I'm going crazy thinking about the lead paint in my house

Hi All,

This entry is a bit long-winded, but I think that this is a very important topic for all. I’ve been a faithful This Old House magazine subscriber for years. I’ve enjoyed reading about all of the fantastic remodels and old house restorations, but as far as I know (and let me know if I'm wrong), there is not one article about the dangers of removing lead paint. Most of these renovations and restoration jobs require that you disturb walls/paint. I used to get very motivated reading about people who uncovered beautiful wood underneath layers of paint they removed.

Personally, I had a very bad scare last year. My husband and I have been restoring our 115 year old house for the last 6 years. We were not planning to have kids, so just like the poeple in This Old House, we went ahead and stripped the paint off of all of our mouldings. The floor was painted too, so we hired a floor professional to sand them. 6 years later, the house was still not finished, and lo and behold, I got pregnant. We had a healthy baby girl, and with the encouragement from our pediatrician, we had our house tested for lead. The numbers were off the charts, so I immediately had the baby tested. Luckily, the tests came out negative and we were VERY relieved to say the least. We have her tested every 6 months due to the risks and so far, she is clean.

I am in my 40s and I know that people in my age group and older have been exposed to lead paint. My husband remembers eating paint chips (and he's still a smart cookie).

The city where I live in is filled with rows and rows of old houses. When the renovation boom came along, most of the houses on my block were gutted and re-done. Where did all of the lead-laden debris go to? Answer: The landfills. When I was redoing my kitchen, I consulted with a lead abatement spe******t and for a 400 square room, he quoted me $7,500 to take down 4 walls!! We definitely could not afford that. When I asked him why the price was so high, he replied that he has to contain the lead paint in a special metal barrel where it will be incinerated at a special facility. It just didn't make sense to me - so how about the other houses when they did their demos? Did they place their debris in special metal drums too? I don't think so.

"Property disclosure form" "lead paint" "unknown" when looking at an old home that has been remodeled. Please take a look at the “property disclosure form” most likely you will see under LEAD PAINT “UNKNOWN” this to me means it was not checked or removed without the proper removal company and you may have lead paint spores in the air from the incorrect removal and this goes for asbestos also and mold.

I also talked to the City’s top lead spe******t, and he offered to do a lead test in my home. He said that if he finds any lead in my house, he will close my house down and won’t let me in until I perform lead abatement - this could cost over $20,000!! How about the other houses? All of them have lead too. Shouldn’t he close those houses down too? He had no comment about that.

I was reading about how ingesting one micron of lead can screw up a child's brain development, and how a neighbor's house gut job can affect you as well since their lead dust can land on your property. If this is true, my child's lead levels should be sky high. Several of my neighbors have gutted their houses and I know that there are more than several hundred micron particles of lead dust stuck somewhere between our floor boards due to our prior work removing paint and sanding the floors.

In my house, there are several doorways where the hacked up mouldings have peeling paint - they desperately need replacing. I'm stuck because prying off the moulding would disturb the paint and produce lead particles, but not removing the moulding is bad too because the paint will continue to crack and fall off. I can't imagibe spending $2,500 per doorway for a lead abatement company. So what do I do? Move out?

I literally walk around with a spray bottle of Ledizolv (a cleaner that dissolves lead particles - used by lead abatement companies), and I'm making myself crazy thinking about all the lead particles that are hiding in the nooks and crannies. I cringe when my daughter plays on the floor, and I am constantly washing her hands. My question is for the old house owners out there - has anyone else been in the same shoes? If so, how did you deal with it? The bottom line is that lead is everywhere (and I mean EVERYWHERE), and believe me, I am fully aware of the dangers of lead. How do you live in your house without going crazy thinking about that?
 
https://advice.thisoldhouse.com/showthread.php?t=14415
 
Thomasville, GA has really old homes that have been

Remodeled ASK FOR DOCUMENTATION of these bad materials removed. Lead, Asbestos, Mold. 

Any home built before 1978 has some type of lead base paint; also do not forget the likely chance of Asbestos and mold. Any home from 1978 and 1900 and 1800 should be tested by a company that specializes in removing Lead, Mold, and Asbestos and they should provide documentation of no findings of these types of hazards and dangerous materials in any old home. No documentation buyers beware. As a real estate agent I would not show this type of property or list without proper documentation.

