At Metaefficient, we try to only feature products that are toxin-free. Take interior paint, for example — how can a paint be considered “efficient” if it leaks toxic substances into your home for months or even years? According to the EPA, VOC-laden paint is a primary contributor to unhealthy indoor air, and it can significant impact your health. As anyone who has painted a room in their house can attest, paint gives off fumes as it is applied and, especially, as it dries. And those gases are full of VOCs, which cause a wide variety of health problems, particularly respiratory problems.

Efforts by a slew of environmental and public health groups have succeeded in getting the word out about the health dangers of VOC paints. And in classic capitalistic fashion, the nation’s paint producers have responded by developing low-or-zero-VOC paint products.

According to Green Seal, a nonprofit organization that sets standards for obtaining low-VOC certification for paint, the VOC levels in a flat top coat wall paint should be less than 50 grams per liter to qualify as low-VOC. For higher-sheen paints, like satins or semi-glosses, that figure goes up to 100 g/l. This same standard applies for primers, undercoats and floor paints as well.

Listed below are some of the paint brands most popular with the average consumer (i.e. someone who purchases paint at one of the nation’s home improvement stores). For comparison’s sake, each product selected is a flat interior top coat paint, which, as noted above, qualifies for low-VOC status if the VOC content is 50 grams per liter or below.

Miller Paint Acro Pure Interior Acrylic Latex

Best Low VOC Paints: Miller Paint Acro Pure Interior Acrylic Latex

Miller Paint is a popular paint supplier in the Pacific Northwest. Miller sells its paint through retail stores throughout Oregon and Washington, and reached beyond the Northwest through independent dealers in Arizona, California, Hawaii and New Mexico.

Miller’s Acro Pure paint is an ultra-low-VOC interior acrylic latex finish designed for application to the interior walls in residential, commercial, institutional and industrial environments. The company recommends this paint for new or previously painted interior wallboard, plaster, masonry or previously painted or primed metal or wood substrates. Acro Pure is also enhanced with antimicrobial protection to inhibit the growth of odor-causing mold and mildew bacteria on the dried paint surface.

With less than 6 g/l for its flat interior, Acro Pure easily meets the Green Seal standard. It’s priced at $30.95 per gallon.

BEHR Premium Plus Interior Flat Ultra Pure White

Best Low VOC Paints: BEHR Paint Premium Plus Interior Flat Ultra Pure

BEHR is the in-house favorite at The Home Depot, one of the nation’s most popular home improvement stores. As such, it is one of the most easily accessible paints for typical American do-it-yourselfers. The company’s Premium Plus Interior Flat Ultra Pure White is a common base paint. With a traditional matte sheen, the paint is described as ideal for family rooms, living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, hallways and ceilings that require a scrubbable, mildew resistant finish.

With a VOC content of 46 g/l, this paint just barely scrapes under the Green Seal standard of 50 g/l.. It is priced at $20 per gallon.

Valspar Ultra Premium Flat Finish

Best Low VOC Paints: Valspar Ultra Premium Flat Finish

Valspar is the go-to base paint at Lowes, the nation’s other home improvement giant. According to the company, the Ultra Premium Flat Finish will enhance the walls and ceilings throughout the home with just one coat. Guaranteed to last a lifetime, this premium paint is also spatter resistant during application and gives a mildew resistant finish.

While no specific VOC levels are provided for this paint, the company assures consumers that VOC content is less than 50 g/l, making it just worthy of Green Seal certification. It is priced at $20 per gallon.

Sherwin-Williams’ Duration Home Interior Acrylic Latex

Best Low VOC Paints: Sherwin-Williams Duration Home Interior Latex

Sherwin-Williams has been around for a long time — long before the big-box stores hit the home improvement scene. In fact, the company got its start way back in 1866. Since then, Sherwin-Williams has not only grown to be the largest producer of paints and coatings in the United States, but is among the largest producers in the world, selling its paint through retail stores and dealer partners on every inhabitable continent. The company’s low-VOC product is its Duration Home Interior Acrylic Latex, which the company promises will provide long-lasting durability, ideal for high-activity areas like kitchens, hallways, and bathrooms. Duration Home Interior also carries the Sherwin-Williams’ GreenSure designation, which means that it offers maximum performance and long-term durability, and was designed and manufactured taking steps to reduce environmental impact and to meet or exceed the most stringent regulatory requirements.

