Sustainable ways to paint your home & make it more energy efficient.

As customers in the Boston, South Shore, and Plymouth areas look to combat the effects of climate change, they have looked to CertaPro Painters for their expertise as Boston’s sustainable painter.

Paige NeJame, the owner of CertaPro Painters, is also one of the co-authors of the bestselling book The Carbon Almanac, a guide to climate change. She also co-wrote Generation Carbon: It’s Time to Start, a book about climate change for kids.

Here’s how painting, something you have to do anyway to keep your home protected, can be done in a greener, more sustainable way:

Paint your home’s exterior white to maintain a cooler temperature.

Benefits:

• Maintains cooler temperatures
• Reduces cooling and air conditioning costs

Explanation: The temperature difference between a white house and a dark house is significant. To test this yourself, place your hand on a darkly painted part of your home or your driveway’s blacktop on a sunny day, then on a lighter part. The lighter section will feel measurably cooler.

We recommend white or light, sun-reflective paint to keep summertime cooling and air conditioning bills low.

A heat-reflective paint was invented in 2023 that reduces heating and cooling bills:

Innovation:

• Invented by scientists at Stanford University in 2023
• Reduces heating and cooling bills by up to 36% and 21%, respectively

Features:

• Two layers: a shiny bottom layer with aluminum flakes and a top layer with colored particles/pigment
• Reflects heat in summer and retains it in winter
• Available in many colors.

Seal Gaps with Caulking

Recommendation:

• Use Sherwin Williams’ SherMax or Phenolseal brands
• Prevents heat and air conditioning from escaping

Service: Painters or DIYers can seal gaps throughout your home before painting, reducing energy usage.

Choose low and no-VOC paints.

Benefits:

• Reduces health concerns associated with Volatile Organic Compounds
• Low odor and fewer toxic chemicals quick drying
• Great for nurseries and homes with animals with tiny lungs that are sensitive to paint fumes.
• The toxic chemicals that cause paint fumes are missing from these paints.
• Available in a variety of paint colors
• VOCs in exterior paint can react with nitrogen oxides to pollute the air.

Tip: Use paint-matching technology to match colors with no VOC options.

Consider Air Purifying Paint

Features:

• Durable and washable
• Improves indoor air quality by absorbing and neutralizing pollutants that are off-gassed from furniture, cabinets, fabrics and carpeting
• Eliminates household odors

Recommendation: Sherwin Williams’ Superpaint with Air Purifying Technology.

Dispose of paint responsibly:

Options:

• Donate leftover paint to Habitat For Humanity’s ReStores
• Utilize local “bring back your paint day” at South Shore Transfer Stations

Advice: Check your town’s website for disposal information.

Check out your town’s website for information like this (this is Pembroke Massachusetts’ Household Hazardous Waste Collection website, and your town likely has something very similar).

Reuse building materials:

Tips:

• Shop at Building Salvage lots for materials like kitchen cabinets, wood trim, shingles, and clapboards. This keeps these perfectly good materials out of landfills.
• Consider “Oops” paint for returned or incorrectly mixed colors – you can find these at most paint stores.

Paint, don’t replace old kitchen cabinets:

Cost-Effective:

• Painting cabinets cost $3,000-$7,000, much less than replacement
• Keeps cabinets out of landfills
• Much less expensive than a full kitchen remodel.

How does CertaPro work to lower the carbon we emit?

CertaPro’s Commitment to Sustainability

• Vehicles: Since 2012, our sales and field cars are mainly Toyota Prius and Honda Hybrids. We plan to replace other vehicles with electric or hybrid vehicles.
• Purchasing Practices: We buy paint in large containers to reduce waste.  For example, we buy white paint in 5-gallon buckets to reduce plastic.
• Community Involvement: We cleaned up two sections of Route 3 and one section of 195 on the South Coast through the Adopt a Highway program.
• Efficient Estimations: Digital proposals and e-sign software save paper. We offer remote estimates to reduce travel.
• Our estimating software defaults to Sherwin Williams semi-gloss bright white paint for interior trim and satin for exterior trim. This allows us to buy white paint in large containers and use it on multiple jobs, so there’s almost no waste. Of course, you don’t have to choose this white, and we’ll paint any paint color you’d like, but most people don’t have a preference as long as it’s a bright white, semi-gloss, premium paint.

Our estimators email you a digital copy of your quote, and when accepting the proposal, you can use our e-sign software, which saves paper and mailing.

Our premium quality paintbrushes have been well cared for, so they can be reused for years.

We offer remote estimates to customers who request them to reduce the travel of our sales staff.

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You also might like to read:

The bestselling book our owner, Paige NeJame, co-wrote about Climate Change

What makes CertaPro Unique?

Our kitchen cabinet painting services.

Painting a nursery with no-VOC paints to eliminate smelly paint fumes