Check Lead and Asbestos Presence Before Buying Older Homes

Many home buyers are enticed with older homes because these properties have great structure, facade, design and integrity. These homes foster durability may be due to the materials used in building them. Asbestos and lead are two ingredients that possess many practical physical attributes suitable for long-lasting building. On the other hand, health problems were later on discovered to be brought about by lead and asbestos. As a present home buyer, it is your responsibility to seek proper measures in determining whether these elements are existent in the old home you are looking into.

A lot of residential unit developers and builders from early 1900s to late 1970s were convinced to use materials containing lead and asbestos. Lead was a common ingredient for paints, drying agents and external coverings of roofing joints because of its qualities of malleability and corrosion resistance. Asbestos was used in cement, flat sheet, shingles, pipes, vinyl tiles, flooring felt and some paints for textured painting. This mineral is known to maintain proper insulation and slow down fire.

Despite the wonderful construction attributes these elements have, they pose health problems as well. Lead can trigger many undesirable conditions for people. Once this is inhaled or ingested, the blood stream will be poisoned. And lead poisoning can lead to poor mental, nerve and motor functioning and permanent learning and behavioral disorders. A pregnant woman also endangers the normal growth of the fetus once she is exposed to lead. Abdominal pain, headache and anemia are common symptoms of lead poisoning.

Asbestos is commonly associated with respiratory problems such as lung cancer, Mesothelioma and asbestosis. The second condition refers to the cancer of the mesothelial lining of the lungs and chest cavity, abdominal cavity or a sac surrounding the heart. The third one is the scarring of the lung tissue which can later on affect lung dysfunction.

Older homes with these elements still pose risks until today. This is because the lead and asbestos content in the materials can be scattered as dust particles or through microscopic bacterial fibers. Thus, a lot of countries have implemented total bans and/or usage and manufacturing regulations regarding lead and asbestos in home products and building materials. Other measures like here in the US instigate proper management and assessment of lead and asbestos presence in older homes. Government bodies such as US Environment Protection Agency and Housing and Urban Development strongly advise home buyers and owners to hire professionals who would conduct inspections and testing of home areas. Expert services are required as these elements need specific equipment for detection. These are invisible to the naked eye, cannot be smelled or tasted.

Once the inspections present alarming traces of lead and/or asbestos, the affected areas should be immediately removed and replaced. Eco-friendly alternative materials from non-toxic renewable natural resources are available. Cotton fiver, lycnene foam and cellulose are green materials that can be used to replace insulation, piping, siding or roofing materials that contain asbestos or lead. While you are augmenting the healthy environment in the property, using green substitutes may mean financial gains for you as well. Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, home owners who purchase such materials can be rewarded with tax incentives.

http://www.realestateproarticles.com/Art/13368/283/Check-Lead-and-Asbestos-Presence-Before-Buying-Older-Homes.html

Thomasville, GA has really old homes that have been

Remodeled ASK FOR DOCUMENTATION of these bad materials removed. Lead, Asbestos, Mold. 

Any home built before 1978 has some type of lead base paint; also do not forget the likely chance of Asbestos and mold. Any home from 1978 and 1900 and 1800 should be tested by a company that specializes in removing Lead, Mold, and Asbestos and they should provide documentation of no findings of these types of hazards and dangerous materials in any old home. No documentation buyers beware. As a real estate agent I would not show this type of property or list without proper documentation.

"Property disclosure form" "lead paint" "unknown" when looking at an old home that has been remodeled. Please take a look at the “property disclosure form” most likely you will see under LEAD PAINT “UNKNOWN” this to me means it was not checked or removed without the proper removal company and you may have lead paint spores in the air from the incorrect removal and this goes for asbestos also and mold.

“Cleaning Up Lead, Asbestos, and Other Hazards”

Raveen and Allison Sharma thought they knew what they were getting into when they decided to buy and overhaul a handyman's special, circa 1940, in Auburndale, Massachusetts. Given that the house—the subject of This Old House TV's Fall 2010 project—was built at a time when asbestos was still considered a miracle fiber and lead paint was par for the course, they weren't surprised when a home inspection revealed the presence of both. And since termite damage is the bane of existence for many an old-house lover, they weren't exactly shocked to learn the front sill had been devoured.



