These products are environmentally attractive because they need to be replaced less frequently or their maintenance has very low impact, both of which can reduce costs as well as environmental impact.
Robust answers on typical service life of products can be hard to come by, however. In GreenSpec we reserve this criterion for products where the material is clearly more durable than alternatives, such as an exceptionally traffic-resistant polyurethane floor finish. We refer to standardized tests for durability when they are available and appropriate.
We also consider “appropriate durability”: long life is more important in a building envelope than in interior finish materials that will be replaced for aesthetic reasons. Here, reduced maintenance can be particularly important. An example is resilient flooring that doesn’t require regular waxing: an unnecessary use of resources and a health hazard.
Olympic Premium Exterior Paint
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Just how low the VOC level needs to be for a given product to qualify for inclusion in GreenSpec depends on the product category. For most products, we require certification to California’s health-based emissions standard, CDPH Std Method v1.1 standard (also referred to as California Section 01350), which tests a product’s resultant VOC concentrations in the space after a given period of time. For wet-applied products like paints, caulks, and adhesives, we still also look for VOC content instead of, or in addition to, verified low emissions; this is because emissions testing doesn’t adequately test initial offgassing, and VOC content is currently the only widely available proxy.
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Included here are various erosion-control products, foundation products that eliminate the need for excavation, and exterior stains that result in lower VOC emissions into the atmosphere. Fluorescent lamp and ballast recyclers and low-mercury fluorescent lamps reduce environmental impacts during maintenance and disposal of luminaires.
Olympic’s Premium low-VOC, UV-resistant acrylic latex paints meet MPI performance criteria and are available in flat, satin, and semi-gloss. These paints resist chalking and use the company’s Dirtguard technology, which keeps dirt and moisture from penetrating the paint film, help keep it clean for longer. Olympic’s Premium exterior paint comes with a lifetime warranty.
Exterior paints and coatings are a building’s first line of defense against wind and rain and they protect cladding from damage by pollution, ultraviolet radiation, mildew, and other fungi. However, these coatings often contain materials that are hazardous, so they need to be durable to minimize their environmental footprint. Properly preparing the substrate and selecting a high-quality product will help ensure that durability.
There are a number of different exterior coatings available, including acrylic latex, alkyd (“oil-based”), waterborne alkyd, and mineral silicate formulations. Acrylic products use water as a solvent and cure to a flexible film that protects substrate from liquid moisture but allows moisture vapor to escape. They are used as primers and topcoats on wood, masonry, and some metal surfaces. The highest quality acrylic coatings contain 100% acrylic with no polyvinyl acetate.
Alkyd paints use synthetic alkyd resins and volatile organic solvents to keep them in suspension along with metallic drying agents that help them cure to a hard, vapor-impermeable coating. Alkyds are a poor choice as a topcoat on wood cladding since they trap moisture and can crack as the substrate expands and contracts. They are very effective wood primers since the resins penetrate and help stabilize the fibers, they bond well to old chalking paint, and they can block stains and tannins from bleeding through. However, because of the toxicity of these coatings GreenSpec does not recommend their use unless the substrate will not hold other coatings. Waterborne alkyds emit fewer VOCs and can be a good option on high-use areas such as door trim.
Mineral silicate paints use potassium silicate that reacts with mineral-based surfaces such as stucco, plaster, concrete, and stone, to produce a hard, durable, breathable finish. These coatings contain no solvents or VOCs and are resistant to UV and mold, mildew, and fungal growth. Though expensive, they require very little maintenance and have a long service life.
Note that biocides are found in almost all commercial paints, both to protect the paint in the can and the dry paint film from mildew and algae. Because these biocides could potentially leach from the paint GreenSpec recommends avoiding them when possible, but in certain climates they will help prolong a coating’s lifespan. GreenSpec lists coatings that use 100% acrylic resins, as well as waterborne alkyds and mineral silicate paints. These coatings must meet the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s (SCAQMD) VOC requirements of 50 grams per liter for coatings and 100 g/l for primers as well as 50 g/l for tints. GreenSpec also lists paints made with no biocides.
In some high-performance applications, products are not as low-emitting as in regular applications. GreenSpec occasionally lists products with special performance characteristics but recommends using them only where necessary. Epoxies, often used in floor coatings due to their durability and chemical resistance, are not listed in GreenSpec because they contain bisphenol-A, an endocrine disruptor. GreenSpec lists acrylic floor coatings with VOC levels of 50g/l or less and MPI certification.
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