Ok I hope this doesn't sound silly. We are looking to purchase a house very soon it will probably be an older house and need quite a bit of work. A house we looked at will need completely gutted. I had originally thought to completely remove all of the existing drywall and with the help of my friends insulate and possibly have the wiring redone while the walls are out and afterwards hire a professional to do the drywall. Here is where I get scared. I never thought about lead paint. Having a child under 2 years old I want to be as safe as possible and with the houses age I am just assuming it is present. I contacted the EPA about disposal so ill leave that for another day. But could I simply remove all of the drywall using safety precautions and have it cleaned professionally or is there more to it then that? Everything in the house is going the floors the walls you name it. Is contamination afterwards something I should be concerned with? We will not be living in the house until it is finished but is this a big concern if I remove and dispose of the drywall mop vacuum and discard of everything in the house and then have it professionally cleaned before carpeting is done? Any information would be appreciated I just want to be as cautious as possible hopefully I am not over reacting.

 

Welcome to the forums. Have you actually determined that there is lead paint in the house? Just because it is old doesn't necessarily indicate there is lead paint present. How old is the house? Have it analyzed before jumping off the cliff, so to speak. If it turns out to be so, then it may be required in your area to have it professionally removed. Need to check that, too.

 

I currently do not know if it contains lead. It was built in 1936. We haven't even had the bid accepted so no inspections have been done. I am just trying to be prepared.

 

The age of the house indicates a good chance of there being lead based coatings but the only way to know for sure is to have it tested. I would talk to a few lead abatement contractors to get an idea of the cost for a worst case scenario and figure that in on the price [that way there's no surprises] If it has steam heat there is a good chance there are asbestos wrapped pipes.


The house probably has plaster walls. If it's drywall it may have been remodeled at some point.

 

It is a forced air house furnace looks to be about 15 years old. I have seen some of the lead abatement price they just aren't something I could afford to be honest.

 

Having paid my $300 and having completed the EPA lead-safe "renovation firm certification" program, here is my take on it.

When the government gets involved in anything, things change. When there is money to be made in creating an industry of fear, the government is all for it. IMO that's why lead abatement companies and asbestos abatement companies and mold abatement industries have ultimately sprung up. It's called growing the economy. If there is something that "could be" hazardous, it becomes "extremely hazardous". Then someone comes up with 400 pages of rules to cover every situation (forget about being logical or practical). They propagate the fear because fear is big business. (not to mention how much money was generated by the start of this program- $300 registration fees multiplied by 100's of thousands of contractors who took these classes) Yes, there is a grain of truth in what they are promoting, but the biggest driving factor is fear of illness, and obviously no one wants to be sick. You could say the same thing about mold.... same thing about asbestos. Once a substance is villainized and public opinion turns against it then the snowball grows in size... and it rolls over everyone in its path. (ironically, the opposite is also true if there is money to be made and a state can profit from it... i.e. legalized pot)

In my opinion you could safely do all your own demo, there are no rules that prevent you from doing that. One precaution you could take is to put heavy 6 mil plastic down on all the floors before you begin your demo. After you have removed all the woodwork and the plaster on the walls and ceiling, clean off the plastic as best as you can and then fold it all together at the corners to keep everything inside, then place it on another piece of plastic and fold it up in that, then duct tape it all together so it can't come open. Done.

The EPA has good info on lead safe practices so you could visit their website if you'd like to DIY. They have a brochure that details the precautions you can take.

The part of their EPA program that really got me was the regulations to put 20 feet of plastic outside the work area on the exterior of a home. Really? A couple problems with that. Number 1, the Sun heats up the plastic and kills the grass or the landscaping. That should make them pretty happy. (and what exactly would you need to do if you were working on a roof... 3 stories high... or over a bunch of bushes or what have you?) Number 2, the wind comes up and blows the plastic into the neighbor's yard, throwing any "lead paint" all over creation. Number 3, even if you anchor the plastic down and kill the grass, if the wind comes up it is going to blow that "lead paint" dust right off of the plastic and into the grass at the edge of the plastic 10-20 feet away. Oh, but they covered that possibility too... you need to catch that when you do your walk through visual inspection and vacuum up that "lead paint" with your HEPA vacuum so that no chips are present... -or- you could do the alternative, which is sprinkle a little topsoil over the lead paint chips and then do the visual inspection again and if no chips are spotted then it's all good. How stupid.

 

Thanks what I've gathered here in my area is because it is a residential remodel. I don't need to take it to an extreme as I would if I was a business. The main concerns are inhalation and ingestion and aspiration. Obviously I have to take precautions. But as I mentioned everything in the house from the walls and flooring will be removed and cleaned before new drywall is installed. So I will still be throwing down plastic and cleaning. Then removing the carpeting and cleaning more after new drywall is hung. I will have it tested after a good cleaning and before flooring is installed. Thanks for the info this shouldn't be bad assuming we get the house.

 

They told us that vacuuming carpet (with a non-HEPA filtered vacuum) is one of the worst ways that lead dust can be spread. If you vacuum up lead paint dust that has gotten into the carpet, the thought is that the unfiltered air is being exhausted by that vacuum cleaner all over the house for the life of the vacuum. So maybe just roll up that carpet and throw it away.

Lead paint test kits can be purchased at box stores. To test the paint though, you have to take a utility knife and cut a sliver of wood (or plaster) out, and expose all the layers of paint that have even been put on the wood/wall. And they recommend testing various areas... plaster, windows, baseboard trim, ceilings, siding, etc. Any place where a different paint may have been used. If your test swabs come up clean then you may have nothing to worry about.

 

Yes I will not be vacuuming thencarpet. I will put plastic over it and bag and dispose of what ends up on it when I am done. Then dispose of carpet after wards. I mainly plan on vacuuming and mopping after the wall s are removed. Then the same after the new drywall is sanded. I will probably test I'm just assuming its there for now. If not that's a bonus. As for it spreading the whole house will have dust. I'm just hoping thorough cleaning is all that is necessary to remove and remnants of dust after if it is even present.

 

I've probably applied a 100 gallons or more of lead based coatings, don't know how much I've sanded without any protection but as far as I know I don't have any health issues related to lead BUT that's not to say lead can't be dangerous!! The big thing is inhaling the dust! IMO wearing a respirator and containing/cleaning up the residue goes a long way towards addressing that concern. For the most part ingesting lead is only an issue with kids, adults aren't likely to put paint chips in their mouth. As long as you take precautions to limit [hopefully eliminate] the dust during/after and don't run into any issues with the gov't - I think you'll be fine.

I had to retire about the time the new lead abatement regs came out so I didn't take the mandated classes.