Stripping old leaded paint

[Lobster]

I know all the books say that you should do this with chemical stripper, then wrap up the waste, double-bag it and phone for a man in a Noddy suit to come and collect it (OK slight exaggeration), but I've been trying to do this without much success, given that I'm stripping mouldings on Victorian doors and frames which have clearly never been stripped before and must have

1/4" of paint build-up. Much of the paint comes off using fingernails alone, and I'd much prefer to do the job using a heat gun; it would certainly be way faster and cheaper. Is this a complete no-no? Is there a suitable grade of mask I can use? Or is the risk of lead in paint over-rated and it's OK to just open the window or something?

David

[chris French]

In message , Lobster writes

You certainly can use a heat gun, as that shouldn't cause the paint to get hot enough to cause vapours containing Lead, using a blowtorch is no-no however, as that gets much hotter.

The risk of lead in paint in these situation is probably a bit overrated, but i have heard (reliable source it seemed) of at least one case of a young child getting lead poisoning from ingesting flakes of lead containing paint - creating a lot of lead containing dust doesn't seem like a good idea.

There is a bit in the FAQ that I wrote (cribbed from a leaflet ) on this.

[Mary Fisher]

The risk of lead in paint is to those who might ingest it - such as babies who eat their cots. And then only if they do it a lot and for a long time.

Don't try to chew it off and you'll be fine - but if you're more than, say forty years old and don't chew it for more than, say a year, you won't suffer any brain damage.

Lead is cumulative in the body, its effects takes a long to to manifest themselves and then on in extreme cases as death. The brain damage it causes probably wouldn't be noticed on this ng - no-one would suspect that I had it.

Would they?

OY!

Mary

[Jerry Built]

I don't bother for stripping, just use a blow-lamp (old paraffin type) and a shave hook. A hot air gun should be fine. If you're lucky, you will find that the timber was "grained", for which a sort of varnish was used that gets sort of sticky and very soft when hot - this makes stripping a real doddle. Take care not to dig your shave hook into the mouldings, it's worth getting a selection of sizes/shapes, or altering one with a file for odd shapes. You can also change the angle at which you hold a shaped shave hook to good effect on rounded mouldings.

Now, when you've cleaned off the paint, it will be necessary to pass a piece of glasspaper over to remove particles that have stuck themselves back on. Use a small block of timber as a sanding block. I would be tempted to use a mask for this as the dust is quite fine. Vacuum up well when you're finished.

J.B.

[Stephen Gower]

I can highly recommend Home Strip, available from B+Q, (but cheaper from

for stipping lead paint with no dust or fumes, and therefore without the need for masks/etc. More details from - I'm just a very satisfied customer, so there's nothing in this recommendation for me!