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‘Green’ Exterior Painting Advice
“Green” isn’t simply a color, it is a concept as well . Everyone needs to minimize our impact to the world before we destroy it completely, and here is an alternative way we will help that you may not have thought of before.
“Green” paints are reasonably common for inside, but not common for exteriors since strong smell is rarely an issue . The ordinary high end exterior paints are all water based and 100 percent acrylic and low-no odor. Using “green” paints does not always reduce environmental impact of paint. In fact , “green” paint can increase the general impact on the environment when misapplied.
Always be certain to do your research first when looking for green painting companies Minneapolis. When you want to minimise harm to the Earth, i would not necessarily identify a “green” paint. Instead, I would concentrate on these 4 factors:
1. Saving the substrate long term and minmizing maintenance. This saves the trees, keeps landfills from filling, reduces fuel usage by general contractors and lastly saves you money- this comes at the cost of more up front prep, more gallons of paint, higher priced paint and more work. Choosing a well designed paint system and general maintenance plan is much more environmentally sensitive than building a brand new Green certified home.
There are far more VOC’s in the sealant we are using than in almost all of the paints we use. However, urethane sealants out perform acrylic’s by 400%, so this still reduces the general impact in the long term by conserving your substrates.
2. Reducing waste: Measure how much paint you will need meticulously and buy your supplies from a nearby paint store. It is typically feasible to under order and pick up an additional gallon if needed. Do not purposefully over order additional paint, it too frequently gets wasted, freezes in the garage or does not match anyhow after fading.
Looking after your home continually requires less work and materials and decreases the quantity of waste to be disposed of. When a home is not maintained, one maintenance issues frequently contributes to another which speeds up decay. Not caulking causes the window to decay, which causes the insulation to become damp which then causes the siding and drywall to decay. All these items end up in a landfill and have to be cut down from forests in Washington, manufactured on the other side of the country and then sent out to one more State, all because the caulk was not maintained.
3. Work and fuel usage: Get the work done once properly. 2 coats would also be endorsed, because the 2nd coat requires no more tape, poly, preparation, etc, but seriously increases the life of the painting. It requires only 25-40% more work and materials, this means fewer trips and fewer gallons.
For houses, we avoid special paints from distant locations. Having paint shipped in is expensive and ineffective. Highly rated paint from California or Ireland is almost never an environmentally sound choice if you live somewhere else completely.
4. Recycling- We take this seriously. First, we attempt to under order, in order not to have excess paint. Each gallon we purchase either ends up on your home or is recycled. Our oils and oil water mixes are used 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 most houses, I would like to suggest two coats of a 25 year a hundred percent acrylic paint from a country wide provider with a nearby outlet. For more specialized projects such as metal coatings and decks, I am able to not make a blanket advice. Every project should be investigated separately to ascertain what coating system will protect the building best in order to keep the planet Green and not cost you a fortune. Let your contractor know that you want to preserve your structure in order to have the least effect on the Earth.
Have a discourse on how the business attempts to minimize impact and maximize longevity. Work with the contractor to choose what paints and procedures will accomplish your goals best. Hopefully this helps you when looking for environmentally friendly exterior painting Minneapolis.
Time Lapse Speed Painting landscape art by Tim Gagnon