This paint’s VOC content weighs in at 15 g/l, far lower than BEHR and Valspar, but not quite as low as Miller. It is priced at $48.99 per gallon.

Efficient Wall Design – Quality Of Life & Energy Savings

A wall is one of the most deceptively complex elements of a home. A smart wall system utilizing efficiently designed and produced components will not only reduce energy consumption, it will make living in a home more pleasant. And it will be durable enough to help avoid the hassle of frequent or costly repairs. Read on to learn about some of the most innovative products available to put together a truly MetaEfficient wall.

Dietrich UltraSteel Metal Framing Studs

Dietrich UltraSteel Metal Framing Studs

Wood framing is a good option for some structures, and many builders still prefer to work with traditional wood studs for wall framing. But metal framing like UltraSteel studs from Dietrich can offer a number of substantial advantages for homeowners.

Why It Was Chosen:
Steel offers a great strength-to-weight ratio, and installation is simple for an experienced contractor. Steel won’t rot, won’t burn, and it is entirely termite-proof – without the use of chemical treatments that can affect air quality in wood-framed structures. Steel studs also won’t warp, and thermal expansion/contraction are minimal.

Besides these advantages, Dietrich’s UltraSteel uses a unique dimpled cross-section that increases strength, improves screw holding, and provides better acoustic insulation and fire-resistance.

Any steel framing studs are entirely recyclable, and Dietrich utilizes a high percentage of recycled material in their manufacturing. Steel studs obviously don’t require logging of forests, and many builders appreciate the relatively stable cost of steel material (as opposed to wood prices that can fluctuate greatly). UltraSteel studs can help earn LEED points in several categories, including use of recycled materials, use of regional materials, and minimizing construction waste.

Perhaps the single biggest disadvantage of steel for framing is thermal bridging – metal’s tendency to transmit heat or cold through the wall structure. Which brings us to the importance of proper insulation…

GreenFiber Cocoon Cellulose Insulation

GreenFiber Cocoon Cellulose Insulation

One of the most important parts of a wall (especially an exterior wall) is one that few homeowners ever see: insulation. Of the countless products available, one of the best options is GreenFiber Cocoon cellulose insulation.

Why It Was Chosen:
GreenFiber Cocoon is a blown insulation, making installation quicker and easier than rolled mats. Its density means that an 8” layer provides an R-value comparable to 12” of loose fill insulation, and Cocoon adheres to any wood, gypsum, metal, or concrete material.

Even more important than convenience is the fact that the blown application eliminates air gaps, boosting performance up to 26% over other products with the “same” R-value. GreenFiber Cocoon can also help improve soundproofing and fire-resistance in a structure.

Its production is efficient too: the cellulose is derived from 85% recycled paper products, and manufacturing plants nationwide cut transportation requirements, and therefore the overall embodied energy of the product.

Homeowners will obviously save cash over time by cutting energy costs, but they’ll get some immediate payback too: the product qualifies for a 30% federal tax credit, up to $1,500.

Learn more or find a supplier at the GreenFiber website.

Temple-Inland GreenGlass Interior Wallboard

Temple-Inland GreenGlass Interior Wallboard

Sheetrock, wallboard… it’s all the same, right? Wrong. It’s not just a surface to paint on, it’s actually a crucial element of home construction. Choosing the right one can save serious hassles down the road, especially in areas where moisture and mold can ruin air quality and produce costly damage. One of the best products to help prevent a health and maintenance nightmare in these applications is GreenGlass from Temple-Inland.

Why It Was Chosen:
GreenGlass is a fiberglass-faced gypsum board that provides maximum resistance to moisture and mold, unlike traditional paper-faced wallboards. It received a maximum-possible score of 10 on the ASTM standard mold-resistance test.

