Painting an old home

[jessmarimba]

No offense meant at all, withm, but I wouldn't really rely on the Home Depot test kits. They're really not accurate enough to be worth it (I was a lead inspector for HUD properties for a few years).

[Kiwi Stoker]

As a child I had to be tested for lead poisoning as Dad stripped and repainted the house (this was the 80s). Please for your health, your plants and soils health and your community's health get your paint tested properly first.

[ny biker]

I don't need to have it tested. The odds that they used lead paint back in the '70s are quite high. Last year I spoke to a contractor who does a lot of work in my neighborhood and he said they don't test, they just assume there's lead paint involved.

The only way I would do this myself would be to use the Soy-Gel.

http://www.franmar.com/paint-removal...-urethane.html

"Soy Gel encapsulates the surface of your furniture or floors in its thick gel, preventing lead or other hazardous particles from escaping into the air."

[laura*]

I don't need to have it tested. The odds that they used lead paint back in the '70s are quite high. Last year I spoke to a contractor who does a lot of work in my neighborhood and he said they don't test, they just assume there's lead paint involved.

I wouldn't be that pessimistic about the odds!

The house I did most of my growing up in was built in 1973. (It has long since been sold on to other owners.) I'd say that the odds of that house having any lead paint are exceedingly low: All interior trim, doors, windows, and etc. were stained. Even the outside siding was stained. The only painted surfaces were the interior walls (in standard flat white) and garage doors.

If your condo was fully renovated, perhaps they followed similar design rules where no interior trim was painted. Remember, the '70's were still in the "back to earthy natural things" era where visible wood grain was desirable.

On the other hand, you imply the trim is from the '70's. It is probably not worth saving. I'm with jyyanks in suggesting that you replace it instead of trying to strip it. But as withm said, even removal/replacement will still disturb lead paint if any is present.

[withm]

No offense meant at all, withm, but I wouldn't really rely on the Home Depot test kits. They're really not accurate enough to be worth it (I was a lead inspector for HUD properties for a few years).

Well I DID say "at the very least" ...

I agree they are not 100% accurate, on the other hand, they are readily available and may provide a starting point when considering to do this work yourself or to hire a professional.

I work for a general contractor, who is EPA certified to perform lead safe work practices and all of our field employees have had formal training in the EPA mandated lead safe work practices.

[jessmarimba]

Well I DID say "at the very least" ...

I agree they are not 100% accurate, on the other hand, they are readily available and may provide a starting point when considering to do this work yourself or to hire a professional.

I work for a general contractor, who is EPA certified to perform lead safe work practices and all of our field employees have had formal training in the EPA mandated lead safe work practices.

Per the CPSC: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08038.html

[withm]

Per the CPSC: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08038.html

Since this website is not responding perhaps you'll provide the gist of this?

[bmccasland]

Maybe I've watched too much Holmes on Homes - but what about asbestos? I didn't know it was used in plaster, but that's one of the places he's found it (drywall taping compound too).

[Blueberry]

Since this website is not responding perhaps you'll provide the gist of this?

Link works for me. Headline is something along the lines of home test kits unreliable.

[ny biker]

So, I put the same question out on our neighborhood yahoo group (the whole neighborhood consists of garden-style condos and townhouses that were built in the '40s and renovated in the '70s when it all went condo) to find out about others' experience. So far I'm being told it's easier and less expensive to replace the trim. One person wound up removing something like 7 layers of paint, and she said it didn't really look good when she was done.

It's easy enough to replace the mouldings around the base of the walls, but looking at the trim around the doors, it all appears to be part of of the door frame, rather than just being attached to the wall around the doors. I fear this could get complicated.

I already have bought new hinges for all the doors, to replace the nasty rusted crooked painted hinges that are already there. So now I guess I need to figure out if I'm replacing all the frames or just the trim around them.

[bmccasland]

Seems to me, it's easier to just replace the trim around the doors. If you replace the frames, won't you have to re-hang the doors, which could be a PITA (unless they're crooked and you want them straight).

Trim comes pre-primed which will help with the painting.

[withm]

Per the CPSC: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08038.html

OK I've been able to look at this link now from my home computer. For some reason I could not access the CPSC site from work.

It is worth noting that the CPSC press release is dated 2007. Certainly there have been a lot of technological advances across the board since then. Making only generalized statements, the CPSC does not identify the "unreliable" kits, nor does it discuss the difference between detecting lead in paint vs any lead at all.

The current EPA regulations went into effect in 2008. The EPA has gone so far as to specify (Aug. 2011) 3 home lead test kits that are in fact 95% reliable, and have charged all EPA certified contractors with the task of using these very same kits to test for the presence of lead paint prior to starting any renovations that would disturb said lead paint.

http://www.epa.gov/oppt/lead/pubs/testkit.htm
http://www.epa.gov/oppt/lead/pubs/testkitfactsheet.pdf

One of the 3 kits is only available to contractors licensed in the state of Mass. The other two are readily available, and not too expesive. The 3M kit runs around $25, for 8 tests at Home Depot.

If you live in an older house, built before 1978, and you are contemplating stripping paint by any means I would urge you to use one of these test kits to ascertain if you do in fact have lead paint present. If you determine no lead is present, by all means go ahead and proceed with your plans.

But if the test does indicate lead, please, please do not mess with this stuff. Hire a qualified contractor who can do the job safely without risk to himself, to you, your family, and even to your neighbors.

Again, I refer you to the Renovate Right publication issued by the EPA which goes into more detail about which homes are likely to contain lead paint (basically the older the home, the greater the liklihood).

Consider that 87% of homes built before 1940 are likely to have lead paint present.
For homes built between 1940-1960 that risk drops to 69%
And it falls to 24% for homes built between 1960 and 1978.

http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovaterightbrochure.pdf

In 1978 it became illegal to sell lead based paint. It was not illegal to use the lead paint that a painter or other contractor might already have stockpiled in his warehouse.

It goes without saying that ultimately you could be held responsible and liable for the safety of all of the other players should a lead exposure be traced back to your project. Granted, it's a long shot, but still you want to do the right thing.

OK, I'm off the soap box now. Please be careful out there.