What low-VOC actually means

The definition

VOCs — volatile organic compounds — are solvents that evaporate from paint, adhesives, sealants and finishes as they dry, and for months afterwards. That 'new paint smell' is VOCs leaving the wall and entering the air you breathe. In a newly refurbished home, where every surface has been coated at once, concentrations can be many times higher than outdoors.

Why it matters more in a refurbishment

A full refurbishment coats every room in the same weeks: walls, ceilings, woodwork, floors. The occupants then move in and live inside the result. For children, anyone with asthma or sensitivities, and frankly everyone else, the quality of that indoor air is a health question, not a marketing one.

This is why we treat low-VOC as a specification item, written into the schedule of works alongside the plumbing and electrics — not an optional upgrade left to whoever is buying the paint that week.

What we specify

Water-based, low- or zero-VOC paints for walls and ceilings; low-VOC finishes for woodwork; low-emission adhesives and sealants throughout. Where a traditional finish is needed for conservation reasons — on original joinery, for instance — we choose the least toxic product that does the job properly and ventilate thoroughly before handover.

The good news is that the performance gap has closed. A decade ago low-VOC meant compromised coverage and durability; the current generation of trade paints matches conventional products on both.

Reading the label

If you are checking products yourself, look for the VOC content in grams per litre on the technical datasheet rather than the front-of-tin claims — 'low odour' is not the same as low-VOC, and 'natural' means nothing at all. The datasheet number is the only one that counts.