Although oil-based floor paint has excellent performance, its environmental issues are becoming the main bottleneck of development. The following is an analysis of its challenges and transformation directions:
1. Environmental shortcomings: VOC and health risks
Oil-based paint uses toluene and xylene as solvents, and releases a large amount of irritating odors and harmful gases (such as formaldehyde) during construction. Long-term exposure may cause respiratory diseases. A typical case is that the garage of a residential community in Shenzhen used solvent-based floor paint, which caused collective discomfort to the owners and was eventually forced to replace it with water-soluble paint.
2. Policy restrictions and market shrinkage
Many places have issued policies to restrict the use of solvent-based paints (such as Shenzhen’s ban since 2015), pushing the industry to transform to water-based paint. The flammability of oil-based paint also increases storage and transportation risks.
3. Alternatives: The rise of water-based paint
Water-based paint uses water as a solvent, has extremely low VOC emissions, and has a hardness of up to 4H (higher than 2H for oil-based paint), achieving a balance between wear resistance and environmental protection. Some construction teams adopt the "water-bottom oil-surface" strategy to combine the advantages of both to reduce costs.
4. The future of oil-based paint: technical improvement and scene segmentation
Low-VOC formula research and development: Develop products that meet the new national standards by reducing the proportion of harmful solvents;
Special scene retention: such as extreme wear resistance requirements or temporary projects, still relying on the performance advantages of oil-based paint