How do you deal with paintwork that has lead in it?
Question:I have just done one of those DIY test kits and it shows that there is lead in the paintwork. What is the safe way to remove the dangerous paint.
Answers:
Did you paint the doorsyourself or was it already on. If it was already on...yo will need a blowtorch to burn it off then use a scraper.
don't eat it, and you'll be fine. why would you need to remove it. do you think someone will accidentally eat it?
I know sanding it and melting it are out, that just leaves scraping or removal
I don't remove it. It is there dried on the surface. It didn't jump out and attack me so I am safe and will be. What I do is scrape off the loose flaking paint(if any) and then put on a coat of Alykd oil primer. Let that dry a couple days, and then put on desired finish coat(latex or oil) - 2 coats.
The concern with lead in paint is- When it is used in things like childrens toys, soup bowls, dishes, ceramic mugs - anything someone could or would put in their mouth. The paint was how they made the patterns and designs(no such thing as decals in the early days). Everything was hand painted, like "Dinky toys", yo-yo's and baby cribs.
Why was lead used? In the years of painting and experimentation since the caveman and dirt colors or charcoal from the fire for colors - man has been experimenting in ways to make the colors brighter and last longer. Lead makes white "whiter" and so with yellow. (Other metals(chromium, copper are mixed in with the other colors to give them more richness).
The paint is as dangerous as if you want to eat it. If you are not planning to eat it, you will be fine.
Then you have time to worry about the lead in the copper pipes that supply your drinking water,..or maybe the lead in the "weights" for fishing. How many people do not use their teeth to spread and close the lead shot.? Everybody does it. Or the lead that was added to gasoline.
Painting overtop sounds so "temporary". I don't consider 20 years plus, that temporary. Some house paints have been done 30 years ago and still look good.
Again, the sweat of the lead is on things you handle constantly and wear away the paint by the hands or stick in your mouth like the ear of a painted wooden rocking horse.
i think the dangerous lead thing was brought in by the paint makers so they could sell you expensive and rubbish paint.
Scrape the loose chips off, then paint over it. This will be fine.
To echo what some other people are quite rightly saying.My old cottage had the same wooden gutters since 1837, always painted with lead paint, until it was no longer available, when they had to (sadly) be replaced with plastic. Lead paint is altogether better at preserving wood and metal than the new paints. Just paint over it. Burning it off by flame or chemical stripper is the only way to get rid of it, and you are putting yourself at much greater risk of being poisoned by toxic fumes if you do that. I once tried it, and replaced the lead paint with some modern non lead paint. The window frames only lasted a couple of years longer.
call your Environmental Protection Agency and ask. I think people have to come out and remove it for you. It will cost you. I "heard" that you can cover over it with another paint and seal it, but these days there's always a concern that children could eat it and die so they want it (by law) removed.
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