# Benjamin Moore Air-Purifying Paint? Harmony Equivalent?



## PaintedbyStephen (Jan 4, 2022)

I use Benjamin Moore paints on my client’s projects, it’s the paint I love and always get the best and most consistent results with. Sometimes they insist on using something else, but anyways.

That brings me to my question: I’ve tried researching every single one of BM’s paint lines, talked to my rep a little about it, and he didn’t know what he could recommend me other than EcoSpec, since Natura has been discontinued.

My wife and I are remodeling OUR home, and we are going to be painting the interior soon (maybe another month or two). We have 5 kids (5 years old and under), 8 inside animals, and we’re looking for an air-purifying paint.

I know Harmony by SW is out there, and right now it’s either that or limewashing the interior plaster (I would LOVE to limewash, but it’s too labor intensive and much too expensive). The problem is I _hate_ working with Sherwin Williams. And Gennex and all that, anyways. Does BM carry something that purifies the air like Harmony claims to? Maybe a product that doesn’t claim to, but does? Or a product they don’t sell a lot of but do make? Do they make some sort of limewash that’s not as expensive as designer limewash?

The only paint line the dealer recommended to me was EcoSpec and EcoSpec Silver (antimicrobial, not specifically air purifying), or SpeedHide which is clay-based.

Any thoughts or experience would be really helpful!


----------



## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

I eliminated the duplicate thread you posted in the General Painting Discussion sub-forum. We ask that members only post a thread in one sub-forum. If you feel you may have accidentally posted your thread in the wrong place, simply contact one of us moderators and we can relocate it for you.
Dan


----------



## celicaxx (May 29, 2015)

I just want to say I found them discontinuing Natura very interesting and somewhat shocking, as I remember Natura being marketed quite heavily back around 5-6 years ago or so when I first started painting, and they even had a weird limited test run of a "plant based" Natura. I also heard Natura was used a lot in hospitals and nursing homes, too, so it's an odd thing to discontinue. 

As far as MPI specs go, to MPI Natura is the same as using Regal, or Duration, etc, MPI # 143 X-Green, but really I don't know. I've used both Eco-Spec and Natura only once and it was an extremely humid environment with slow dry times, but I found the finished look good and Eco-Spec seemed to cover crazily well (as well as Regal) but maybe at the cost of a grayed out base and less color accuracy. I felt like Eco-Spec was pretty close to PM200 in quality I guess, and Ultra Spec definitely seems more durable.


----------



## finishesbykevyn (Apr 14, 2010)

5 kids and 8 animals.


----------



## PaintedbyStephen (Jan 4, 2022)

RH said:


> I eliminated the duplicate thread you posted in the General Painting Discussion sub-forum. We ask that members only post a thread in one sub-forum. If you feel you may have accidentally posted your thread in the wrong place, simply contact one of us moderators and we can relocate it for you.
> Dan


That’s fine, I posted there because I wasn’t sure what kind of viewing or response I’d get in this category. As long as you feel like I’ll get a good response here, I’d just say leave it here. 👍🏼


----------



## PaintedbyStephen (Jan 4, 2022)

finishesbykevyn said:


> 5 kids and 8 animals.


Yep, some of those animals MAY be finding their way outside in the near future 😂 7 of them are cats, 4 of them kittens… funny thing is, the kids are worse than the animals 🤣


----------



## Knobbe (Mar 14, 2021)

finishesbykevyn said:


> 5 kids and 8 animals.


That's better than 8 kids and five animals! 😉


----------



## finishesbykevyn (Apr 14, 2010)

Just buy an actual air purifier. 🤷‍♂️


----------



## cocomonkeynuts (Apr 14, 2017)

vasari lime paint. can brush, roll, spray like regular paint. can be tinted using gennex other pigments. about same price as regal


----------



## PaintedbyStephen (Jan 4, 2022)

Knobbe said:


> That's better than 8 kids and five animals! 😉


🤣🤣


----------



## PaintedbyStephen (Jan 4, 2022)

finishesbykevyn said:


> Just buy an actual air purifier. 🤷‍♂️


Kids would destroy an air purifier… at least mine would. Also a halfway decent air purifier will be more expensive than a 5 gallon bucket of paint and much more maintenance.


