Hi. I've recently moved into an older house and I want to repaint some rooms. I also need to strip some paint. Is there a test to determine if the old paint contains lead? Also, if I find there is lead in the old paint, what should I do? Thanks.
You can buy a test kit at Home Depot. You would just take a utility knife and cut into your paint layers at a 45 degree angle to expose enough of the layers. Then you take a cotton swab dipped in a solution and rub the swab on the paint. Then you touch the swab to a test strip like litmus paper, and it turns a certain color if it contains lead. The kit is about $10. I've found them to be pretty accurate if you follow the instructions.
Per the 2nd part of your question - what you should do it lead. I won't give advice but your local housing authority or HUD has some brochures.
Here is a typical government webiste on it:
Thanks Buck.
Qualitatitively, you might cook with hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid), dilute, filter, and treat with sulfuric acid (battery acid). Lead sulfate forms a white precipitate.
I will say, too, that I called our local housing office about lead paint about 5 or 5 years ago when my wife was pregnant with twins.
The gentlemen I spoke with said that as long as someone takes reasonable precautions, and doesn't allow small children to crawl around on floors, espeically unmopped floors, that it's not a big problem, even in the older historic houses in the area.
He said that the only kids that he consistently sees who come back with high lead level tests are kids who have been adopted from Eastern Europe.
You can check with your state real estate board. Most states have required disclosures when you go to sell your places. And sometimes it is ok to occupy a place with lead if there are no young kids involved. Some times it is OK to handle the lead paint by encapsulating it. Real Estate people know all the laws on the subject.
How to get rid of it, just common sense stuff. Wear a respirator and clean up afterwards. It's not kryptonite.
Why do you need to strip some paint? Is it already peeling? When I worked on my old house, the standard advice was that if the paint was intact, simply paint over it. In other words, why open a pandora's box if you don't have to?
Little kids like to hang on the window woodwork. When they get big enough the are able to chew on that woodwork. Lead paint tastes sweet, so they continue.
Painting over it is OK if it is done properly. It's called "encapsulating".
If kids are doing that, the parents are the lowest kind of trash. The kids should be moved to homes where they are wanted, not ignored. Or, the babysitter should be doused with gasoline and incinerated, outdoors, of course.
Why outdoors? If done indoors, it solves both the babysitter problem and future lead paint problems.
JoeSpareBedroom spake thus:
That's a bit harsh, dontcha think? Kids of all colors and socioeconomic levels do weird, crazy, stupid things. For some colorful examples, I refer you to David Sedaris' book, /Naked/. (Among other things, he liked to lick car windshields and dashboards.)
Not at all. I wasn't all over my son like a "minder" escorting a journalist through a Soviet bloc country. But, there was no way he'd be gnawing on paint. That's simply bullshit.
JoeSpareBedroom spake thus:
Well, goody for you and your son. But I'm curious why you think that such behavior is indicative of anything other than the kid's own urges and idiosyncracies. Do you really think that poor or "unwanted" kids are more likely to gnaw upon windowsills?
You are entitled to your opinion. However as a licensed real estate broker, I can inform you of the thinking behind the legislation. Because lead paint was common and widely used before its hazards were known, many children are endangered. As a matter of public policy, we put in place laws which attemp to protect these kids.
Lots of us have had kids and we teach them not to hang on window woodwork. We also teach them not chew on woodwork.
I doubt that lead paint tastes sweet. This idea probably originated because the old name for certain salts of metals were called "sugar of ---."
I never mentioned "poor", although lower income families often live in places which, for any number of reasons, are not well-maintained and contain more lead problems (peeling paint, for instance). But, you already knew these things.
Badly supervised kids are an entirely separate subject. No competent parent allows a kid to chew on painted surfaces, even if it's new wood with only modern paint on it. If they *do* allow it to happen more than once, it means they're incompetent.
I don't disagree with the laws at all.
Once, or regularly?
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