What the Sharmas weren't prepared for was the extent of these ills. The asbestos turned up all over the house, the lead paint coated the entire exterior, and the termites had already moved on from their appetizer of sill to the main course of studs. "We were just relieved that we didn't have any mold," Allison says.


The Sharmas faced some big decisions about how far they wanted to go—and how much they wanted to spend—to address all these issues. Their story may well help you tackle those decisions at your own old house.


Shown: The 1940s Colonial Revival will undergo major surgery, including the addition of a gabled garage roof, new entry, and an open, family-friendly kitchen.


Make your offer contingent on the home passing a complete inspection, then cough up the extra cash for your own inspector; NEVER use the one the real estate agent recommends. (I also have him/her go along with a contractor that I've hired on an hourly basis. That way, I get a real idea of what's needed.) Make sure he's a bulldog, and go with him WITH a list of your own and questions. DO YOUR HOMEWORK; this is the biggest investment of your life.



I just assume that the seller is an idiot, the agent is a crook, and the house is a piece of junk until I learn differently. There are other houses out there....


"If you live in a house built before 1978, assume it has lead-based paint," says TOH general contractor Tom Silva. The question for the Sharmas, whose house was built decades before the 1977 ban, was: How much lead was there—and where, exactly? Lead abatement became a budgetary issue for anyone hiring out a renovation last April, when the Environmental Protection Agency introduced its Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rules. These require every contractor who comes into contact with lead paint to complete an eight-hour certification and follow strict new guidelines that make the work more time-consuming, labor-intensive and, as a result, expensive.



Now, even a plumber installing a shower—or any project encompassing more than 6 square feet of lead-painted surface (20 square feet outside)—must wear a HEPA-filtered respirator and meticulously contain and clean up paint debris by sealing off the entire room with plastic and duct tape. The paint removal still has to be done in a way that eliminates dust, and, just to be safe, everything from tools to coveralls must be cleaned before leaving the contaminated space. Ignoring the rules can lead to hefty fines.


Shown: TOH general contractor Tom Silva inspects a window frame for lead paint with homeowner Raveen Sharma at this season's TOH TV project house.


Of course, lead is far more than just a cost concern for the Sharmas, who have two kids; children are particularly susceptible to lead poisoning's effects, which can range from chronic headaches to brain damage. The danger occurs when they ingest paint chips or chew on "mouthable surfaces" containing lead, such as painted moldings, or inhale lead dust embedded in, say, floor cracks. If lead paint is in good repair, and not pulling away from surfaces, the EPA says it's safe and acceptable to encapsulate it with special primers, such as Child Guard, which seal in the toxins and have a bitter taste to deter children. If you choose to undertake lead abatement yourself, be sure to follow the same precautions as the pros. (Check out epa.gov/lead/ for more information.)



Shown: Cutting into the wood allows him to see whether lead is present in deeper layers of paint.


Since the Sharmas were tackling a major renovation, encapsulation wasn't a viable option. To minimize the RRP work inside, they called in Covino Environmental Associates, which used a type of X-ray machine to scan the walls. As in many old houses, which were often wallpapered, lead paint was discovered only in the kitchen and bathrooms, where moisture was a concern.



Once Tom and crew removed that paint, the renovation could continue unimpeded. Outside, Tom identified lead paint on the windows and wood shingles with Lead Check, a DIY testing kit. That meant they were going to need an awful lot of plastic and duct tape to replace the windows and repaint the house. "In the old days, guys would go up there in shorts and T-shirts and start sanding away," says Ron Peik, owner of Alpine Environmental, which helped with the Sharmas' abatement. "Lead is the new asbestos."


Shown: Tom uses a chemically activated swab, called LeadCheck, to test for lead on the house's old windows.


