Tips are pouring out on blogs and forums for "getting rid of bad paint smells", and you can easily find hundreds of testimonies from people suffering from headaches or dizziness after repainting their walls...
However, there are indeed odorless paints that can make your life easier: their secret lies in bio-sourced paints.
Why do standard paints smell so strong?
If you've ever used oil-based or acrylic paint, you've probably had to endure the strong, characteristic odor it lingers on for hours or even days. This unpleasant odor comes from the solvents used in the paint, which help thin it so it can be applied easily.
A strong paint smell indicates a high content of volatile organic compounds, also known as VOCs . These are molecules that are both harmful to the planet and dangerous to health and are sometimes the cause of certain allergies (read our article on allergens in paint ). This famous smell is particularly present in glycerophthalic paints and paints based on synthetic and therefore unnatural solvents. Once the paint is applied, the solvent (White Spirit, formaldehyde, toluene, xylene, benzene or even ethyl alcohol, for example) evaporates during drying and the VOCs it contains are then released into the ambient air. This is why we always recommend opening the windows wide and ventilating the rooms concerned well during a painting session.
When you choose water-based paints, you'll soon notice that they have only a slight odor because they contain a small amount of solvents. Nowadays, you can even find water-based paints that are solvent-free and therefore odorless .
How to find odorless, solvent-free paint?
To recap: to avoid unpleasant smells from fresh paint, you need to find a paint that is VOC-free and therefore solvent-free (and if possible contains natural ingredients!).
You will easily find what you are looking for when it comes to bio-based paints . In fact, they are necessarily water-based, which guarantees the absence of petrochemical solvents and assures you that the ingredients that compose them are mainly of plant and natural origin. Given their more responsible composition, bio-based paints contain few or no VOCs , which therefore prevents indoor pollution during the drying phase and therefore a very low odor or no odor at all!
There are also more traditional acrylic paints, which are also water-based and have a low odor. However, they can contain other ingredients that are quite toxic to health and the environment.
Paints that are ecological, bio-sourced, odorless and solvent-free!
At Algo, all our paints are 98% bio-sourced thanks to the natural and plant-based ingredients that compose them, in particular algae which allow us to obtain a specific texture and technical properties. Thanks to this, our paints give off only a very low odor . Our natural paints contain less than 1g/L of VOCs , so you can repaint the walls, ceilings and objects of your choice with your eyes (almost) closed without fear. This type of paint is ideal for delicate rooms such as a baby's room and preserves the health of the whole family.
We are telling you about it today because we are the first to adopt our paints, but ultimately, it is our customers who speak about them best:
In addition to offering you natural and odorless paints , all our paints have a covering power superior to traditional paints and their maintenance is easy because regardless of the finish they are all washable . Another important point: at Algo, everything happens within a radius of 240km, from the harvesting of the algae to the production of the paint, we do not leave Brittany and we work daily with workers with disabilities who take wonderful care of the packaging of our paints and who ensure the correct mixing of pigments when you have chosen a particular color. These are yet more good reasons to favor short circuits and local partners!
Discover all our paintings here !
Advantages and benefits of odorless paint
Still unsure about your upcoming project? Here's a quick summary of the many benefits you'll see when you switch to odorless paint:
- An odorless paint is necessarily more pleasant to apply and avoids the unpleasant side effects (headaches, dizziness, nausea, etc.) of standard paints.
- No matter the season, you'll no longer have to worry about having to leave your home for a few days to escape the overpowering smell of drying paint!
- Odorless, water-based paint dries faster.
- You protect your health , that of your loved ones and the planet! Odorless = VOC-free : it's the perfect equation to limit indoor pollution in your home.
