{"id":14242,"date":"2022-01-26T07:00:40","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T07:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/resin-expert.com\/?p=14242"},"modified":"2023-10-01T19:08:02","modified_gmt":"2023-10-01T19:08:02","slug":"can-you-use-exterior-paint-inside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resin-expert.com\/en\/guide\/can-you-use-exterior-paint-inside","title":{"rendered":"Can You Use Exterior Paint Inside? – How and Why Paints Differ"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes life hands you lemons and you have to make lemonade. DIY can be fun, but if you\u2019ve been in the game for a while, you know that you can find yourself sometimes lacking the right tool for the job. Most times, it\u2019s a matter of simply going out and getting what you need or borrowing what you need from a friend, and others you simply have to make do with what you have. If you\u2019ve ever found yourself looking at some unfinished wall or crunched for time when preparing your house for the holidays, you might have thought about using some exterior paint inside your home. Can you do this though? Let\u2019s find out!<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Can You Use Exterior Paint Inside?<\/h2>\n

Can you use exterior paint inside? The answer is yes! Although just because you\u00a0can<\/em>\u00a0do something doesn\u2019t mean that you\u00a0should<\/em>\u00a0do something, or even that the something you\u2019re thinking about doing is a good idea. Interior and exterior paints<\/a><\/strong> might look the same and might even provide the same quality of color in some instances, but they are graded for certain areas for a reason.<\/p>\n

\"When<\/p>\n

Overall, it\u2019s a fairly bad idea to use exterior paint on the interior of your home, not because it won\u2019t adhere properly and not even because the color would be off-putting, but because exterior paint is fundamentally different on a molecular level. But exterior paints are durable and will last a lot longer than interior graded paints would, no?<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Interior<\/p>\n

This is true, exterior paints contain resins and other catalysts which allows the surface to dry noticeably harder in order to withstand things like wind, rain, heat, snow, and abrasion from sand. These chemicals also make the paint produce quite a bit of fumes during the curing process though, and while these would be fine outdoors where they can be dissipated, allowing these paints to cure and dry indoors poses a serious health hazard.<\/p>\n

\"Exterior<\/p>\n

While most exterior paints these days are acrylic paints mixed with resin, back in the day most exterior home paints were oil-based and caused quite a lot of damage to the environment because of this. You see, oil-based paints contain solvents that are considered to be volatile organic compounds (VOCs), these cause ozone depletion and generally gunk up the immediate and greater environment.<\/p>\n

Does this mean that you can use modern exterior paints indoors? Nope. Even though they contain fewer<\/em>\u00a0VOCs than their oil-based predecessors they can cause serious discomfort to those with respiratory illnesses and generally poor health, not to mention children and animals.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Toxic<\/p>\n

So, can exterior paint be used inside? We would strongly recommend against it, and even if you were to look up \u201ccan exterior paints be used inside\u201d you\u2019ll find that most professionals are of the same opinion.<\/p>\n

It can be tempting to save a few bucks and even some effort of going down to your local store to pick up some interior paint but considering the risk exterior paint poses to both you and your family\u2019s health, it’s definitely worth the effort. In summary, here are some pros and cons associated with using exterior paint indoors:<\/p>\n

\nPROS<\/strong><\/span>
\n
\n