Bio Zapp – The Odor Elimination Specialists

I met Mark Kitterage, director of refinishing sales from Bio Zapp Laboratories a few weeks ago on Paint Talk.com.  Mark was talking up a product that I found interesting, and vaguely remembered seeing in retail paint stores. Last week I had the opportunity to ask him a few questions, and wanted to find out more information, he happily obliged. This was our Q&A.

 Tell me about your companies products.

Mark: All products are manufactured and shipped from our headquarters in Sarasota FL, are 100% environmentally safe.

Paint Odor Eliminator is the most well known of the Bio Zapp Odor Eliminating products in the line.
It was originally manufactured for Coronado Paint company to eliminate paint odor in a hospital.
It worked extremely well, and from there it was presented to SW, who in turn tested and retested and could never find that our product compromised the integrity of their coatings.
It did not effect the dry times, adhesion, durability or gloss.
Once it was on the shelves at SW, it made it’s way onto the shelves of other retailers throughout the country.
A few years ago, Valspar made an offer to purchase the rights to sell Paint Odor Eliminator into the retail market.
They began to market the product as “ODOR ZAPP”, along with their other sundry items.
Unfortunately the Valspar deal fell through, and the original owner of BIO ZAPP took back control and assumed the rights to sell into the retail market.

We also manufacture a product that eliminates smoke odor caused by fire.
This product was also sold throughpaint stores and was geared to painters and fire restoration companies.

What is your anticipated market?

Mark: We are planning to bring both products to the marketplace through the usual distribution channels.
Our markets will include Painters, Fire & Water restoration companies, Bathtub refinishers, Electrostatic painting, etc.
But as you can see, with the different markets that we will target, our best source of distribution will eventually be through paint stores.
Until we have deals in place with distributors we will entertain selling direct to retail locations or the end user.

So what would be some of the benefits of using your products? 

Mark: For anyone that would be applying coatings in occupied areas the benefit is the reduction of the paint fumes.
This product has been added to low odor water based coatings to bring the slightest paint smell down to almost zero.
It benefits the contractor because he can still apply coatings in occupied areas during the day without complaints of paint odor.
Which means he/she doesn’t have to reschedule jobs to be done at night when no one is around.
It benefits the the homeowner, because the smell of the paint is gone even after the painter has left for the day.
Homeowner would not have to stay in a hotel while the painting is going on. Using Smoke and Fire Odor Eliminator will save time and money. Applying this product to the effected area as a first step will ensure that smoke odor does not re appear. Which means that a wall or area can be painted once for aesthetics and not as a means of encapsulation. Saving time and money.If a wall or an area needs to be repainted numerous times in order to encapsulate the smoke odor ( which has proven to be ineffective) costs the contractor time and money.

Can you explain how odor zapp works?

Mark: Paint Odor Eliminator works on a molecular level.
Once the additive is mixed into a coating, it attaches itself to scent molecules within the coating, and lies dormant until exposed to oxygen.
When the coating is applied by spraying, brushing or rolling, the oxygen acts as a catalyst and begins neutralizing the odor.

How, or does it effect the finish quality and performance of paint?
Tests by many individual contractors and many paint companies have proven that our additive does not have any adverse effects to any coating.
25 Years in business & thousands of repeat customer sales should also be a testament to the performance of our additive.

You mentioned once selling in Sherwin Williams, does your additive invalidate their paint warranty?

Mark: I would have to say that since Bio Zapp was approved for sale in SW stores, by SW, it would not effect their warranty.
But as we all know if there is ever a problem with a coating the general response from most dealers is that it is user error.

Thanks again to Mark for taking the time to talk to me about Bio-Zapp. I know as a painting contractor who does a lot of residential repaints it is a concern of my company to keep indoor air quality a priority inside our clients homes. No one wants to come into a stinky home after working all day. I will be reviewing odor zapp in the future, so keep an eye out.