Painting - what do I do with the bird?

We have to do some minor home renovations this summer and one of the projects is that we need to paint our front entrance and kitchen/dining room. Just acrylic latex, no oil based paint. The possible problem is, Merlin's cage is in the living room, right next to the dining room (kind of an open floorplan from kitchen to living room) and I am worried about possible fumes and what they might do to him.

Do I need to remove him completely from the house until the paint dries, or would moving him down to the family room in the basement be sufficient? There is a door down there I can close, but it would not stay closed, since this is where our television is and where my oldest has his bedroom.

Looking for feedback before I contact painters for estimates. Thanks all!

I saw a "green" paint on the DIY network it had 0 zero voc's it is more expensive but it is so safe you could eat it. other than that I would put the bird in a room where a window could be open and place a fan on low bringing the fresh (or not so fresh) air in. with a door closed to the area that is being painted. If you are using painters that are going to spray the paint I would remove the bird as the fumes are going to go through the ventilation system maybe a day or 2 boarded at your vet?

flappinhappy wrote:

I saw a "green" paint on the DIY network it had 0 zero voc's it is more expensive but it is so safe you could eat it. other than that I would put the bird in a room where a window could be open and place a fan on low bringing the fresh (or not so fresh) air in. with a door closed to the area that is being painted. If you are using painters that are going to spray the paint I would remove the bird as the fumes are going to go through the ventilation system maybe a day or 2 boarded at your vet?

Ditto.

it should be warm enough there now to put his cage outside during the painting and then move him to the basement for that night and next day...i imagine your weather is similar to ours in ontario...


dusty

We just painted at the bird store where I get my birds. We used the zero VOC paint and had the birds in the (very small) room with us. Even painted the nursery without any problems at all. I'm SUPER SENSITIVE to fumes of any kind, perfumes give me migraines, paint has put me in the hospital before. I actually helped paint this time with no problem at all. I highly recommend.

I was going to say low-VOC paint, lots of ventilation and try to have them out of the room if possible. VickiN, it's good to hear you had such a good experience with the zero-VOC stuff. I'm dying to repaint the room where the birds are!

Thanks everyone! I think I will move him down to the basement, close the door, open windows, and look for low Voc paint if possible.

Roger, I'm finding even the small hardware store up the street from our house offers low-VOC paints. Perhaps it's not as common up yonder, but I have a feeling they may be becoming the standard.

Ah.... I copied this from Consumer Reports:

Quote :

Federal
VOC limits are now set at 250 grams per liter (g/l) for flat paints and
380 g/l for others. Some states and regions
have lowered the VOC levels for paints that
can be legally sold in their areas. California's standards are
stringent: 150
g/l for nonflat finishes and 100 g/l for
flat. Even tougher is the 50 g/l level for all finishes set by
California's South
Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD),
around Los Angeles. The Environmental Protection Agency hopes to
propose new
federal VOC regulations in May, with a
targeted effective date in 2011.

Tougher
VOC limits have been adopted as a way to alleviate the environmental
impact of those compounds and the resulting health
issues. "By far, people painting their houses
is the largest source category of emissions under our regulatory
jurisdiction,"
says Naveen Berry, planning and rules manager
at the AQMD.

Canada is often ahead of the US on this kind of thing, maybe all your paint is low-VOC.

A few weeks ago, right after Nate finished his quarter in school and had some extra time on his hands he surprised me by painting the living room (where the cage is). I came home and he already finished the first coat, so I had no say in the paint or method. Luckily he knew enough to put the bird outside and wait for the paint to dry/open windows and turn our AC on before he brought him back in. Like Vicki, I think I'm pretty sensitive to strange smells and fumes, and nobody seemed to have a problem with it. Have fun painting!!