Lead Paint Removal

[Kieransmom]

Has anyone here removed lead paint from your house? We're going to have to hire a professional because a great deal of the paint in our house and porch is peeling and the lead paint is now exposed.

What steps did you have to go through? Who did you call? I heard we may have to be out of the house for 2 months.

Any stories and info would be a great help. Thanks!

Michelle
Mommy to Kieran, born 5/9/03

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[Marisa6826]

Michelle-

We had our house tested, but didn't have anything that had to be removed. Here is a link for a resource I constantly used when working in Architecture and when running a contractor's office in Hoboken.

Just make sure whoever you get is licensed appropriately. I know from talking to painters about doing the exterior of my house (which needs to be done) that it entails covering the house, using a power washer, collecting the paint chips, etc. NOT an easy task.

Do a search for your state environmental agency and they should be able to help you out.

http://www.thebluebook.com/cl/all2670.htm

Hope that helps!

-m

[JElaineB]

I think the steps you need to go through really vary depending on what state you live in. Each state has different laws on lead abatement. Some states (such as Massachusetts) are very strict and others have no laws at all. So I would agree with Marisa to check with the appropriate state agency. And if you do hire professionals make sure they are appropriately trained and licsenced in lead abatement.

On the other hand, we had lots of peeling paint in our house and I had my DH and FIL remove most of it and repaint when I was pregnant. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that route though! I did stay out of the house while they were doing it and I had them take lots of precautions. Plus we completely replaced our wall-to-wall carpeting when they were done. DS's lead levels have been fine when tested at 6 mon, 1 year and (as far as I know) 2 years (they don't call with good news - so I still have to call them and double check that it was fine).

If you search this forum for "lead paint" you should come up with a few old posts that have more info in them as well.

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[Kieransmom]

Great info...thanks Marisa and Jennifer. The information is SO helpful. Thank you!!!

Michelle
Mommy to Kieran, born 5/9/03

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[C99]

Been there, done that. The biggest piece of advice I have is not to do it in winter! The chemicals they use to take everything out and/or strip and/or seal are really harsh and they smell, smell, smell. And it's hard to really air out your house when it's 30 degrees outside. The other things I would advise are really just to have realistic expectations about how long it will take and how much after clean-up you have to do. Do the research on lead-absolving cleaners, etc. *before* you have the work crew in, and make sure that you use someone who is EPA- and state-certified to do lead abatement work. A lot of the painters/plasterers I talked to tried to tell me that they could do the abatement work in addition to the drywalling and the painting afterward, and I just wasn't comfortable with it. Also, if you can, try to anticipate what other problems you might have as a result of the work (electrical, plumbing, etc.) and expect something to go wrong. The big problem we had was that our walls don't have firebreaks in them (the house was built in 1905) and when they ripped out the walls, a portion of the debris fell down into the basement. So we had to have the work guys out again to clean it up when we discovered the mess. Also, pad the days a bit. Our abatement crew quoted us 2 days. It took nearly 3 with the debris clean-up and we ended up spending an extra $300 because the tester we had booked to do a clearance on the abatement work had to come back twice before he could actually test.

We our house tested for lead paint and about half of our house came up "hot." Some of the walls were in good condition (bedrooms), so we just had them sealed with a lead-encapsulating paint. It really only took a day or two. However, our front hall, stairwell and upstairs hall walls were all in really bad condition and the lead abatement guy I used told me that they couldn't be stripped -- it was either slap yet another coat of paint on everything or have the plaster walls removed and replaced with drywall. We had the work done in January of last year. We were expecting to be out of our house for a week, but it was really 2 weeks and probably should have been closer to 3.

If you do a search on lead paint in this forum, you'll find lots of good advice about having lead paint work done, etc.

[Kieransmom]

Thanks for that heads up, Caroline. We were actually thinking about doing it come January but I think we're going to wait. It's cold in here as it is. :-)

Michelle
Mommy to Kieran, born 5/9/03

http://lilypie.com/baby2/030509/1/5/0/+10/.png[/img][/url]

[Lenox12]

We had most of the lead paint remove from the wood work and doors in our house. We were out of the house the whole time it was done. We did hire a professional that my MIL recommended. He use chemical stripper at first, then he got lazy and started sanding it (which every thing I have read says that is a huge hazard.) Before we moved back in we had the house professionally cleaned twice.

I hope that helps.

Ann
Mom to Emma
10-03