Painting Safety Tips: Protecting Yourself and Your Kelowna Home

Exterior painting is not the same as interior painting in Kelowna. When painting outside, you have plenty of ventilation and fresh air. Painting indoors comes with unique safety concerns and challenges.

Interior painting is one of the easiest ways to update the look of a room. Most professionals can repaint an entire room or more in a single day, giving homeowners a fresh new design. That said, painting requires safety precautions to ensure you and your family remain healthy and happy.

5 Painting Safety Tips

Paints may contain volatile organic compounds and other chemicals that are not healthy to breathe in or come into contact with. Society knows a lot more today than it did yesterday about the potential hazards of painting without proper safety equipment and precautions.

When painting, professionals always adhere to several rules to protect their lungs and bodies. You should use the same five rules when painting your own space.

1. Ensure There is Ventilation

A professional paint project typically requires some patching and sanding. To achieve a smooth wall finish, pros will patch any minor holes or provide a flush coat to smooth transitions. The sanding that occurs after the patching creates tremendous amounts of dust, and you don’t want to breathe that in. You can open a few windows and point box fans toward them to help push the dust outside.

Beyond opening windows, workers will also wear respirators. Paint fumes and chemicals can be dangerous when wet. The proper ventilator can keep any nasty fumes out of your lungs.

2. Test for Lead

Depending on the age of your house, you may want to test for lead. Manufacturers used to add lead to paint to speed up drying time and for numerous other potential benefits.

Through the years, society learned the dangers of lead. The substance can cause brain, kidney, nerve, and blood damage. High exposure levels can cause learning disabilities, behavioural problems, seizures, and possible death.

A lead test will let you know if an existing paint has any presence of lead. If it does, you must hire professionals to eliminate it. If the lead paint’s finish is in good condition, it might be safe to paint over it, but that is a discussion for the pros.

3. Store Paint in Safe Places

Whether using high-quality paint and materials in Kelowna or more affordable options, you always want to store them appropriately. Some paints and paint products, such as paint thinner, contain VOCs that can cause health problems or fire hazards.

You should store paint and paint products away from gas appliances and living spaces. Also, keep the products in their original containers with tight-fitting lids.

4. Cover Hands

Many people think there is no harm in using their bare hands when painting or using solvents, but that is untrue. Some solvents can penetrate your skin, resulting in organ or nerve damage.

For most painting tasks, you can wear disposable vinyl, latex, or nitrile gloves. However, if you are using a more potent solvent, such as acetone or paint thinner, use thicker chemical-resistant gloves.

5. Protect Your Face

Painting is a messy job. You want to protect your face and eyes from paint and other substances. When your painting, wear safety glasses or goggles. Also, wear a properly-fitted ventilator with appropriate filters.

Painting Services in Kelowna

Are you ready for a change inside your home? Brighten up your stale rooms with a fresh coat of paint. Contact Handyman Connection and schedule an appointment with professional painters in Kelowna. A team will come to your home, assess the job and provide a quote for the work.