Paint fumes and VOCs: how to keep indoor air safer while painting
Updated · KeystoneProGuide editorial team
Why does fresh paint smell?
Because it is releasing gases. Paints, varnishes and wax all contain organic solvents, and the Environmental Protection Agency says these products give off volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, while you use them and, to some degree, while they sit in storage. The EPA's list of household sources starts with paints, paint strippers and other solvents, and includes wood preservatives.
VOCs are a family of chemicals, not a single substance, and the EPA stresses that their effects vary widely, from highly toxic to no known effect.
Are paint fumes harmful?
Some can be, and the EPA is careful about how much is known. It lists possible health effects of VOCs as eye, nose and throat irritation; headaches, loss of coordination and nausea; and damage to the liver, kidneys and central nervous system. Some organic chemicals cause cancer in animals, and some are suspected or known to cause cancer in humans.
The EPA then adds that at present not much is known about the health effects of the levels usually found in homes, and that the effect depends on how much exposure and for how long. There are also no federally enforceable standards for VOCs in non-industrial settings. In short: the authority does not say household painting is dangerous, and it does not say it is harmless. It says reduce exposure.
How much do levels rise during painting?
A great deal, for a while. The EPA says levels of several organic chemicals average 2 to 5 times higher indoors than out, and that during and for several hours after certain activities, paint stripping being its example, levels may reach 1,000 times the outdoor background. It also says elevated concentrations can persist in the air long after the activity is over.
Two chemicals get special mention on the EPA's page:
- Benzene, a known human carcinogen, has paint supplies among its main indoor sources. The EPA's advice is maximum ventilation during painting and getting rid of paint supplies that will not be used soon.
- Methylene chloride, found in some paint strippers, adhesive removers and aerosol spray paints, causes cancer in animals and is converted to carbon monoxide in the body.
What happened to methylene chloride strippers?
They were taken off the consumer market. The EPA banned the manufacture, processing and distribution of methylene chloride in paint and coating removers for consumer use, with sales to consumers ending after November 22, 2019, because of deaths caused by exposure. Its 2024 rule went further and prohibits most commercial uses as well, including paint and coating removers. The EPA encourages anyone who still has a methylene chloride stripper to stop using it and to ask the local solid waste agency how to dispose of it.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission had already, in 1987, decided that such products must carry labels saying that breathing the vapor had produced cancer in laboratory animals. An old can in a basement may be older than any of these rules.
How should you ventilate?
The EPA's steps are simple.
- Increase ventilation when using products that release VOCs.
- Meet or exceed the label's precautions. Where a label says to use the product in a well-ventilated area, go outdoors or use a room with an exhaust fan; otherwise open windows to get as much outdoor air as possible.
- Use products according to the manufacturer's directions, and never mix household products unless the label tells you to.
- Keep products out of reach of children and pets.
For a painting job, that means planning for air before the first can is opened: which windows will be open, where a fan can blow out rather than in, and which rooms people will sleep in while the paint dries. Because levels can stay high after the work stops, keep the air moving for a while once the painters leave.
Do lower-VOC paints cost more?
Angi's cost survey gives an average of $35 a gallon for VOC-free paint, the same as its figure for high-gloss enamel, against $13 for flat paint and $17 for semi-gloss interior paint. Angi also says paint generally costs $15 to $40 a gallon. With labor making up most of a painting bill in its figures, the choice of paint is a smaller part of the total than it looks.
Does stored paint affect indoor air?
Yes. The EPA says gases can leak even from closed containers, which is why it advises buying only as much paint and stripper as you will use right away and getting rid of partly full containers of old chemicals safely, rather than keeping them. Anything you do keep should be stored in a well-ventilated area out of children's reach.
Do not simply put them in the garbage. The EPA tells people to use local collection days for household hazardous waste and lists pouring products down the drain, on the ground or into storm sewers among improper disposal. Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection sets out when leftover paint may go in the trash and when it should go to a collection; its page also has a hotline, 800-346-4242, and a link to its own painting tips.
What should you ask a painter about fumes?
Which products will be used, how the rooms will be ventilated, and how long each room should be kept closed. Questions to ask before you hire has the full list, and doing it yourself or hiring covers the safety steps for your own work. Painters are on the painters directory page.
Sources
- Volatile Organic Compounds' Impact on Indoor Air Quality, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Final Rule on Regulation of Methylene Chloride in Paint and Coating Removal for Consumer Use, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Risk Management for Methylene Chloride, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Statement Of Policy For Methylene Chloride, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
- Household Hazardous Waste (HHW), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Household Hazardous Waste, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
- How Much Does It Cost to Paint the Interior of a House? [2026 Data], Angi