----------



## PaintedbyStephen (Jan 4, 2022)

cocomonkeynuts said:


> vasari lime paint. can brush, roll, spray like regular paint. can be tinted using gennex other pigments. about same price as regal


Does BM sell it, or is it like an online order kind of paint? That’s right up the alley of what we want, but typically traditional limewash is generally really expensive…


----------



## cocomonkeynuts (Apr 14, 2017)

PaintedbyStephen said:


> Does BM sell it, or is it like an online order kind of paint? That’s right up the alley of what we want, but typically traditional limewash is generally really expensive…


Probably something you would order unless you find someone local who has an equivilent. This is not a 'limewash' it has the application and feel of a traditional paint. If you want you can apply with a big block brush to create texture or can be back troweled and burnished like a plaster and can even completely cover heavy texture. Or you can cut and roll or spray through a regular sized 395/titan 440. Can be applied over most latex wall paints or primer.


----------



## Joe67 (Aug 12, 2016)

As I understand it "air purifying" paints are largely about absorbing and holding VOCs. I don't think they help much with basic dust, dirt, crayons, and pet hair and whatnot. Sounds like the latter is maybe more your concern? I think you want Scuff-X.


----------



## PaintedbyStephen (Jan 4, 2022)

[


----------



## PaintedbyStephen (Jan 4, 2022)

Joe67 said:


> As I understand it "air purifying" paints are largely about absorbing and holding VOCs. I don't think they help much with basic dust, dirt, crayons, and pet hair and whatnot. Sounds like the latter is maybe more your concern? I think you want Scuff-X.


Not necessarily, that all can be cleaned with elbow grease. What we’re more worried about with animals, kids, laundry, etc is help managing and neutralizing our indoor air quality. That was one of our main reasons for initially wanting to limewash the interior walls and ceilings.


----------



## jennifertemple (Oct 30, 2011)

PaintedbyStephen said:


> Yep, some of those animals MAY be finding their way outside in the near future 😂 7 of them are cats, 4 of them kittens… funny thing is, the kids are worse than the animals 🤣


Is this the new math? 7+4=8!


----------



## jennifertemple (Oct 30, 2011)

Knobbe said:


> That's better than 8 kids and five animals! 😉


I don't know about that, if you train them up right you could have 8 income earners. Animals are difficult to employ! 😆


----------



## PaintedbyStephen (Jan 4, 2022)

jennifertemple said:


> Is this the new math? 7+4=8!


7 cats (4 kittens, 3 older), and one dog, = 8


----------



## PaintedbyStephen (Jan 4, 2022)

Not really here to talk about my cats though… 🙄


----------



## Vylum (May 12, 2016)

sounds like pseudoscience


----------



## cocomonkeynuts (Apr 14, 2017)

Vylum said:


> sounds like pseudoscience


Cats are real and liquid


----------



## Joe67 (Aug 12, 2016)

PaintedbyStephen said:


> Not necessarily, that all can be cleaned with elbow grease. What we’re more worried about with animals, kids, laundry, etc is help managing and neutralizing our indoor air quality. That was one of our main reasons for initially wanting to limewash the interior walls and ceilings.


Ok. But you're still thinking you can get more out of a coating than you will. There are no paints that will scrub your air.

And maybe just let people have their fun in this thread too.


----------



## celicaxx (May 29, 2015)

Vylum said:


> sounds like pseudoscience


One idea is the more amount of titanium you have more the more "air filtering" you get out of a paint, because the titanium catalyzes pollutants.









Modified TiO2 based photocatalysts for improved air and health quality


Photocatalysis with modified titania is a promising approach to improve both air and health quality. Modified titania with novel photocatalytic proper…




www.sciencedirect.com













Researchers find treating pavement with titanium oxide reduces air pollution


(Phys.org) —Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands have found that treating pavement with titanium oxide causes a reduction in nitrogen oxide air pollution. In their paper published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, the team describes how they treated pavement...




phys.org





The issue often talked about here years ago was that China had a lot of control over the world's titanium supply, but that most titanium in the world was going to China for its domestic construction boom, and China wanted the titanium more for the "pollution filter" purposes because pollution there is a significantly bigger problem than USA. 

