Around the early 1930s we saw the introduction of traditional paints starting with Led paint first and moving to acrylic and now latex...These products enjoyed wide popularity and expanded across the market rapidly taking up the vast majority of commercial paints that were sold and used in the United States. By the late 1930s, not much was known about the contents of these synthetic paints or the environmental impact or health hazards that are correlated with them.
Over the next 30 years as statistics continued to come in, much was learned about the implications of certain substances that these paints contained and the implications of our health. Up until that point, lung cancer had been rising every year, but by 1940 it still wasn’t super high despite the high percentage of smokers. Due to smoking and the high VOC contents inside traditional paints, the most common type of cancer in the world, as well as the most deadly cancer, Lung Cancer continued to go up every year for 50 years across the United States and the globe.
Over the last two decades there’s been dozens of research documents published by just about every scientific organization in the world as well as government organizations such as the “CDC” and the “NIH” directly linking VOC’s from paints, varnishes, and stains to lung cancer which is the most deadly form of cancer in the world. This 50 year climb completely coincides with the introduction of traditional paints to our environments.
Presently early onset lung cancer is still hard to detect, by the time it is detected it is often too late and fatal. Recent technology has been developed that is promising in terms of catching early onset lung cancer before it becomes fatal, interestingly enough the method by doing this is by measuring the amount of VOCs in your lungs when you exhale. If this doesn’t scare everybody it should, as each one of us in this country and most people around the world live in homes where every wall and ceiling are coated with latex or acrylic paint. These paints create a sealed surface, not allowing the wall to breathe, at the same time that they are sealing the surface they are leaching VOCs into the air. We have effectively built our own gas chambers and we live in them day after day with these VOCs leaching into the air and building up in our lungs.
VOCs (like all toxins) have an accumulative effect, after so many years our bodies can no longer detox themselves from these VOCs at a rate fast enough to stave off a fatal disease developing.
Anybody reading this at this point should be wondering one thing, how do we get these VOCs out of our home? and what can we replace them with that won’t kill us? The solution is a substance called LimeWash.
LimeWash is a Centuries Old, naturally made paint that was dominantly used in every major civilization for thousands of years. The Egyptians, the Romans, the Greeks, every major civilization across the globe used Limewash to coat the exterior of their buildings as well as the interior.
Surprisingly enough there’s actually numerous benefits to Limewash over paint, it’s surprising that paint was ever able to take over and there is much speculation over that subject, it seems the dangerous, untested and expensive product was chosen over the more cost effective/higher quality one.
The benefits of Limewash over paint is the texture that it gives your wall and the beautiful pastel colonial colors that can be achieved when you add natural mineral pigments from the ground to the Limewash. Limewash is naturally solid white providing a colonial texture and permeability. LimeWash is made out of crushed lime stone from the earth mixed with water and a few other natural ingredients, recipes vary around the World but high-grade crushed Lime is really the only essential thing you must have too achieve a high-quality Limewash.
Limewash is easy to apply, easier than paint, and is extremely forgiving; it is really effective on masonry surfaces such as brick and mortar in comparison to traditional paint it is actually good for brick and mortar.
Limewash has been used for centuries on the most historic buildings that can be found anywhere on the globe, the reason for its popularity among ancient cultures was its ability to protect masonry surfaces from weather and aging, in fact any historical building over a couple hundred years old are almost certain to be limewashed, it is the only way for them to maintain its structural integrity from weather related corrosion.
A few noteworthy buildings that are LimeWashed is the White House in Washington DC (in fact the White House actually got its name from the white, opaque color of the Limewash that was put on it when it was built. Naturally the White House was tan in color as it was built from sandstone). Other notable structures are The Egyptian pyramids, the Great Wall of China, The Pantheon in Rome, Notre Dame and many more.
Limewash has many more benefits other than its protective capabilities, many people are shocked to find out that traditional paint actually deteriorates masonry surfaces and should not be applied to brick and mortar because it creates a sealed surface and does not allow the wall to breathe. Traditional paints should not be applied to the exterior of masonry surfaces because it creates a sealed layer, not allowing the wall to breathe. All masonry surfaces should breathe in order to maintain their structural integrity. Traditional paints are also a breeding ground for black mold, and mildew, as that sealed surface will tend to hold moisture for longer periods of time creating the perfect environment for mold to grow chronically.
Limewash solves both these problems as it is a permeable substance, naturally porous in nature, just like masonry, lime is a rock and returns to rock state after carbonation. Due to its high alkalinity, Limewash does not promote mold, mildew or fungus growth, it is also a natural deterrent for termites and invasive insects. . Last but not least Limewash does not peel or flake overtime such as traditional paint, Limewash slowly patinas creating the old world colonial look that is trending all over social media and is responsible for the number one home makeover trend of the past two years.
Limewash can be made at home quite easily or can be bought from a couple commercial manufacturers, there’s not many in the United States as this process is still in the infancy state. One such company is LimeWash Pros out of Dallas, Texas. They make a commercial grade Limewash using the exact same blend that is found on the White House in Washington, D.C., they specialize in the manufacture of Limewash as well as the application so if you’re interested in having experienced professionals applying Limewash to your home, they are available if you live in Texas.
It is up to us to take control of our health and our environment. We are being killed by the substances that we use on a day-to-day basis. All across the country our health is clearly being impacted as the number one cause of cancer continues to go up year after year while smoking goes down. We have the government research, we have the scientific documents, we know that the VOCs found in paint is directly connected to Lung Cancer to the point that doctors are measuring the VOCs in your breath to determine lung cancer diagnosis.
There is a simple solution to this crisis, there needs to be a revolution in the paint industry, there needs to be a Limewash revolution. If you feel motivated by this article or the information in it, I implore you to share this and post it on your social media account. The algorithm is set to play certain things in front of more people based on how many likes and shares it gets. this is essential if we are to raise the awareness on a broad spectrum in our community and solve this crisis. It is crucial that we all come together and make sure that this information goes out to everybody we know, we can hack the algorithm, we can hack the system and we can take control of our health, our communities and our future. We can start to make a change, nobodies going to do it for us, this is our world.
Beautify…
Solidify….