GreenGlass is also produced with an SCS-certified minimum of 90% recycled material. It can earn LEED credits for recycled content, as well as for the use of local/regional materials in much of the US. It’s available in 1/2” and 5/8” thicknesses, and comes in a variety of dimensions to streamline the installation process.

Learn more at the Temple-Inland website.

Lamson Resi-Gard Flexible Conduit

Lamson Resi-Gard Flexible Conduit

In addition to electrical wiring, many homeowners are starting to run home electronics cabling inside walls. This has both aesthetic and functional advantages – it looks tidier than wires running across ceilings or under rugs, and it protects connections from wear and tear. But since technology evolves so quickly, a “raceway” or conduit may be a much better option than permanently running your wiring through wall framing. To avoid tearing apart your walls next time you upgrade your system, consider a product like Lamson’s Resi-Gard flexible conduit tubing.

Why It Was Chosen:
Its flexible design makes installation much simpler than rigid conduit, which must be cut and joined to fit the angles of a particular space. The flexible material also helps reduce the sharp edges that can damage wiring in rigid conduit designs.

The orange color is intended to clearly mark the tubing as containing low-voltage wiring. The generous 2” diameter fits bulky connections like component video cables in a home theater setup. Plus, it gives you more flexibility down the road for tomorrow’s technology than narrower-gauge conduit products.

Lamson also manufactures a variety of couplers, quick-connect joints, and brackets to customize the raceway. Resi-Gard Flexible Raceway Conduit is available at Amazon (50-foot roll, $84.99).

AFM Safecoat Low VOC Primer & Zero VOC Paint

AFM Safecoat Low VOC Primer & Zero VOC Paint

Choosing the right primer and paint for a pristine new wall is the icing on the cake. Instead of creating a smelly and potentially hazardous chemical potpourri of VOCs (volatile organic compounds), consider low- or zero-VOC primer and paint like Safecoat from AFM.

Why It Was Chosen:
AFM’s primers and paints are SCS Gold-certified for indoor air quality. They are produced without the use of toxic ingredients like formaldehyde, and they are also designed to effectively seal surfaces like wood or concrete to prevent “off-gassing” of materials into the air.

AFM’s Primecoat HPV is a fast-curing primer designed specifically for new wallboard. It equalizes the absorption of paint over varied surfaces (like wallboard, plaster, and edge tape) to provide even color coverage.

AFM also offers a wide range of zero-VOC paints in flat, satin, pearl, semi-gloss, and eggshell finishes. The company even offers zero-VOC tints for customizing color choices.

Visit the AFM Safecoat website to learn more or find a local supplier.

Honorable Mention: Monkey Hook Picture Hangars

Monkey Hook Picture Hangars

Once you’ve completed your beautiful new wall, you don’t want to tear it up to hang that portrait of Aunt Millie do you? Monkey Hook hangars are convenient, and they minimize damage to the wall: just poke the point through the wallboard, and the curved shape securely braces the hook. You can pick up a 30-pack of Monkey Hooks picture hangars for $9.99 at Amazon.

Wow, this is a truly non-toxic paint, and it’s going to be sold exclusively at Home Depot. It’s called Freshaire Choice, and it’s a zero VOC paint. According to the EPA, the air inside a home is, on average, two-to-five-times more polluted than the air outside. Paint is a large contributing factor to poor indoor air quality and can emit harmful chemicals, such as VOCs, for years after application.

Another innovative feature of this line of paint is that the tints are also zero VOC. It’s the first paint that can make this claim — on average, up to 150 grams of VOCs are added back into paint once the color is mixed. That means that even if you buy a boutique, all natural paint, as soon as you tint it to the color you desire, you just defeated all the work you put into locating and purchasing the paint (except for naturally pigmented paints, like clay paints).

The Freshaire tinting system uses pre-measured packets of dry tint that color the paint without adding any VOCs to the paint. This zero VOC system is an industry first. No other tint system for paint can make this claim. Another innovation is that the tint comes in a packet that dissolves into the paint completely. By using pre measured, standardized packets, Freshaire ensures consistent colors no matter when you buy more paint. The only drawback to the system is that you can only use the 65 colors that are currently available — so no custom matching.

