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Buying Guide to Nontoxic Paint + DIY Milk Paint Recipe
by Annie B. Bond | June 29th, 2009 | 19 Comments
topic: Eco Decorating, Green Living
Painting is surely one of the easiest and most budget-friendly decorating tricks to brighten up your home. And if you use paint that’s safe for both for you and the environment, you can’t go wrong (except, of course, when the color looked so different on your wall than it did in the store … ).
Traditional paints contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), fungicides to prevent mold and mildew growth, and synthetic chemicals called biocides as preservatives to extend the product’s shelf life. VOCs, like ethylene glycol and the carriers in many pigments, can trigger skin rashes, asthma, headaches, dizziness and fatigue. VOCs also contribute to ground level ozone. Biocides are lesser known than VOCs, but they can be detected in the air five years after painting. And fungicides can be toxic.
It definitely worth the extra legwork and expense to find paints that don’t contain these chemicals, for the environment’s sake as well as for your health.
5 tips on what to look for in nontoxic paint
Look for paints that are made with zinc oxide as a safer fungicide.it is easier to find no-VOD or low-VOC paints these days.
- Avoid vinyl. Vinyl paints are known to be less expensive, but vinyl it is a powerful endocrine disrupter and suspected carcinogen.
- The term “latex” for paint does not mean the latex from the rubber tree. For paint it means water-based and a number of different synthetic polymers including acrylic, vinyl acrylic, and vinyl styrene.
- Look for 100 percent acrylic binders. The higher the acrylic content, the less acrylic vinyl and vinyl styrene (and usually the higher the cost).
- The safest synthetic paint is zero-VOC with no vinyl, fungicides or biocides.
- Milk paint and whitewash are free of VOCs, biocides and fungicides, and both allow the material being painted to breathe, reducing the growth of mold and mildew. Milk paint is made with milk protein casein and lime; whitewash is made with lime and water (and sometimes casein). Natural earth pigments are used for coloring, as they are in natural plaster.
How to make basic milk paint — an indoor-outdoor formula
You can buy milk paint pre-made (see Where to Buy Nontoxic Paint below) — or you can make your own. Here is my best formula for milk paint. It’s an indoor/outdoor formula, and an adaptation of one found in a Lime Institute brochure called “Whitewash and Cold Water Paints.”
2 ½ pounds casein
7 gallons warm distilled water
25 pounds mason’s hydrated lime
1 ½ pounds borax
Natural earth pigment (optional)
Soak the casein overnight in a large tub filled with 2 gallons of the water.
In a separate tub, combine the lime and 3 gallons of the water; stir to blend.
In a third tub, thoroughly combine the borax in 1 gallon of the water; add this to the lime mixture, then stir into the casein mixture.
Add pigment if desired. Add more water if needed.
Makes 8 gallons.
Shelf Life: A few days, once the dry ingredients have been mixed with liquid.
Where to buy nontoxic paint
The Old Fashioned Milk Paint Company’s Safepaint combines milk protein and lime with pigments. It arrives as a powder and you add water. $45.95 per gallon.
Mythic Paint has no VOCs and is also, the company claims, free of carcinogenic chemicals. About $38.95 per gallon.
AFM Safecoat’s new zero-VOC Ayurveda Essence line is intended to help you find balance through colors that suit your personality. (The colors are wonderful and unexpected.) From $38.90 per gallon.
Yolo Colorhouse divides its no-VOC palettes into categories like air, grain, and petal. There’s also a “little Yolo” line, and tinted or white primer. Yolo, $39.95 per gallon, little Yolo, $10.95 per gallon.
[...] Buying Guide to Nontoxic Paint + DIY Milk Paint Recipe [...]
Interesting recipe for the milk paint. I wonder if there is any danger like e-coli or salmonella is making or using the milk paint. For now, I think I’ll just stick with my zero VOC paint from my local paint manufacturer, but it is an interesting possibility.
