What are the harmful effects of paint fumes?

May 9, 2021 Tom Clark | Comments Off

You might not be passionate about your kitchen colour, or maybe you are planning a nursery for a new entrance. Despite the instance, painting is something that most people do as a house upgrading task. Explore or take the help of an expert to learn the ways to protect yourself from toxic fumes.

What is interior paint?

Paint is a pigment which is liquefied in a fluid called the solvent. The solvent can be used on walls or other surfaces. Along with these two components, other additives and ingredients are frequently there.

There are two distinct kinds of interior paint:

  1. Alkyd: These are oil-based paints, employ solvents instead of water, like organic solvents.
  2. Latex: These are water-based paints that consist of water as a prime fluid, while some other solvents might also be integrated.

VOCs or Volatile organic compounds

A lot of paints contain some extent of volatile organic compounds. VOCs are discharged into the environment as vapours from solids or liquids that comprise organic chemicals like polishes or paints. These are a few instances of VOCs:

  1. Formaldehyde
  2. Toluene
  3. Xylene
  4. Benzene
  5. Acetone

Contact to VOCs can sometimes cause short or lasting health effects. Preferably, you must target to restrict your use of products that produce VOCs and take security measures while applying them. Low-VOC or no-VOC products are out there to buy. While buying paints, check the label to see the VOC levels of the product.

Look for a quality and affordable fume extraction system for your house or workplace.

Paint fumes side effects

Are there any side effects of paint fumes? Can they bring health issues? Paints can make you sick or uncomfortable if they get onto your skin. Further, they can be potentially risky when swallowed, especially oil-based paints. The fumes from such kinds of colours can disturb your nose, eyes, or throat. Irritation must fade as you go outside into clean and fresh air.

Headache, nausea, dizziness, breathing problems, and irritation of eyes, throat and nose are a few short-term side effects due to the inhalation of VOCs.

Contact with high concentrations of VOCs for a long time can result in long-lasting damage to specific systems of the body such as kidneys, liver, and nervous system. In general, water-based paints emit lower degrees of VOCs and chemical vapours. To prevent all these health conditions, invest in an advanced fume extraction system.