The rash of Bank Holidays start this weekend, which can only mean one thing: the DIY season. Happily, you don’t have to take up horse hair plastering to execute your home-improvements in an eco manner. Virtually any task, from painting and wallpapering to insulating the loft and stripping floorboards can be done to green standards, as you’ll see in our planet-friendly DIY guide below.

The first stage in the Bank Holiday DIY ritual is usually heading off to the nearest DIY superstore (aka seventh circle of hell). Happily there are eco alternatives. London’s Construction Resources has three floors of environmentally-sound building materials (and a very informative website), The Green Building Store in Yorkshire offers mail order or online ordering, and Eco Merchant has both an online and a physical shop in Kent.

Paint and varnish

Modern paints and varnishes made from vinyl resins and petrochemicals emit evil volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and they prevent walls from breathing so that we effectively turn rooms into sweaty, plastic boxes. Simply visit a period building to see that natural, non-toxic, breathable finishes – using linseed oil, natural pigments and minerals, and even milk, say – stand the test of time.

Compared to the chemical mainstream, however, natural paint colours were limited until recently, but that’s no longer the case now Beckers at Ray Munn (020 7736 9876) is offering an‘infinite’ colour-matching service. Francesca’s Paints and earthBorn have meanwhile been busy adding designer colour collections – Neisha Crosland I and II at the former and Eco Chic by Oliver Heath at the latter – to their extensive eco offerings.

Finishes have also been extended to compete with non-eco formulations. Greener Living stocks Biofa’s satin finish (but only in white), and Nutshell Natural Paints has interior and exterior wood stain/varnish, for example.

Filler, plaster, render

Remember, thorough preparation of the surface is key to successful decorating. Lime Green stocks insulating renders and plasters, and self-coloured renders which don’t need painting; they’re made – as you’ve probably guessd – from lime, which trumps cement for breathability and flexibility and is also less energy intensive to make.

Greener Living also stocks lime mortars while earthBorn does casein (milk protein) filler and clay plaster which – unlike gypsum plaster – can be dampened and reworked should the wall be damaged in the future. Its main disadvantage is that it takes longer to dry. One of the best selections of preparation materials is at Calch Ty-Mawr Lime, which has every sort of eco-friendly primer, bonding coat and filler imaginable – as well as paint.

Stripper

Conventional paint strippers contain powerful solvents like dichloromethane, a known carcinogen. The Green Building Store sells a water-based, biodegradeable alternative that is even safe to use on old lead paint. They also have, miracle of miracles, an Artex remover that can equally even be used on old Artex that may contain asbestos (contact your council about disposal). Auro, which makes a huge range of petrochemical-free decorating kit has a citric acid and linseed-based paint stripping paste for removing old paint, especially enamels, natural resin and alkyd resin top coats.

Wallpaper paste

Standard wallpaper paste often features synthetic resins, fungicides and preservatives. AURO has a methyl cellulose (a common food additive), fungicide-free wallpaper paste suitable for gluing light to heavy wallpapers. Or from Greener Living there’s earthBorn’s equivalent which is also suitable for hanging fabric wall-coverings.

Insulation

Second Nature make thermally-efficient sheeps’ wool insulation in sheet form, for use in wall and roof spaces, which requires only 14 per cent of the embodied energy necessary to manufacture glass fibre. It’s natural, renewable, biodegradeable, hydroscopic and non-irritating to skin, eyes or respiratory tract. What’s not to like? Construction Resources offers various types of natural thermal insulation made from paper, wood or flax including one from recycled newspaper and recycled jute sacking. Meanwhile Proeco reckons you can cut energy bills by up to 15 per cent with their radiator insulation panels which reduce heat loss through the walls and are easy to fit.

Tile adhesive

Solvent-based tiling adhesive is another source of vile VOCs. For an alternative, AURO comes up trumps again, with a natural latex, milk and resin adhesive although it’s only suitable for unsealed cork tiles and ceramic or stone tiles laid by the ‘thin bed method’, not in wet areas.

Further know-how

For eco DIY advice contact the Centre for Alternative Technology – which sells Auro products at a 5 per cent discount – or The Association of Environment Conscious Building. If you get the bit between your teeth and fancy undertaking a total green refurbishment download the case studies from Sustainable Homes. Or cut out all the hard work and buy a readymade eco home through Green Moves, the UK’s only eco property website.

source : www.newconsumer.com