Adding a fresh coat of paint to a living room, bedroom, or dining room wall can help to protect it against water or other types of damage. It can also help to freshen up the look of a given space. However, paint contains a variety of chemicals that can be dangerous to breathe or be exposed to over periods of several hours or days. What are some steps that you can take to paint your home’s interior without reducing air quality?
Be Sure to Time Your Painting Project Properly
Ideally, you will paint a room during a relatively dry and temperate time of the year. This will allow you to keep windows or doors open without drawing in extremely warm or cold air from outside. It will also ensure that you can open doors and windows without drawing in too much humid air or a large amount of grass or pollen that could potentially damage your paint job.
Make Sure That Fumes Cannot Escape Into Other Rooms
It is important to recognize that gasses and other chemicals found in paint can slip through cracks in a wall or other gaps in a given room. If they are allowed to do so, they could make their way throughout the house where they may linger for several days. That is why it is a good idea to take steps that limit the volume of paint fumes that are allowed to pass through vents or into your home’s ducts.
Cracks and gaps may be sealed with tape, caulk, or other materials around the home. It may be possible to put a loose plastic covering on a vent while you are painting around it, too. The folks at J Martin in Yorba Linda can conduct an air quality assessment or take other steps to ensure that paint fumes are not allowed to remain in your residence.
The Use of Large Fans May Be Appropriate
Large fans may be used in rooms where there may not be a door or window that leads outdoors. In some cases, it may be necessary to blow the air into the nearest room that does have a window or door that leads to your yard or other outdoor space. Be sure that pets, young children, and elderly family members are not occupying any spaces where large concentrations of chemicals are going to be present. This is true even if those chemicals will not be lingering in large concentrations in a given area for more than a few minutes.
The Type of Paint That You Use Matters
Paints that contain a water base tend to emit fewer fumes than paints that have an oil base. As an added bonus, latex paints tend to be easier to remove from paint brushes as well as simpler to clean. In many cases, you will only need soap and water to remove fingerprints or other stains from a wall. Cleaning oil paint may involve the use of harsh chemicals that are similar in composition to the gasoline that you put in your car.
Be Sure to Clean and Store Materials Properly
You should never store paint, brushes, or other items that have paint on them in the house. Ideally, you will keep them in a shed or a similar structure that is not connected to your home. However, it can be acceptable to store paint in a garage assuming that the garage has proper ventilation and the paint is properly sealed.
It is also a good idea to rinse off any gloves, aprons, or masks that you used while painting your property before putting them in a designated storage area. Taking these precautions can minimize the chances of additional fumes getting into your house days or weeks after the project is over. Adhering to paint storage best practices can also prevent the paint from degrading into something that you can no longer use within your home.
At J Martin in Yorba Linda, our professional service team can repair, install, or maintain your furnace and air conditioner. We also can install whole-house fans or new ductless systems in your house to ensure that clean air is allowed to circulate freely. To learn more about our service offerings, please give us a call today. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have or schedule an appointment on your behalf.
