A Guide to Creating a Healthy Home
You may repost my photos designated with CC BY-NC-SA on your website, if you link to my site.
Only some photos on my website are creative commons. If it’s not labeled like this then it’s got Copywrite, do not share.
This license lets you remix, adapt, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.
I’ve been experimenting with how to paint over Chalk Paint with non-toxic paints for a while.
The reason this is relevant to me and my readers is because the sequence of: natural shellac – Chalk Paint – zero-VOC paint is one that can block odors and VOCs while itself being highly tolerable for the chemically sensitive.
You might have other reasons for painting over Chalk Paint and this article will be helpful.
I use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint but this will work for other chalk style paints as well.
Does it Have a Wax on it?
The first thing to note is if the Chalk Paint was waxed. If it was, you might need to remove the wax in order to paint over it.
You will need to use a solvent like mineral spirits (be sure to use the non-toxic type) to remove the wax enough to paint over it.
The exception is if you have waxed it with Annie Sloan wax, you can paint over with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. (Not all types of waxes can be painted over with Chalk Paint).
If it’s Not Waxed
If it’s not waxed it will definitely be easier to paint over.
However, I have found that regular paint doesn’t go easily over Chalk Paint. The Chalk Paint acts as a resist and as you can see below you get these patchy areas:
Primer That Works Over Chalk Paint
After some trial and error, and many companies saying their paint doesn’t work well over Chalk Paint, I called Farrow and Ball and they said their wall primers will work over it. Hooray!
So I actually bought the Wood Primer and that worked perfectly, though they said the wall primer would work.
Farrow and Ball is different than your regular acrylic or PVA primer, the binder is VAE.
So I used my little pots of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to make a sample board on plywood and then went over it with the Farrow and Ball Mid Tones Interior Wood Primer.
I ended up with a nice perfectly even coat of primer and finished it with an even coat of Farrow and Ball Paint!
Corinne Segura is a Building Biologist Practitioner with 8 years of experience helping others create healthy homes.
This includes the top 4 American locations in four states: Arizona, Nevada, California and New Mexico. The booklet was updated in 2021.
These are campsites for RVs and tents (some have cabins, but not vetted) where experienced mold avoiders have found a lot of healing within the last year.
Many of these locations are tried and true for many years, but I make sure I have recent reports on all of them.
The brochure covers the basic information you need to decide on which one will be best for you, including:
This post on the Locations Effect goes into more detail on what a sabbatical entails (and also what to bring!)
