Dealing with lead paint

[longhorngal]

We are buying a home built in 1925. Currently all interior walls are covered with wood paneling and the outside is sided. All except for the laundry room with was originally the just an outside wall then had a small room added to it and is now a laundry room.
I bought an admittedly cheap testing kit at Lowe's yesterday, it was the only one they had. All interior walls tested negative but the laundry room wall tested positive.
I'm having a hard time finding information on what to do about this. Do we need to hire a professional or it this something we can possibly do ourselves? I do know about the danger of stirring up lead dust.
If anyone has had a professional do this can you give me an idea of what they charged you? Just any information anyone would want to share would be really appreciated as we need to get this taken care of.

[geo in mi]

I'm certainly no authority, but here's a place to start to get some ideas: http://www.health.ny.gov/publications/2502/

Good luck.

geo

[copperkid3]

Originally Posted by longhorngal

We are buying a home built in 1925. Currently all interior walls are covered with wood paneling and the outside is sided. All except for the laundry room with was originally the just an outside wall then had a small room added to it and is now a laundry room.
I bought an admittedly cheap testing kit at Lowe's yesterday, it was the only one they had. All interior walls tested negative but the laundry room wall tested positive.
I'm having a hard time finding information on what to do about this. Do we need to hire a professional or it this something we can possibly do ourselves? I do know about the danger of stirring up lead dust.
If anyone has had a professional do this can you give me an idea of what they charged you? Just any information anyone would want to share would be really appreciated as we need to get this taken care of.

************************************************** *
period, that didn't use lead paint in it's make-up. That being said, it would be extremely helpful to know
what you plan on doing with this home? Are you going to remove the paneling or the siding?
Are you going to be doing a demolition of the laundry room? Or are you just planning on repainting?
The primary 'danger' of lead dust is with infants and youngsters who might inhale or swallow the
'sweet' tasting stuff, which can then lead to potential learning disabilities down the road.
If you are planning on doing the rehab yourself, check to see what the standard safety practices
are and then use the recommended breathing masks and work clothes, make sure to provide plenty of
fresh air ventilation and dispose of the end waste products in an approved manner.

[Sawmill Jim]

I am one of the few survivors of the 50's the no seat belts ride in the back of the truck bunch What paint our house had was i am sure lead as far as i know no one died from it . Chewing on window sils got you a lesson that remains with one a long time .

Unless i was running a mega sander i would i would paint over it or sheet rock over it . If running a big sander i would find a good dust mask . I think all this is blew way out of kelter by the powers that be

[unioncreek]

Prime and paint over it. The real concern is for children, in their rooms I would either re-panel or just remove the paneling and prime/paint. I grew up in houses that I'm assuming had lead paint in them and we had no problems. My kids grew up in old houses also.

Bobg

[texican]

I'd say make sure your kids are well fed, and you'd have no problems.

Unless it's peeling off the walls, or your grinding or sanding on the paint, it's not going anywhere.

[arabian knight]

Yuppers, I would not worry about either, and I also am a survivor from the 50's.

[TheMartianChick]

Originally Posted by texican

I'd say make sure your kids are well fed, and you'd have no problems.

Unless it's peeling off the walls, or your grinding or sanding on the paint, it's not going anywhere.

Although I agree with most of the information that has been given so far... I really like Texican's response. One of the functions of the nonprofit organizations that I am affiliated with is housing. Because we are a non-profit, if even one dime of government money goies into one of our projects, we are obligated to remove all lead and asbestos. It gets very costly, often tripling the costs of the renovations that we do.

My husband and I also invest in rental properties. As private individuals, their are far fewer regulations (almost none!). The one area that focus on with our rental properties (and they ALL have lead in our area)is the windows. Wooden windows and sashes often have old lead paint that will grind itself into dust as the sash is raised and lowered. This is one of the main places that kids today get lead poisoning. People open the windows and the paint produces dust. The wind blows and the dust makes it into the child.

It can cause a very serious health problems and the children can develop cognitive disorders. One agency that I am affiliated with is embroiled in a lead lawsuit that is around 8 years old. (Our insurance company is trying to avoid paying out on the claim.)

If you have small children who will be living in the house, I would check all of the windows and replace any windows that test positive for lead. It isn't so much the lead on the walls that will create issues because chances are good that someone has painted over the lead (encapsulating it) since lead was banned from house paint.

[DAVID In Wisconsin]

I'm a painter. If you do the work yourself there are certain precautions you can take. Because of the laws being enforecd effective Jan 1st, it will likely cost a fortune to hire it out. If the work is done according to government guidlines it'll probably 3 times the cost of a non lead paint job.

