Just painted! Click for better view.
Ever since i came to US i've been missing the comfort and coziness of the lime painted walls. I don't know it may be a cultural thing, back then we didn't have the option of synthetic paints, but it was a mistery to me and still is why people don't use it @ here. When i asked about it in the home improvement stores, after long explanations and descriptions, resembling small chemistry exams, people went into some strange, shocked, state and stared at me as if i was from another continent or something. NO, never heard about something like that!
But after browsing home improvements stores for years, and learning the second sense of word lime in English, in a corner, in the construction area, there it was, the bags with lime powder. Not for painting use, but of a much better quality then the one i used when i painted my apartment back in Bacău.
I bought if for a different reason since i was experimenting with ways of mitigating with formaldehyde but it was white enough for me to fall into temptation to try it on a corner in a closet. And surprise, it dried about as white as the old flat paint based on kaolin and titanium dioxide. And about as strong, according to the time taken to clean myself in the shower.
Then i read the MSDS and i was surprised it mentioned it had something between .1 and 1 % crystalline silica which is a known cancerigen and for causing silicosis, and the old kaolin based paint which had about the same amount of silica didn't have anything like this mentioned on the bucket.
Then i mixed it with water using the kitchen mixer and made it of about the same consistency the old paint had when i applied it to the walls.
After two coatings, it was still spotty at some viewing angles. It misses an emulsifier and segregates at the bottom of the bucket. Then i taped (old Apollo 13 technology :)) the mixer to the bucket and let it run at low speed while applying the third coating and voila! Spotless, white, warm and very nice smelling painted walls! No VOC, i mean zero (Volatile Organic Content). Actually, probably due to residual amounts of CaOH, it release oxygen and locks carbon dioxide while drying!
The lime i used was composed of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbontate (CaCO3 and MgCO3) wich are exactly the same ingredients that purified are used in supplements.
For a small bedroom i used about 19 pounds out of the 50 p bag.
Another nice surprise, it muffled the street noises by about 5-10 dB according to my ears!
Later, i learned it cleans very easily with Comet spay, which contains citric acid. So no need for blue tapes around margins.
The lime paint is very special. It breathes. With the normal moisture in the air, it accumulates or releases oxygen and locks carbon dioxide in excess. It locks other gases. It is like a chemical buffer, pretty similar to backing soda, but much stronger and on a huge surface. It promotes the growth of good bacteria into your place. It is very healthy and ecological!
And the best of all, the total cost of the 50 p bag was $8.50!