I'm sure there's other elements that can do it, lime is another big one (as suggested in this thread):






Flue Gas Desulfurization







www.lime.org





Lime being so base, can react with acidic gases like sulfur dioxide to neutralize them. I would guess intellectually if you wanted neutralize cat smells lime might work better, as the component in farts and poop that really causes it to smell are sulfur which theoretically the lime could neutralize maybe. 

In real life and not theoretical science, I'd probably just go with pretty much any paint with enough abuse resistance, and upgrade your actual HVAC system with more efficient filtering, or buy HEPA air purifiers.


----------



## cocomonkeynuts (Apr 14, 2017)

celicaxx said:


> One idea is the more amount of titanium you have more the more "air filtering" you get out of a paint, because the titanium catalyzes pollutants.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


lime coatings act as natural air conditioning and are anti-microbial as well


----------



## PaintedbyStephen (Jan 4, 2022)

cocomonkeynuts said:


> lime coatings act as natural air conditioning and are anti-microbial as well


Exactly, which is why interior and exterior lime coatings have been around for tens of thousands of years… Have you ever thought about why white home exteriors are the most common and traditional color picked? Lime used to be the standard exterior coating… _Natural_ air purification, air con, also keeps bugs away, also anti-bac, etc.

I like the suggestion of the Versari lime paint, they also have marmorino too… 😋

Thank you Celicaxx, I appreciate your detailed response outlining exactly why I’m looking into something other than basic paint 🙌🏼👌🏼


----------



## celicaxx (May 29, 2015)

Despite academically understanding the science, I still personally probably wouldn't bother as it would end up being quite a lot more work than traditional paint with likely few benefits. If anything I'd try it in one or two rooms to see how you like it first before going crazily all in on a lime paint or plaster everywhere in the house.






Doing a whole house of that seems like quite a lot more effort than blasting through with a 14 or 18" roller with normal paint. 

Thanks Coco for recommending the company though, they seem to have really good reasonably priced plaster finish systems that are relatively plug and play. 






Plug and play relatively inexpensive tadelakt is very hard to find.


----------



## cocomonkeynuts (Apr 14, 2017)

celicaxx said:


> Despite academically understanding the science, I still personally probably wouldn't bother as it would end up being quite a lot more work than traditional paint with likely few benefits. If anything I'd try it in one or two rooms to see how you like it first before going crazily all in on a lime paint or plaster everywhere in the house.
> 
> 
> Doing a whole house of that seems like quite a lot more effort than blasting through with a 14 or 18" roller with normal paint.
> ...


This is a better lime paint video, but yes. And you can tint everything including the plasters on gennex or universal colorant. light colors use half regal eggshell formula..


----------



## PaintedbyStephen (Jan 4, 2022)

I don’t mind the extra work… I’m completely redoing our home, and I’m going all out. We’ve done houses for so many other people, and when we bought our house, we couldn’t wait to finally do something for us, our style.

To give you an idea: obviously all of my drywall is smooth, so I’m skimming all the drywall in the house to mimic Mediterranean plaster…


----------



## cocomonkeynuts (Apr 14, 2017)

PaintedbyStephen said:


> I don’t mind the extra work… I’m completely redoing our home, and I’m going all out. We’ve done houses for so many other people, and when we bought our house, we couldn’t wait to finally do something for us, our style.
> 
> To give you an idea: obviously all of my drywall is smooth, so I’m skimming all the drywall in the house to mimic Mediterranean plaster…


Why not save step and just use plaster?


----------



## PaintedbyStephen (Jan 4, 2022)

cocomonkeynuts said:


> Why not save step and just use plaster?


Because the limewash / air purifying paint was kind of an afterthought to be honest.


----------

