Jodi,
A couple of comments about your
paint inquiry. I would not recommend using exterior paint indoors.
The most compelling reason is that they are designed for outdoor environments
that do not have restricted air movement. Anything harmful that they may
give off (who knows, each paint is different and proprietary) can dissipate
outdoors without harm to people or collections. Not true indoors.
And since they are designed for exterior use, the manufacturers don't have to
meet specifications for indoor off-gassing. Don't take the risk - use
interior paints. In addition, some exterior paints will not cure properly
indoors. I found this out using an exterior stain on a project in my
studio. Two weeks later, it was still tacky! I called the
manufacturer's tech line, and they told me that UV radiation (present in
daylight) was necessary for it to cure. Imagine that. This fact was
not listed on the fine print on the can. Again, it was not designed for
interior use, so they probably felt is was irrelevant to list it. I had to
take the project, still tacky and subject to fingerprints, outdoors during the
day and then get it indoors before the dew fell at night, which would have
marred the surface.
Paint applied to walls will
off-gas fairly freely, and probably (again, every paint is different) will have
no significant off-gassing after a week of drying at 70 degrees F or
above. However, inside cases, the air circulation is much more limited and
even smaller amounts of off-gassing can be concentrated. I would suggest
waiting a month for the interiors of cases to cure before putting objects in
them.
Marc
American Conservation Consortium, Ltd.
4
Rockville Road
Broad Brook, CT
06016
www.conservator.com
860-386-6058
Marc A. Williams, President
MS in Art
Conservation, Winterthur Museum Program
Former Chief
Wooden Objects Conservator, Smithsonian Institution
Fellow, American Institute for Conservation (AIC)
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2015 4:31 PM
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] best wall paint for museums
Hello wise and experienced ones,
We are an art museum
working towards re-painting our galleries in the future. We are in
standard patch and paint mode between shows from the last time the galleries
were painted. The current paint is from Sherwin Williams (ProMar 200 zero
VOC latex, both exterior and interior versions in flat and eg-shel).
As we look towards full repainting of the galleries I'd like to seek out
recommendations from art museum professionals and conservators about the best
paint to use in an art museum/gallery space, including brands, specific types
and finishes/sheens. We have an account with Sherwin Williams so would
prefer a paint that could be purchased there.
We are of course navigating
all of the issues with painted walls and cases that artworks come into contact
with: drying/curing time, offgassing potential for blocking, safety for patrons,
staff and artworks. We have noticed some adhesion (blocking) with the
eg-shel on the walls (rarely but it has happened that the paint seemed to "grab"
the back of some frames hanging on a wall at one point) and were wondering
whether using flat everywhere is appropriate, effective or necessary to prevent
that. Our painter is concerned about roller lines and marks showing up on
the flat paint on the walls so would like to know how to prevent that or if
there is a type or grade of flat paint that helps control those issues. We
will need to be able to patch and paint between shows after repainting
everywhere once so need to use a paint that holds up well through that
process--we just can't afford to paint the walls entirely after every
show. We also can't shut down the museum entirely during painting and
while we feel pretty good about our ventilation system we need to minimize or
eliminate the VOCs or other environmental issues because we won't be moving
everything out of the building or closing the museum down to the public while we
re-paint.
What paint is best? Is there an industry standard for
painting art museum walls that most of you stand by? What works best in
terms of its safety for patrons/staff and artworks during painting and once
cured as well as endurance, durability and coverage throughout years of
patching/painting/cleaning afterwards. Any and all advice is greatly
appreciated!
Best wishes,
Jodi Lundgren
South Dakota Art Museum
=========================================================
Important
Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/
. You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a
one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] .
The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you
decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] .
The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the
quotes).
To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1