Is it possible for your paint to get rid of mold, save cost, and do no harm to the environment?
One apartment owner went from repainting her units every 6 months due to mold growth to no repaints in 2 years – all while reducing her costs by 71%* and finally getting rid of her mold problem in a healthy way.
Katy W. says, “My husband and I were faced with a seemingly unending struggle to keep the apartment building we own free of mold. Nearly half of our tenants were experiencing mold growth in their apartments, and we were nearly convinced that a couple of the apartments would be unrentable.
After failed attempts to remedy the problem with increased ventilation and “top of the line” mildewcide paints, we were sure that the mold was simply a byproduct of everyday living in a small apartment in a humid state. After much continued searching for a way to combat mold growth, we finally discovered ROMA’s EcoDomus paint.”
Mold is a serious problem for many indoor and outdoor building environments. It is dangerous, ugly and smelly; and no one wants it in homes or workplaces.
The EPA says, “Molds have the potential to cause health problems. Molds produce allergens (substances that can cause allergic reactions), irritants, and in some cases, potentially toxic substances (mycotoxins)… Allergic responses include hay fever-type symptoms, such as sneezing, runny nose, red eyes, and skin rash (dermatitis)…. Molds can also cause asthma attacks in people with asthma who are allergic to mold. In addition, mold exposure can irritate the eyes, skin, nose, throat, and lungs of both mold-allergic and non-allergic people.”
But, how do you get rid of it? Katy tried this most common advice and still could not get rid of it:
1). Properly ventilate the area to make sure that moisture is not being trapped.
2). Use bleach to get rid of it, and once the cleaned area is dried; use a special anti mold paint.
But what Katy found, and you have too if you’ve had a repeated mold problem, that there is misleading information with these recommendations.
While ventilation does help in mold prevention, one thing people do not consider is that in your indoor air environment, permeability and breathability for surfaces painted with acrylic paint products does not exist.
Painting your home or workplace with acrylic or latex paints (even zero VOC or other “green” products), is like painting your walls with cellophane sealing in the environment due to acrylic’s molecular structure. It’s kind of like being surrounded by a plastic box.
Even if you have very good ventilation, inevitability in a humid or wet area, moisture will get trapped in acrylic painted walls and it may promote mold growth.
The second recommendation to use bleach is a complete misnomer that has become more legend than fact. Bleach’s active ingredient, sodium hypochlorite, is effective in removing discoloration but since bleach is 90% water, you are adding a harsh chemical and another moisture source for the mold to grow.
Essentially, you apply the bleach to a porous surface and because of its’ water content, it flows to the pores where sometimes the mold hadn’t even reached yet. You end up creating an environment deep into the surface where the mold could come back, but you’ve killed the top layer and it looks like it’s gone.
Even the EPA, OSHA, and the Clorox® Company recommend that bleach should not be used in mold removal.
Then after you’ve used the bleach, you are supposed to use a special anti mold paint. You can go to any paint or hardware store and find paints that promise mold resistance, added mildewcides, or even antimicrobial agents to prohibit growth. While some of these solutions may work, they are made up of toxic and dangerous chemicals.
Generally, they use biocides, which are a broad class of inorganic chemicals and are known to be harmful to ground water and aquatic life, as well as to human health with chronic exposure1.
Mold is an eco-system and because it is seeking food to survive, it thrives and grows on porous surfaces like sheetrock and drywall to get its nutrients. Utilizing anti mold paint or added mildewcides is a toxic solution and it is not a natural way to handle it, and it doesn’t even always work!
At ROMA we look to nature to work with it instead of against it.
Our paints are mineral based and they have unique qualities that prohibit mold growth without adding biocides, antimicrobial agents or mildewcides. Their high pH level naturally creates an environment where mold cannot get its nutrients and survive.
ROMA’s EcoDomus mineral line paints have a pH of 10-11 vs. most acrylic eggshell paints have a pH in the range of 8-9. pH is the scale by which to measure acidity (0-7) or alkalinity (7-14) with water being neutral at 7. Anything above a 9 would create an alkaline or high pH environment, one where mold could not grow.
Also, mineral paint has a crystalline molecular structure that permits the wall to breath allowing air and moisture to move freely in a closed environment, not inherent in acrylic based products.
This is why when Katy used ROMA’s EcoDomus mineral paint in her apartments, she found that she got rid of the mold and had no repaints in 2 years.
She was repainting every 6 months, but with ROMA’s mineral paint, she saved 71%* due to reduced labor and application costs. Even if she had reduced her repaints to only 1 per year, she would have saved over 40%.
Katy goes on to say, “To our great relief, not only has ROMA’s EcoDomus mineral paint completely prevented mold growth in our apartments for nearly two years now, it has also been perfect for quickly readying apartments for tenants. The paint dries so quickly and is zero VOC that we have painters leaving an apartment as a new tenant is moving in. ROMA’s mineral paint is very durable and allows for easy cleaning, but when touch ups are needed, they are truly undetectable. ROMA’s mineral paint helped us provide a healthy living environment for our tenants and saved our bottom line!”
Prevent mold growth naturally without having to add any toxic substances or sacrificing performance and durability by using any of ROMA’s interior and exterior mineral paints.
Specifically to prohibit mold for interiors we recommend our BioDomus SuperFlat, EcoDomus Matte or EcoDomus Eggshell.
For exterior, we recommend EcoDomus Eggshell or BioDomus I, which has the highest pH.
To learn more, visit romabio.com/products or call us to order today at 678-905-3700.
*Based on reducing paint applications from 4 times in 2 years to 1 time with average job cost of $1000 for 1000 square feet.
Without using acrylic as the primary binder, we created the impossible.