Steps For Keeping Paint Odors In Check
- May 23rd, 2010
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Paint odors are one of the slightly devious dark sides of redecorating: they are unobtrusive enough to not be a major concern while all the painting and repairing is being carried out, yet creep up and can easily ruin your day when the job is done. And there are few things as frustrating as not being able to sleep in your freshly painted bedroom, where the walls are finally that precise shade of blue you’ve always longed for, because the insidious smell of paint is giving you a terrible headache. Redecorating, repainting, playing with colors are some of the best ways to alter the look and feel of a room to best suit our mood – it would be unfair to allow paint stinks (to call them by their true name) to ruin your fun.
It’s a good thing that modern technology has evolved to the point that is has nowadays – because the range of house paints available is considerably more varied in options than ten or twenty years ago. There are low-odor and even odorless paints available – which, while not cutting the smell completely, do have considerable less side effects than their older, smellier ancestors. There are also times when the low-odor paint varieties are not suitable for the type of surfaces which need to be covered. But fret not – there are options even then.
There are however circumstances in which the odor-rich paints need to be used – usually, this happens in older houses, where surfaces the walls and any other surfaces were once painted using oil paint and need a coat of the smelly stuff before being covered in glossy, modern latex-based paints. Also, non-odorless paints also do a better job sealing in water damage. But with a little thinking ahead, it is easy to cut back on the smells and even come close to neutralizing them completely.
The miracle ingredient is vanilla extract, which can be mixed into the paint prior to the start of the job. If you’re using the classic oil-based smelly variety, the proportion is of about half a cup of vanilla extract to the gallon of paint. In case you’ve opted for a low-odor paint, a tablespoon to the gallon will suffice. Vanilla does not dilute the paint and has no impact on the tint and the final color of your walls, so using it is completely safe.
When / if the smelly paint is already on the walls and giving you a migraine, the approach is different. First of all, make sure the room in question is properly ventilated and that there’s a fan left on for long stretches of time during the day. Remove as many items from the room as possible, particularly rugs or else fabrics such as blankets which can absorb and trap the smell. Finally, peel and slice a couple of onions and place them in cold water bows around the room. Leave the bowls in overnight and you will find most of the smell gone by the following morning.
Don’t get used to the idea that Paint stinks ; change your home using Crown’s wide range of colors and ideas.