VOCs in paint

We needed to have our apartment painted and insisted on low-VOC paints. The contractor screwed up twice (hmmmm) and just used whatever crap he had that was lying around. The landlord tried to tell us that after speaking with the people at the paint store, that after 30 days, it's all offgassed anyway, no biggie.

We did a little research on our own and found that VOCs are terrible and persistent - and can offgas for years. We are gently insisting that the stuff be repainted (it will need primer in some places) even though it will undoubtedly annoy people. Apparently VOCs are so bad, you shouldn't even store your paint where there are humans.

Also, watch out for VOCs in your floor sealer!

From the EPA: http://www.epa.gov/iaq/voc.html