Comparison of 'Natural' Paints

Having used a number of 'alternative' paints now, i thought it might be worth summarising my experiences. Note i can't comment yet on robustness or their performance against mould:

Earthborn Emulsion

Positives: low carbon, eco friendly, potentially easier to dispose of, brushes cleaned in water.
Negatives: comes in a plastic tub like many paints these days.

Earthborn emulsion gives a nice uniform finish to a wall and is a reasonable price. My Little Eco based in Copnor Road, Portsmouth sell it (online only) for about £17 for a 2.5litre tub. The colour i used had an interesting quality when applied in that it dried a more opaque colour than when wet. So basically the paint actually covers better than appears when it is still wet.


Nature Paint

Positives: Powder is compostable, packaging is a paper bag, low carbon, eco friendly, brushes cleaned in water.
Negatives: The colour appears slightly uneven on the walls, although this might be due to my poor mixing skills!

Despite the colour issue, this was my favourite. I think it's the fact it comes in a paper bag and mixing it is like cooking! You feel like you are doing something that was done hundreds of years ago. The bag can be recycled. Basically no hazardous waste.


Auro White Gloss

Positives: low carbon, eco friendly, brushes cleaned in water although dried paint will need some white spirit or similar, finish is excellent.
Negatives: Potentially long drying time.

Still using this paint. The first coat on a 'test' door frame took 2 days to dry. But the second coat only took a few hours, so the drying time might change depending on humidity?? But the finish is excellent, looks like proper gloss!

I am a bit concerned by the fact that Auro gloss is made from vegetable oils, probably need to investigate this further, since we only have so much land for agriculture.

(Added 29/05/09) Regarding Auro Gloss paint: I can confirm that the first coat of Auro gloss paint takes between 1 and 2 days to dry, the second coat take a few hours. So there is a difference between 1st and 2nd coats. Also instead of using white spirit to clean stubborn paint off the brush, I just stuck the brush in Home Strip eco friendly paint stripper to soften it up before washing off. At least this eliminated the use of white spirit.

Subway

Looks like Waterlooville will have yet another 'cafe', this time in the shape of Subway. The corner shop property under the clock tower building has morphed from shoe shop to motorbike shop, to gift shop and now Subway. Meanwhile the Stationary Store near the library has closed down.

The big retailers dotted around the borders of Waterlooville town centre have drawn people away from the centres shops. This results in limited options for occupancy in the centres small retail units. Large retail units such as Brantanos, have resulted in the closure of the smaller shoe shops. One wonders what logic the 'officers' and councillors of Havant Borough Council apply when they approve the big retail developments.

So there is a culture at Havant Borough Council that is resistant to new thinking in the built environment.The result is a gradual transformation of the centre into a charity shop and cafe haven.

Recently the towns small retailers were calling for council help in the down turn. To make up for the council approving big retail park developments, HBC and other councils are now being asked for compensation/subsidies from small retail businesses! Whose fault is that?

Paints and belligerent car drivers

Paints
Firstly, the test painting of a door frame has been successful. Auro gloss paint covers well and gives a nice hard gloss finish when dry, you wouldn't believe it was made from vegetable oils and other stuff. Drying time is a bit long compared to the old plastic paint most people still use. It took 2 days to dry enough for another coat, but it does dry to a 'tacky' level in a few hours, enough to not worry about it getting on clothes. I just need to do the rest now!


Cars
Secondly i witnessed an arrogant 4x4 car driver in the Waterlooville Retail Park recently who drove down the cycle/pedestrian path. He did it because he found it difficult to manoeuvre the vehicle and decided he couldn't be bothered to stick to the car routes around the car park. Basically he was taking a short cut, which he obviously thought he was entitled to.

But what was really shocking was the fact that two girls, aged about 14 were already walking along the section of path that he entered. They were forced to get out of his way. When someone shouted out to him and pointed out his error, he just stuck two fingers up at them.

There are many issues about this incident that indicate the sorry state of UK culture and Waterloovile community. The reason why incidents like this happen in the car park, is because Havant Borough Council sold public land to a commercial developer and later gave permission for the car park and retail park to be built.

In this process they also failed to provide equal and adequate routes into Waterlooville for pedestrians and cyclists. Prefering instead to appease the car owning public and large corporate businesses to dominate the built environment agenda, pushing pedestrians and cyclists to the margins. But also the incident shows that many drivers just live in a different world when they get into their vehicles and the bigger the vehicle the less concern they often have for those around them.

Yes, low carbon paints look similar to high carbon paints!

Finished painting the walls of the kitchen using Nature Paint. It looks pretty much like any other wall paint, but the colour varies a little across the walls. Once all the walls were painted it isn't so noticeable. Also the slight colour variation gives an authentic 'old building' look.



Next job is to paint the woodwork using Auro white gloss paint. This stuff is made in Germany and the main ingredients seem to be processed vegetable oils, minerals, water etc. Should be interesting to see how it goes.

Save Vesta Isle of Wight factory

Despite the fact that we need as much renewable energy as we can get, the Vesta factory on the Isle of Wight is due to close. Yet the government is happy to subsidise car production with a £2000 hand out for new car purchases. Sign the No 10 Petition to help stop the Vesta factory closure.

Petition

Kitchen adventures with natural paint

I'm in the middle of decorating the kitchen now, using eco-friendly paint. Having abandoned the idea of using Nature Paint on the previous project and instead opting for Earth Born Emulsion. I have decided to return to Nature Paint and bought a second 1kg pack.

As previously stated, Nature Paint comes in powder form and is mixed with warm water to create the paint. You just mix up as much as you need. The paper packet that it comes in can be recycled and any left over powder can apparently be composted, although i haven't tried this yet.

The first coat has been applied to the walls.

As well as painting the walls, I have decided to use eco-friendly paint on the woodwork. For this I have decided to try out Auro paints.

Nature Paint
Auro

Dukes Meadow

The Taylor/Wimpey West of Waterlooville MDA development is now called 'Dukes Meadow' and is going ahead. Bryant seems to be the developer now?? I'm not sure what the deal is between Taylor/Wimpey and Bryant. Taylor/Wimpey were in trouble at the end of last year.




Traffic lights and jams at the marketing suite.