Powder coating mixed with water

If it is applied wet like a paint, treat it like a paint.

Powder coatings are typically a thermoplastic or thermoset polymer applied electrostatically and heat-cured to form a coating. The object receiving the coating must be pre-treated, application must occur in a controlled environment using special equipment, and the curing process requires heating the coated object to temperatures in excess of 200 degrees C for several minutes. Therefore, powder coating is typically a shop application that occurs off-site.

In which case it would be a wet-applied product, and must follow the VOC-content requirements.

Caroline—I am sorry. I misunderstood. Your second post is much clearer, but your product sounds as though it might be a dry wallboard joint compound, skim coat, or veneer plaster. Such plaster-based products are often “inherently nonemitting sources,” VOC-free, and outside the scope of this credit.

Check the ingredients listed on product’s Safety Data Sheet. If all the ingredients are mineral-based (such as plaster of Paris, gypsum, limestone, talc, mica, perlite, silica, or clay)—with no organic-based binders, polymers, or resins—the product may be inherently nonemitting. If so, you will not need to track down VOC data.

Even if you find VOC information for this product, the data may report VOC as a percentage, rather than in grams per liter (g/L), as required by CARB, SCAQMD, & other VOC control regulations. The methods of measuring VOC prescribed by those standards are not ideally suited to dry products. Ready-mixed products, which come from the factory with the liquid component already incorporated, usually report VOC in g/L as required.

Hi Jon. I would just like to ask if skim coat containing organic-based binders would be categorized as adhesives and sealants or paints and coatings? I can't seem to find an answer anywhere. Thank you!

Hi Bernard,

If the skim coat is applied as a base coating/coating appliance, then it should be categorized as coating as well.

Best regards - Afogreen Build Team