• Exterior 'Maintenance' Paint
• Remove Wallpaper and Paint Living Room with No VOC Paint

There's really not much to say about exterior painting. Except that bare wood left out in the elements deteriorates very quickly and so the sustainable thing to do is cover it up or coat it with something to slow down the process and made it last as long as possible.

Since the new TPO roof requires a substrate to glue it to... the crew had to add sheets of OSB to the roof over the south porch. That left exposed OSB underneath and even though it wasn't getting rained on, it was getting condensation and OSB doesn't like any moisture whatsoever! Which means it had to be painted.

While there are many companies creating interior no-VOC paint... there aren't many making low or no-VOC exterior paint. I suppose there may be durability issues involved and other things that I am not familiar with.

This year I didn't have time to go searching for a sponsor to provide exterior paint, so I just went to the home improvement store (in this case: Home Depot) and chose to use Glidden products.

I used the "Gripper" Primer/Sealer on the OSB and other bare wood on the ceiling of the south porch. It took three coats because the OSB really sucks in the paint. But the bright white really lightens things up and I probably won't put a different color top coat on it this year.

I'm using Glidden's Semi-Gloss Exterior Paint to do the 'Forest Green' parts of the house... mainly the base area of the south porch and the north porch and will use it also as an accent color elsewhere.

Unfortunately, the previous owner painted the floor of the porches and so we have to continue to use paint to protect those floors. Paint makes exterior floors very slippery! So we are adding an anti-skid product from Quick-rete to minimize the slippage (so to speak). Plus I'm putting the adhesive roll product on the steps.

Between the rain and the early cold weather, I was only able to put the primer on the south porch floor and only finished about half of the vertical surfaces. So I'll be back to painting as soon as I can (either this fall if there is a break in the weather or next spring).

We decided to change the color of the south porch from dark green (really hot to walk on in the summer) to a light gray that matches the roof color ... and I'll put a forest green border around the edges for some color. Plus we thought it would be fun to paint games on the floor keeping in the tone of 'PlayHaven' and, of course, there will be pawprints. The lighter color also bring a great deal more light into the house through the french doors and the windows.

The very first project in the new house was to change the appearance of the living room walls. The upper half of the walls was a very pale green and the lower portion was wallpaper depicting roses with a border piece with larger full roses... a look that was extremely unpleasant to me.

I chose to leave the glossy white millwork/trim as it is and painted the walls with a medium gray that would accentuate the white trim/ceiling and the fireplace brick (it turned out to be very close match to the mortar used with the bricks) and also work well with whatever artwork hung on the walls. I considered repainting the hunter-green doors white, but after finishing with the walls, I found that I liked the contrast with the doors (and a set of shelfs painted the same color on another wall of the room that is not in the pictures).

Since I had already decided how my furniture would be situated in the room and that the area would be primarily used for evenings in front of the television... the fact that the wall color darkened the room a little did not bother me at all. The addition of lamps and a torchiere using CFLs (3-way lamps purchased on-line from EFI) lets us brighten the room as desired and still have a cozy feeling.

This picture is from the MLS listing - sorry for the poor quality.
	These pictures are of the same room after it was painted with Sherwin Williams Harmony® Interior Latex Paint.

The wallpaper was removed using DIF; which is a gel compound that you roll on, wait 15 minutes and then scrape off using a tool that they designed to reduce gouging. Luckily for us, the top layer of the wallpaper pulled off easily leaving just the paper backing and adhesive. SO, the DIF worked beautifully! Then I just had to use a mild detergent and water to remove whatever residue of adhesive and DIF was left on the wall after scraping off the paper and adhesive.

The old paint had a flat finish, so after washing the walls, no sanding was needed before applying the new paint. We chose a semi-gloss to make cleaning easier (with dogs that drool, that is VERY important).

I used a 2-inch brush to paint around the trim (I don't use tape because I find that I am messier when I rely on it). Then I used a roller tool on the main areas of the walls. This tool can best be described as a roller assembly with a hollow tube handle... where the paint is drawn into the tube handle of the roller and dispensed like a plunger through the tube into the center of the roller assembly. I find this tool to be wonderful! I only get a few drips and the only wasted paint is what I have to clean out of the tool when I'm finished (by wrapping the roller assembly in plastic between sessions, I don't have to empty it at all until I'm finished with that project or need to use a different color).

I chose to use Sherwin Williams' Harmony paint because while they are not the first paint company to make a zero-VOC version, they are nationally known and have excellent quality paint. And since they are making such a tremendous effort to go green, I wanted to help advance that goal.

The area I painted was 19 x 25 x 8 (minus the doorways and other openings) and even with my sensitive sense of smell, I could not tell there was fresh paint on the walls until the end of applying the last coat. Other people visiting while I was painting also did not smell the paint. It covered well and I only needed two coats. It dried in an acceptable amount of time and I am very pleased with the results.

I plan to use Harmony paint in other areas of the house that need repainting and am confident that not only will it not bother my sinus problems, but will produce the results I desire.

Sherwin Williams Harmony® Interior Latex Paint Harmony is a natural choice for environmentally preferred interior paint. It is low-odor allowing you to immediately move into your newly painted spaces. It contains less solvents and zero-VOC's (volatile organic compounds) so what is emitted into the air is more environmentally friendly.

I used the Sherwin Williams' Duration paint to seal particle board and plywood on furniture pieces that had previously been outgassing and/or leaving residue. It has reduced my allergic reactions to these items and I am able to store things in drawers (for example) that I was not able to use previously because the odor/residue had gotten into the items stored there.

This paint was recommended to me by the Sherwin Williams representative for this purpose because of its durability and excellent sealant properties.

I am very pleased with the results.

Sherwin Williams Duration® Home Interior Latex This environmentally preferred product is specially formulated to be low in odor, resist mildew and have lower levels of smog-producing pollutants (volatile organic compounds or VOC's). Most stains wipe clean with mild soap and water so no harsh cleaning chemicals are needed for clean-up. The durable formula reduces frequent repaints - providing the ultimate in beauty and washability.