Interior paints: how to choose them? The June magazine of “60 Million consumers” tested 14 white paints. Many brands boast of eco-friendly, even organic, or depolluting products. How to find it?
The beautiful days are here, and you may want to take the opportunity to repaint your living room, your bedroom? Nothing could be easier, but there are two or three things to know before you start. Sylvie Metzelard, editor-in-chief of the magazine 60 million consumers To tested several types of paint. White water-based paints, matt paints, satin paints.
franceinfo: Many brands today boast of eco-friendly, even organic products. Is this really the case?
Sylvie Metzelard: It depends on what you mean by organic, eco-friendly, green, all these words, all these qualifiers, if it’s to say that a paint you buy is with 100% plant components, that’s not it. This type of paint does not exist. 100% it is not possible.
So, a biosourced paint is precisely a paint that introduces plants into its composition, which makes it possible to reduce the share of petrochemicals, so that’s very good. It can be algae, processed oils, starch, for example. It will go into the composition of the resin, especially the paint, but it can be a tiny part of the composition, and yet it will be indicated very large on your pot.
Another even stranger name perhaps, so-called depolluting paints?
A depolluting paint is supposed to purify indoor air, by destroying certain volatile organic compounds. And this is what we call the famous VOCs. So why not, but our test also shows that they can emit other pollutants, so all in all it’s not terrible.
Overall, can we really trust what is written on these labels?
No, since, for example, the VOCs listed on these labels are limited to what is measured in the pot. It does not say what the paint will emit once applied to your walls, in the short or medium term. In fact, the label does not really inform consumers. That’s why we carry out tests such as the one we published, precisely to try to steer people towards what is the least polluting.
What are the substances to really be wary of, and what danger to health?
So there are aldehydes, and especially formaldehyde, which is potentially carcinogenic, phthalates and solvents, which are always in the paint. There are also conservatives. And in the end, the risks with paints are respiratory ailments, heart problems, irritations, allergies. Finally, the table is not very nice.
On the shelves of stores there are matte paints, satin paints. Is there a difference in composition between the two?
Yes, because these are paintings that don’t have the same rendering and for that, they don’t have the same composition, of course. Satins, for example, use more solvents than matts, so matts, suddenly, show better results in terms of VOCs, so it’s a little less polluting. In addition, they are less expensive. Before these paintings, they were reserved exclusively for ceilings. This is no longer quite the case today.
There are labels that exist on all of these paintings. Are these labels reliable?
So unfortunately, we can’t be sure of anything in terms of pollution on arrival. Some non-labeled paints do better than labeled ones. And when it comes to performance, it’s exactly the same. There is no certainty of anything.
You also tested the performance of paints found in DIY stores. Again, should we trust what is written on the paint cans?
Well, not too much anyway. Because there is a problem with yields. So on matt paints in particular, the yields are much better than those announced. Up to 62% anyway, it’s not nothing.
So concretely, you can paint a larger surface than what is written on the pot. So stated like that, it sounds like good news. Except that the consumer, suddenly, risks spoiling. Moreover, so-called mono-coat paints, therefore only one coat to be applied, do not always have better hiding power than the others. So we risk having to pass two coats.
To end the ritual question: is the most expensive product the best when it comes to paints?
Obviously not. The most expensive are not necessarily the best. The references that top our ranking, whether for matt paints or satin paints, are among the cheapest.