Eco-Friendly Painting in Newton

Making our dwellings gorgeous is nothing new. Humans have been decorating their homes for millennia. From the Australian Aborigines painting ochre onto cave walls over 40,000 years ago to the almost modern Egyptian pyramids of only 4,500 years ago we all have an innate desire to express ourselves and make our surroundings part of that expression.

But we have always paid a price for this activity. Paints have always contained poisons and toxins that not only pollute the environment but the air within a Newton home. Early paints famously contained lead, which had a sweet flavor tempting for kids to ingest. We all know the horrible affects of these paints that caused problems with developing nervous systems in children and kidney damage, mood changes, memory and high blood pressure in adults.

The ingredients used to make paint can be broken down into four areas — pigments, solvents, binders and other additives. Color comes from the pigment while the solvent and binder provide the pigment with a base and helps the paint stick to a surface. The remaining additives are used to help the paint dry and prevent mildew from forming.

The solvents and pigments contain toxins, which not only pollute the environment but also, if improperly disposed of in a landfill, can contaminate the surrounding earth for decades. The solvents and pigments also contain volatile organic compounds that we know create smog and pollution in the environment, but can also have very harmful affects on the internal air quality of a home.

Recent government rulings have not only put in to practice some controls on the toxins and VOCs in paints, but has also drawn attention to this scary situation. The response has been for many paint companies to produce eco-friendly paints that either contain low or zero VOCs. It should be considered though that the majority of paint companies that create these non toxic paints also manufacture and market toxic and high VOC paints — so when you are looking to paint green you may think about who you are supporting with your dollars.

There are a handful of companies that do not have these legacy issues, and only create eco friendly paint. These non toxic paints range from completely organic ‘milk paints’ which are totally safe but lack in durability, to high-performance latex based paints that simply lack VOCs and all toxins.

The newest and most modern Newton eco-friendly paints can come in any color and, although a little more expensive, have very low odor and zero VOCs. These paints are created in a completely new way, which means that they have all the durability of toxic paints, but without any of the toxins and VOCs. When looking to buy these paints you need to read their labels very carefully. The first thing to notice is if they carry a government warning label. If they do, then they are not completely safe and may contain some VOCs or toxins. Those paints with no warning label and state that they are zero VOC paints as opposed to low VOC are the best. These can often be found at independent hardware stores nationwide and can be researched online.

Paint Colors & Tips for the Exterior of your Home

When you think about changing the exterior paint of your home, you’re creating big changes that can lead to an overall home face-lift. Before you begin changing the exterior color, here are some tips to help get you started in selecting the right color palette for your home:

1. Fading

Fading of colors is one issue that is shouldered by the darker hues and shades. If you plan on using major dark colors, then you would need to be aware that these colors fade easier than lighter ones. For instance, dark blues and reds fade after a few years and touch-ups are harder to shade. Do not let it stop you from choosing dark colors if that’s what you have planned for your home.

2. Protection

Another thing that you should consider when choosing exterior house paint brand and colors is the protection that it provides on the home. It’s important that you select a paint brand that provides great protection from snow, rainwater and harsh heat. By selecting a great brand, it should protect your home for more than four years.

3. Color Combination

When selecting exterior paint colors, it’s important that the colors of your home go in harmony with your neighbors home as well as another color. Do not experiment with colors so quickly to the point where it’ll make your home stand out or look weird. It’s best to consider the colors of nature around you in your neighborhood before choosing the right color for your home.

4. Paint Color Deception

When looking at paint in its liquid form, it may look appealing but when you see it on your home or on various surfaces, it can look completely different. To save money and time, make sure you try out the paint colors before you purchase gallons of them for your home. You can purchase sample colors or small amounts of paints before selecting the right colors for your home.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Patullo

Before You Paint Your Newton House

If you’re a Massachusetts homeowner looking to sell, you’ve doubtless been a little discouraged by the recent downturn in the real estate market. These things happen, and it’s nothing much that can’t be undone when the market gets to it’s next boom. In the mean time, improving your home is one of the best ways to compete on the real estate market. But doing so incurs additional costs that you can only hope to get back on the sale.

Painting your home is one of the most economical improvements you can make. It’s also one of the most visible improvements you can make, and at least prospective buyers can see the results even if only in the picture in the home-finders magazine. But exterior painting is a slightly more daunting task than interior painting. So hopefully this will help you through the hardest steps.

Digital imagination
Your first task is to decide on the color scheme. Now maybe you have an artistic, vivid imagination and flawless taste in choosing a color palette. So good for you. If not, there is a new method that home owners are taking advantage of and that is digital imaging.

To do this, take a picture of the house with a digital camera, then load it into your computer and open it in a digital imaging program. You can then change the color of the house in the program by applying various color filters to it, using this to help you decide what color scheme to use. Commercial software is the first thing you might think of, but there are many freeware, shareware, and even Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) programs that are more than capable of handling this simple task. You should be able to find one for any computer platform.

Lacking that, you can either ask your computer savvy friend to do it for you, find a resource online that will image it for you, or try asking at the hardware store. Most Massachusetts paint and home improvement retailers now offer to do the same in the store, loading up a picture of your house which you provide and giving you a preview of different color schemes and palettes. Isn’t modern technology wonderful?

Painting Prep Work
A rule of thumb to know is that three-quarters of painting is good prep work. That is the labor-intensive part that makes the job so much work; actually slapping the paint on it is the easy part.