Freshaire Choice has a GreenGuard certification (one of the most stringent independent test laboratories in the United States).

Freshaire uses 100% recycled materials for the can, the can is recyclable when you are done, 75% recycled fiber material is used for the can’s label, the label is printed with soy ink. Another innovation is that the paint chips are also completely recyclable as well being made from recycled materials. As far as I know, only Freshaire allows you to recycle actual sample paint chips.

The Freshaire Choice Paint will be exclusively available at The Home Depot nationwide beginning April 1, 2008. The one-gallon containers will be sold at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $35 – 38. The Freshaire Choice Paint product assortment consists of flat, eggshell and semi-gloss finishes, as well as drywall interior primer and ceiling paint. For more information or to request a free sample, visit www.thefreshairechoice.com or call 1-866-880-0304.

Conventional paint strippers are usually very toxic substances that you’d be better off not bringing into your home. But one company, Green Products, has created a bio-based paint stripper and solvent called aMAIZEing.

It is a proprietary blend of U.S. grown corn and soybean esters designed to strip and remove paint, adhesives and mastics from concrete, masonry, wood, metal and a host of other surfaces. It can also be used as a degreaser. See the aMAIZEing home page for more information. See also this soy-based paint stripper from Soyclean.

Eco-House makes a range of non-toxic products for painters. No longer will they have to suffer from inhaling dire substances! Eco-House offers solvents, thinners and finishes. They have a turpentine substitute which combines the solving action of orange peel oil with highly purified mineral oils. By contrast, petroleum-based solvents have toxic aromatic and chlorinated hydrocarbons, which also cause their obnoxious smell.

Available from Blink Art Materials.

Via: Treehugger

Why does almost all of the paint sold in the U.S. contain toxic ingredients? Because chemicals (such as formaldehyde and acetone) are cheap. The resources needed to study the long-term effects of the thousands of chemicals contained in paints, stains, and varnishes would be immense. The . Other non-toxic ingredient could be used — but they are slightly more expensive.

Yet, there are efficient paints available that perform equally well. AFM SafeCoat makes a range of paints which contain no toxic ingredients — no ammonia, formaldehyde, acetone, heavy metals or other VOCs.

Here is a list of AFM Safecoat retailers. Here is a list of FAQ on AFM paints. (Unfortunately the AFM website does not work well with Mozilla browsers).

Agalia Paints are plant-based paints produced by the Germany company Beeck’sche Farbwerke. All Agalia products are 100% natural. They are made with unique combinations of plant oil and minerals. Here is a full list of ingredients (PDF file) used in their paints.

They also produce wood finishes called Aquasol. The finishes are an alternative to solvent-based products. These natural oil finishes use water as the carrier and can be thinned and cleaned up with water.

Here is full declaration (PDF file) of what each of their products contain.

Here is a list of Agalia retailers.

Website: Agalia Paints

Napier Environmental is a company in British Columbia that sells non-toxic wood stains that replace the hazardous products widely used to treat wood today.

An example of one of their products is Natural Desk Oil, a waterborne blend of natural oils designed to penetrate deep into wood, and protect it like the true oils found in wood.

You can buy their products from many retailers in the U.S.

Web Site: Napier Environmental

American Clay natural interior plasters resist mold growth, do not outgas, are easily repaired, and are available in twelve earth inspired colors. Here is an article explaining the advantages of earth plasters.

Available from: American Clay

Mineral silicate paints are non-toxic, odorless, vapor-permeable, naturally resistant to fungi and algae, non-combustible, light-reflective, resistant to acid rain, and extremely durable.

Mineral silicate paints were invented in Bavaria (Germany) in 1878 by Keim Mineral Systems, which now based in the USA.

The binder is potassium silicate dissolved in water (also known as “waterglass”).

Natural earth oxides are “petrified” with the silicate to create “liquid stone.” Durability in excess of 100 years has been reported, according to Keim.

They are intended to be used on plaster, concrete, and other mineral surfaces — not suitable for wood, metal, or any flexible surface.

Available from: Keim Mineral Systems