Hello. I'm new to this forum and home owning. Our house was built in 1948 and we're updating the floors and trim. Up until this point, we were sanding and re-painting the solid pine doors. I've been reading up on lead based paint and with little ones around, we've decided to give up on refinishing the doors and buy new ones. My question is, do I have to be extra careful removing the old doors and jambs? Suiting up and respirators and all that?

Thanks!
Ryan

 

I don't think so..you should have done that when you were sanding...lol

When you rip out the old..you may get flakes and chips...but not the same as the sanding dust that can be inhaled. Sure you might want to use an appropriate mask or respirator, a good respirator with interchangeable filters is always good to have around.
I won't try and tell you what kind...I'll let the Pro's answer. You also need to be careful when cleaning up. I believe people have said mist with a spray bottle...then sweep up debris, then vacuum with the appropriate filter in the vac.

Why not have the paint tested first? I think they make homeowner kits even.

I'm no HAZMAT expert...just repeating what I have heard and read. I think in MOST cases the danger is overblown...but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

 

It's quite likely that the oil base paint used on the doors in 1948 was lead based but how many times have they been painted since then? How deep were you sanding? If you were removing the majority of the paint - a chemical stripper would have been better.

Lead's main dangers are from inhaling the dust from sanding or [mostly with kids] ingesting flakes of paint. Sound lead paint is usually encapsulated - fancy word for painted over with a non toxic paint. Loose paint should be removed in a manner that captures ALL the debris and then disposed of in the proper manner.

To remove the lead painted wood, you shouldn't need to be suited up and even a respirator [imo] is optional BUT care must be taken to gather up ALL the debris - especially with little ones around!!

 

Thanks for the info.

I was stripping the doors with Citristrip which got most of the paint off, down to bare wood, but the doors still needed to be sanded before we re-primed and painted. Anyway, after the money spent on the bottles of citristrip and the time spent sanding, it's worth it to spend 90 on a new door...

 

Now you are thinking like a pro!