[rean]

Prime and paint over it, and don't let your kids eat paint chips.

[Harry Chickpea]

Another survivor here. My grandmother lived in a house that was painted with lead paint (by me, some years), had a metal roof with lead paint on it, and had a garden out back that got water from that roof. She ONLY lived to be 107. Who knows how long she would have lived without all that lead?

My brother works in metal sculpture, eats fish twice a week from mercury polluted areas, and had his test for metals in the body come back on the LOW side of normal.

Pregnant moms and young kids probably should avoid stuff like this. Otherwise...

[longhorngal]

Thanks for the advice. I should have added the darn paint in the laundry room is peeling, a lot. Due to previous humidity from the dryer hose thingie not being hooked up correctly I believe. So, that is the main concern..the fact that it's peeling. I already have a daughter with Autism, don't need any more problems! She's almost 14 and wouldn't dream of eating paint! Though I do think we could seal it off if we were to do it ourselves. Would kind of like to know what a professional would charge and if it's not outrageous just let them take care of it.

[texican]

Sorry longhorngal... just say your sig line was Defeat Autism... my texian eyes read that as Defeat Austin... thinking you were an Okie... well, you know... (Oklahoma vs. Texas.... football)

[Trixie]

You know, for me, lead paint is one of those things I'm not sure I believe all the hype about - but since I have heard it, I'd be afraid not to take precautions.

Good luck -

[mindyloo]

Ok i had a big issue here in Ct with lead paint and my foster child testing at a high level. My house was built in the 1800's. his lead blood levels were up to 19 and should be 10 or less. We got sited by the health department and our local DCF. We had to fix all of the paint issues in the house, meaning removing every door, the trim, and install all new floors. We did laminate floors over the old painted wood floors, literally ripped out all the old trim and replaced it. As far as any walls what did test positive we had to make sure was not chipping or any holes in it. If is was then we had to patch the area and paint over it with a special lead based paint called and encapsulant paint. The encapsulant paint is only another barrier of protection is is specially designed to help prevent chipping, but does not get rid of the lead. A tested will also pick up that there is lead paint there. The state of connecticut came and and tested with a special xray machine for free because of the child testing high and they needed to find out why. if you have to hire someone it is hundreds of dollars and depends on the size of your house. They literally tested every pirce of wood inside and outside including my outside barns. Thank god the outside of my house did not have lead paint and the windows were all replaced prior to me buying the home. Any frictional surface windows including, doors etc. would need to be replaced because the friction of the object rubbing together would cause lead dust. it is something that you can do yourself and i definately would not open a can of worms by hiring anyone. Just be careful and really seal off any area that you are going to repair, and really clean clean clean. Vacuum not sweaping. and mop the floors several times, and wipe down ANY place the dust can travel to. Tops of doors, windwo sills, etc. Keep young children out of the area that you are working in! i would of never known my child was infected but when he was younger and not living with me he never had a lead test done. Most doctors dont pull lead tests after the age of 3 unless there is a reason to do so. So you would never know if your child or you were infected with lead poisoning. Hope this helps.

[PhilJohnson]

All I can say is don't eat the chips More seriously I do know small children are much more susceptible to heavy metal poisoning then adults are. If the paint is coming off in big chips or peeling you would be much better off picking up the pieces in larger chunks then using some sort of sander. A scraper would be a good idea.

Lead based paint is still used today, but only in industrial and commercial applications. When I used to work as a boilermaker I would grind paint off all day off of I-beams so the welders could weld them. I found out later that the paint was all lead based. I would cough up black stuff for days after grinding even wearing a mask. I am glad I don't do that job anymore.

[Molly Mckee]

Talk to your Realtor--isn't this the sellers' problem? Have you had a home inspection? This should show up on the inspection report, and be fixed by the seller before closing.

[BethW]

I've lived in many old houses over the years, all with lead paint. Lead is part of what made old paints so durable. I can't help but thinking how overhyped lead paint is. Can it be a problem? Definitely. Is it the problem the govt makes it out to be? I don't think so.

I've stripped every single original window in our 1843 house over the last five years. I also had blood tests every so often and the results were always on the low end of normal. Just use common sense: don't dry-sand paint, don't heat-strip it with heat so high the lead vaporizes, and encapsulate (with standard paint) what you can.

Mindyloo's story makes me angry and sad at the same time. That wonderful old house might as well have been razed.