The Sharmas knew they had asbestos to contend with after their home inspector found it in the insulation of the boiler as well as some 9-by-9-inch basement floor tiles. But it was only after Covino completed a full test that they began to fret. "There was a lot more than we bargained for," Allison says. Asbestos also turned up in the 12-by-12-inch floor tiles in the kitchen and bath, wall panels surrounding the boiler, and joint compound in the basement drywall. Left undisturbed, asbestos is harmless. The boiler insulation was friable, meaning it would've crumbled if touched, but luckily the whole unit was being removed anyway. For the rest, the Sharmas were told they could just tile over the asbestos flooring and leave the drywall alone.



Shown: After asbestos was found in the basement's resilient tile and wood subfloor, the Sharmas had a choice. They opted to have Tom rip out everything down to the aggregate and pour a new concrete subfloor rather than cover the contaminants.


Removal:Largely for peace of mind, however, they wanted the stuff completely eighty-sixed from the house. They called in an army of men decked out in Tyvek suits to seal off the asbestos-contaminated rooms, rig a vacuum system to capture floating fibers, and then scrape it off, double bag it, and haul it to a landfill licensed to handle asbestos. (See epa.gov/asbestos/ for more on asbestos removal.) The Sharmas' entire job took only a couple of days but, together with the inspection, cost more than $8,000. Allison says it was worth it: "The patient was already opened up on the operating table—so why not get all the bad stuff out all at once?"


Termites:
Termites aren't necessarily bad for your health, but they are for your house, causing billions of dollars of damage to American homes each year. By the time the Sharmas moved in, termites had already devoured about 35 feet of the front sill. It was only when Tom started demo work that they saw the pests had worked their way up to the studs, too. Tom had to install a new sill and replace the damaged stud sections. To ward off the pests in the future and safeguard their children's health, the Sharmas decided to go with Green Planet Pest Control, a local company, which applied a borate-based solution to the new sill.

Shown: Tom checks out the replacement for a termite-ravaged sill.


Testing for Termites:
Green Planet also baited the area around the foundation with cylinders containing wood briquettes to guard against renewed attacks. If the wood ever shows signs of nibbling, the company will lace the briquettes with insecticide, serving up a hearty last supper for the little gluttons. (Go to thisoldhouse.com/bonus to see a video of Tom Silva taking on termites.)

Shown: A wood stake set 18 inches off the foundation will tell you if termites are present. If they are, "they'll have a party on that," says Tom.


Mold:
One nightmare the Sharmas didn't have to face was mold. "That surprised me," says Tom. He figured moisture found while demolishing the sunporch would lead to more bad news, but he saw none of the telltale signs, such as water stains and deteriorating fascia boards. That's a good thing, considering that mold can feed on the cellulose in wallboard, mineral-fiber or wood ceiling tile, and even wood studs, resulting in significant property damage. Worse, molds reproduce by releasing spores that can provoke allergic reactions ranging from itchy eyes and coughing to severe skin rashes and worsened asthma. It's wise to check your home for mold in basements, attics, and other poorly ventilated areas a few times each year. On hard surfaces, isolated mold outbreaks (less than 10 square feet) can be cleaned up with diluted bleach or soap and water. Anything larger should be handled by a pro. (Check out epa.gov/mold/ for more on mold.)


To the Future:
It's no coincidence that most firms doing abatement of lead and asbestos also handle mold. These are the three biggest health hazards in older homes. For the Sharmas, now that the toxins and termites are gone, they can start focusing on the fun stuff—with a truly healthy outlook.


http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20428889_20852632,00.html

Thomasville, GA has really old homes that have been Remodeled ASK FOR DOCUMENTATION of these bad materials removed. Lead, Asbestos, Mold

Any home built before 1978 has some type of lead base paint; also do not forget the likely chance of Asbestos and mold. Any home from 1978 and 1900 and 1800 should be tested by a company that specializes in removing Lead, Mold, and Asbestos and they should provide documentation of no findings of these types of hazards and dangerous materials in any old home. No documentation buyers beware. As a real estate agent I would not show this type of property or list without proper documentation.

"Property disclosure form" "lead paint" "unknown" when looking at an old home that has been remodeled. Please take a look at the “property disclosure form” most likely you will see under LEAD PAINT “UNKNOWN” this to me means it was not checked or removed without the proper removal company and you may have lead paint spores in the air from the incorrect removal and this goes for asbestos also and mold.

Hazard Materials