Sherwin-Williams. (www.sherwin.com)

To get lower VOC content than this you'll need to use more expensive and less readily available Non-Toxic or Natural Paint.

©2012 About.com. All rights reserved. 

A part of The New York Times Company.