Aura Paint
The great easy to use, easy clean-up, eco-friendly paint product that is durable and has easy touch-up with a wide variety of colors.
I have specified a lot of paint over the years and Benjamin Moore has always been one of the paints that rates the "Top of my List".
Benjamin Moore has an excellent reputation for qulaity control and manufacturing, a commitment to manufacturing their products using green practices and a product that performs extremely well. So when they came out with their Aura Paint line, I was very enthused, to say the least.
There is a lot of talk surrounding low VOC's, outgassing, environmentally friendly paints and on and on. So how do you know what is green, what is not green and what falls somewhere in the middle?
There are four main gatekeepers who have set the standards for paint component standards, emission based standards, and maximum emission standards for buildings.
USGBC (United States Green Building Council), also know as LEED: LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.
Green Seal (GS 11) Specification: Founded in 1989, Green Seal provides science-based environmental certification standards that are credible, transparent, and essential in an increasingly educated and competitive marketplace. Our industry knowledge and standards help manufacturers, purchasers, and end users alike make responsible choices that positively impact business behavior and improve quality of life.
CHPS (California Collaborative for High Performance Schools): The Collaborative for High Performance Schools is a non-profit organization dedicated to making schools better places to learn. CHPS was founded in 1999 as a collaboration of California’s major utilities to address energy efficiency in schools. The program quickly expanded to address all aspects of school design, construction and operation.
GREENGUARD: The mission of the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI) is to improve public health and quality of life through programs that improve indoor air. In accordance with that mission, GEI currently has three third-party certification programs: GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality, GREENGUARD Children and Schools, and GREENGUARD Building Construction.
USGBC: Aura Paint meets minimum standards of the LEED for Homes program and you will receive a credit toward your LEED for Homes rating if you use the paint throughout, combined with other low VOC products.
Green Seal: Aura Not Tested
CHPS: Aura has been third party tested to meet or exceed CHPS standards.
GREENGUARD: Aura has been third party tested to meet or exceed GREENGUARD's standards:
Aura has a VOC outgassing rating of less that 50. Anything less than 150 is considered within LEED specifications. So this paint blows right through that requirement.
The biggest test that I could think of for this paint was to put it through my own personal trial. I have super-sensitivity to VOC's in the atmosphere and that is a major reason I would never paint.
I was building a new home so I decided to put this paint through the critical test.
After opening the can, all I could detect is a sweet aroma coming from the paint. So I continued on with the painting process. At the end of the day? No headache, I wasn't even light headed and felt great, other than being tired and having mussle aches.
Wow! This stuff really works for me! I continued on and painted the entire interior of the house without a bad day at all. I was sold!
A paint is really only as good as how long it lasts, how it covers and how durable it is.
I let my 5-year-old put the paint through the durability test, and this was not a planned test either.
I went into her room one morning as she had decided it was going to be an "art day" and she took a pencil and scribbled over one entire wall and part of another one for as high as she could reach.
Great! What a mess, I thought. Now I will have to repaint the wall. Thank goodness I have some paint left over.
But then, the thought struck me. Benjamin Moore brags a lot about the durability and washability of their products. I'm going to try to wash off all of the pencil marks (belived me, there were a LOT of them). So I took some mild detergent and a soft sponge and scrubbed the walls.
To my amazement, when the walls completely dryed, the wall looked perfect, as if nothing even happened. I was sold again!
Flexibility: With Aura Paint you get washability in any sheen and clolor so you can choose the finish you want, wheather it is Matte, Eggshell, Satin, Semi-Gloss - for any room you want.
Color Lock Technology: Richer mor enticing colors. Over 3,300 colors available.
Affinity Colors Pallette: 144 harmonious hues that complement one another so coordinating colors is ensured.
Super Fast Recoat Time: One hour is all that is needed to wait to put on another coat over the first.
Maximum Hide: This means you complete a project with less coats. Even the deepest of colors never require more than two coats.
Seamless Touchup: This lets you bring your pertect look back to pertect no matter what life throws at it. This is a great feature of this paint and it means that you don't have to repaint an entire wall just for one small area.
Low VOC's: Aura paint lets you quickly move from painting your room to living in it, and is safer for you and your family, and the environment with less than 50 VOC's.
I really love the Aura Paint product, I love using it and all the other features listed in our wrap-up below. Here at Green Living Made Easy, we feel this is a product that receives 10 out of 10 stars for all the reasons stated in this article.
Features:
- Extreme hide, never more than two coats in any color
- Provides a mildew resistant coating
- Color Lock® Technology, no color rub-off
- Stains wash off easily
- Excellent touch up
- Self priming
- Easy application
- Long lasting fresh look appearance
- Easy clean up
- This product has been certified under the GREENGUARD Standard for Low Emitting Products and the GREENGUARD for Children & SchoolsSM product certification programs.