I am the owner of an Environmentally friendly painting company out of Evanston, IL and I use Yolo paints almost all of the time for my clients. They are awesome and the colors are terrific! Benjamin Moore “Natura” line is also pretty nice. Great article, people are really starting to pay attention to building materials and the cost for a paint that’s good for you is no more expensive than the others so it’s an easy decision. :)
In Australia, we use Dulux — nontoxic, minimal emissions, and great colours to boot.
i like the milk paint idea, i’m going to have to give that a try.
however aside from paint there are dozens of indoor air pollutants.
After reading an article on it (We do not allow links in comments) i decided to invest in an air cleaner.
simply the best thing i could have done green/air quality wise.
Looking fwd to more article here =)
-Erin
We tried Mythic paint for the first time last winter in two rooms of our house and we loved it! It covered just as well as other premium paints and barely smelled at all! The colors are lovely as well, which is not always the case with the less toxic paints. All in all, I’d highly recommend it and will be using it to paint other rooms in my house this coming winter.
I was googling nontoxic paints for an activity I am doing with my girl scout troop in a couple days. I think I am going to try this paint recipe with them instead of buying paint. Awesome!
I have used Milk Paint many times and it is a breeze to work with- there’s nothing else like it- completely natural and no chemicals and no smells.
I buy mine from a company in Toronto- they have over 50 different colours, more than any company I’ve seen so far,
(We do not allow links in comments)
Tim, Casein is an emusifier added to milk for increasing its shelf life and for keeping the fat from separating from the skim milk. (After milk is heated (pasteurized), the vitamins are destroyed: Vitamins are added back later.) Milk itself doesn’t seem to be part of the paint mixture.
(Casein has been linked to autism and related disorders: Most milk isn’t actually the pure and natural food tacitly assumed by most Americans.)
I’m glad that someone found a nobler use for that chemical. It would be nice if shelf life were longer for touch-ups.
Hi… I am interested in the milk paints, however I am wondering if people with casein sensitivities would react to the paint? Are there other paint brands you can recommend, which are considered green choices? Thanks! I try to avoid bringing chemical fumes and products into my home.
Thank you for such a great milk paint recipe. I personally buy mine from a company in Quakertown, PA, The Real Milk Paint Co. They have a number of products in a variety of colors. I would definitely recommend them- plus they are environmentally friendly paints.
What would you recommend as a non-toxic substitute for Kilz Original? I need something to seal in fire damage to a wooden wall! Kilz smells like it will poison us, so I hate to use more of it (already did a partial coverage). Thanks tons for any info! Using your milk based paint recipe shortly.
Kim,
Remove fire damage instead of sealing it in. Look for a mobile soda blaster in your area. They use bicarbonate of soda to blast all that black gunk away and it can be used on wood. (The soda is larger particles than the soda you buy for baking.)
If you already own an air compressor, you might consider buying a small soda blasting machine because you’ll may find other uses for it. They are available at Harbor Freight and at Eastwood, both on the internet. Just search these names in conjunction with “soda blasting.”
Any thoughts on drywall compound (aka texturizing mud)? Sheetrock brand, which is what is at Lowe’s and Home Depot has all kinds of awful stuff, VOC, bio and fungicides. I don’t know at what levels compared to regular old Glidden paint. Thanks!
Mythic Paint
MSDS shows a Vinyl Acrylic latex coating. I thought you said to avoid these types of bases.
Wow! no milk in the recipe… who would have thought? :P
Great, not only is it better for the client & the environment, painting with eco friendly paint also brings in more green-aware clients aka more business from people who appreciate the extra step:)
Milk paint. This is weird. I was in the painting industry for many years and never heard of it. I have always thought of the word milk as of something you dringk in the morning. Not something you apply on the walls.
That’s very good and informative tips, I like your sharing ideas, these are all very informative tips. Thank you for sharing tips. Good work.