Lead Paint Removal

[Greg Crawford]

I just had a friend tell me he's buying a house that was built in the 1890's. It has all wood floors and walls, but everything has been painted. He wants to hire me to help restore it as much as possible to original condition. The wall boards all have to come down for wiring, insulation and ductwork. My idea is to take the boards off the wall as carefully as possible, then run them through a drum sander to take off the paint. I have a single stage dust collector with a 1 micron bag that does a good job with the sander. I'm just wondering if anyone knows whether or not that's a good method to contain the paint, which more than likely has lead in it. The bottom bag is a heavy duty plastic garbage bag, so it wouldn't have to be dumped into anything else to take it to the appropriate waste facility. This seems to me a better way than taking it off the boards while they're still on the wall, then having to try to collect the paint scrapings, chips, dust, etc.

BTW, I plan on wearing a respirator no matter what the method.

For the floors, the only thing I can think of would be a floor sander with good dust collection capabilities.

Any comments? I'd especially like to hear from anyone that might have experience with remediating lead paint.

Thanks in advance,

Greg

[Jim Becker]

Sanding is perhaps the most dangerous way to remove lead paint...personally, I'd use a stripper and scrap off the softened material onto a plastic sheet that can in turn be disposed of properly. (There may also be local regulations about this if there is any kind of permitting/inspections being done on the job)

[Lloyd McKinlay]

Dry sanding lead based paint is never recommended, in fact it is illegal in some areas without HEPA filters. Although you may wear a respirator the lead residue will be in your hair and clothing plus your shop area (which would need to be wet dusted plus wet dusting all the tools inside and out). All in all not a good idea.

Dumond Chemicals manufacturers Peel Away which they claim can be used for lead abatement, and there may be others. Haven't used it but I will be on some upcoming projects. Even after chemical stripping I believe the government doesn't recommend sanding, just damp steel wool to clean the surface.

[Greg Crawford]

Wow, I'm glad I asked. I hadn't thought about the dust residue. I think I've seen the Dumond product. I'll look into that.

No matter what, it's going to be a big job. 2 story, over 2000 square feet, inside and out, including ceilings.

Thanks

[David DeCristoforo]

In addition to the above advice, if you are going to be working under a permit or on a job where a permit has been issued, you really need to inquire with the local building department as to any abatement requirements they may have. In some areas they even require a special license to deal with hazardous materials (which lead based paint certainly qualifies as).

[Ben Grunow]

I would avoid removal as the boards will often break as they can be dry and brittle due to age and lack of back priming.

You can paint over lead paint to encapsulate it if kids are the concern. Architectural resto means stripping as far as I am concerned.

[Don Bullock]

In addition to the above advice, if you are going to be working under a permit or on a job where a permit has been issued, you really need to inquire with the local building department as to any abatement requirements they may have. In some areas they even require a special license to deal with hazardous materials (which lead based paint certainly qualifies as).

In many places lead paint must be removed by a company licensed for that type of work. The removal and disposal is highly regulated.

[Larry Fox]

As others have mentioned, PeelAway will do the job but it is meeeesssssyyyy!!!! There is a product out there called a SilentPaintRemover DAGS that is nothing short of fantastic. It is an infared light that breaks the bond between the paint and the substrate and you then scrape it off with a scraper. They also claim that it does not heat the paint to the point where the lead melts like a heat gun. The paint comes off in like a putty so there is not dust like with sanding.

However, please do your research

BTW: I am completely unaffiliated with the SilentPaintRemover, I just have used it in the past with good result.

[Wilbur Pan]

A big caution about dealing with lead paint removal:

In my day job I'm a pediatrician, and so lead toxicity is something I'm very familiar with. At lead levels of 10 micrograms/dL, a 5 year old will start losing IQ points. Doing the calculations for a typical 5 year old's weight and figuring out the blood volume, that's only 144 micrograms, or 5 millionths of an ounce of lead that kid has to swallow before his IQ starts to take a hit. Each 5 millionths of an ounce of lead will knock off about 5 IQ points. This is an additive effect: every additional 5 millionths of an ounce of lead will knock off an additional 5 IQ points.

Other things associated with lead exposure: hyperactivity, failure to graduate high school, reading disability, delinquency, and hearing deficits. After 360 micrograms of lead ingestion in that 5 year old kid, anemia starts to kick in.

By the way, the reason kids will eat lead containing paint is that it tastes somewhat sweet.

The usual exposure source for lead for kids is old peeling lead paint. But as the old housing stock either gets torn down for new construction (think about the house that used to be next door that was demolished for a newer house), or increased awareness of lead paint has kicked in and more people are painting over or decontaminating their old houses, it seems that these days if kids are going to pick up lead, it's from contaminated dirt. That would include wherever you might be disposing of paint sludge from a stripping process, or the dust from sandblasting leaded paint.

This is why lead abatement is such a big deal, and why there are som many regulations involved with it. If it's not done correctly, and some of that lead gets into the dirt and dust, and then winds up in a kid, it doesn't take very much to make the kid lose IQ points.

Lead probably affects an adult brain as well, but since I'm a pediatrician, I don't really care.

[Greg Crawford]

So far, I now have the folks checking for regulations regarding lead paint removal, and I’ve suggested they have the paint tested first. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the lead paint has already been removed. It sounds as though the infrared remover will be the most logical if there is lead paint. It was already one of the options we had discussed.

As far as leaving the boards in place, I quite agree that they are better left undisturbed. However, the wiring is very old, there is no insulation and there is no central heat or air. In addition, the roof has been leaking for an unknown period, so inspecting for mold will be important. All the windows have leaks, as well. In other words, the house almost needs to be gutted. The new owners want to keep it as original as possible, but realize the will be some damage that will mean replacing damaged material.

They haven’t gotten everything firmed up on the sale, so with all this, they may just drop the whole thing.

Thanks for all the wise words. If they do get the house, I'll post pics of the progress.

Greg

[Matt Meiser]

This is an additive effect: every additional 5 millionths of an ounce of lead will knock off an additional 5 IQ points.

So shouldn't this mean that today's kids are smarter since we don't use lead based paint any more?

[Rick Lizek]

Watch your terminology. Lead abatement must done by licensed professionals Remodeling can be done by anyone. In Mass we have some of the strictest lead paint laws. They also have encapsulent paints for lead. Removint the wood is the simplest way to do it. Lead was banned from paint in 1978 so there is a lot still out there. There's always
the story of the new house with the super deal on paint...old lead paint that is.

[Wilbur Pan]

So shouldn't this mean that today's kids are smarter since we don't use lead based paint any more?

The IQ advantage was counteracted by the development of video games.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

If you are doing this as a commercial venture - and you did mention being paid so I think it's commercial - you might want to familiarize yourself with your state and local rules for testing and disposal. You may need a disposal permit or even a haz-mat license depending on state law.

[Matt Meiser]

Lead was banned from paint in 1978 so there is a lot still out there. There's always
the story of the new house with the super deal on paint...old lead paint that is.

Actually I was recently told that the 1978 ban was just for residential use--for commercial use it wasn't until later. I was working on a project at a wastewater plant originally built in 1982 that was being expanded and they had to do both lead and asbestos abatement.

You KNOW some of that commercial paint got used residentially at some point.