What are the chances of my window ceils being lead-based paint?
Question:Curious. I live in an apartment that originated as a shoe factory from the 1890's. It it beautifully restored, and very luxurious... but the windows are the originals. Yesterday, I decided to clean the windows thoroughly. It was disgusting! Like a 2 year old threw mud in there and left it for 100 years. Haha. Well, there's a lot of paint on the windows and around that's chipping and I got to thinking - how can I tell if it is lead-based paint? I have a puppy and I wouldn't want it to harm her. =(
How can you tell?
Answers:
Test kits available at any hardware store. $8 - 15.
If the paint has not been stripped since 1980, it is lead paint. Lead is not hard to deal with just don't sand it. It can be scraped, use paint remover, painted over, just don't sand it. Make sure you don't leave scraped off flakes where little kids can eat them though. A heat gun will release lead fumes into the air so that is a bad approach to removal too.
Your land lord should be able to tell you. I think they have to tell you if it is.
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