whiteboard paint

Hi Craig – I’m not sure that I’ve heard from you since I worked with your brother on the Airport.

Whiteboard (Dry-Erase) paint probably qualifies as a non-flat with a VOC limit of 150g/L. The brand that you mention offers various lines of marker board paint. As you noted, one line reports having over 300g/L VOC, but the same company offers other lines of whiteboard paint that DO comply with LEED VOC limits. So do several other manufacturers.

If you DO have to use the VOC budget, and if you only use small quantities of non-compliant paint, you can use an abbreviated version of the budget that does not require you to quantify every such product used on the project. We pioneered this short-cut approach on the Airport project. See Part 3 of the Response to LI#1822: http://www.usgbc.org/leed-interpretations?keys=1822

In January 2006, SCAQMD issued an advisory addressing Dry‐Erase Coatings, Chalkboard Coatings, and Magnetic Board Coatings and other coatings not addressed in the SCAQMD-1113 Table of Standards. They reissued the advisory in July 2011 reasserting the original interpretation:

Section (c)(3)(A) of SCAQMD-1113 “explains that if any sticker or label affixed on the container of the coating, any sales or advertising literature, or any representation is made that the coating may be used as, or is suitable for use as, a coating that is listed in the Table of Standards with a lower VOC limit than the default category [250 g/L, per Section (c)(1)], then the lowest VOC standard shall apply.”

Therefore, as noted above, since this product appears to be a non-flat topcoat, I would use the Green Seal “non-flat” category with a VOC limit of 150 g/L.