Lead Paint survey

[MiniMum97]

Anyone had this done? How much did it cost? What's the process? Any recommendations in the Sussex area?
I have seen home testing kits available but reviews seem to indicate they are not very reliable. Seems a bit pointless if you can't rely on the result!
Thank you!

Bump! Anyone?

never done it

IIRC you send off paint chips to someone who drops them in a test tube of some chemical that changes colour in the presence of lead

you can buy a kit which is probably the same chemical.

What are you looking to do? Refurbish old windows? Refurbish whole house? Strip paint throughout a house?

Lead paint as you'll know if you're thinking about a survey, is a huge health risk.

I'm a HSE Inspector, and have never seen a lead survey, but can certainly give you my experience relating to other types of specific surveys and my experience of lead, lead paint and related health issues.

Watching with interest, have also looked into this and got nowhere.

Repainting whole 1950s house.

Refurbish while house built in 1890s. Part of house is an extension done in 80s I believe. There doesn't appear to be layers and layers of paint anywhere so there is a possibility all the lead paint has already been removed. Don't really want to treat all paint as lead paint unless we have to!

Home test kits are apparently unreliable.

So lead was commonly in paint up until the 60s. PigletJohn rightly refers to tests you can arrange yourself, and you could do your own survey if you were so minded.

Walk into a room. I'm sat in my living room for example so I'll use this as my muse! Look around - what is painted? The window frames, window ledges, skirting boards, radiator, staircase, stair noses, bannisters, mantlepiece, door frames. Each one of those would need to be drawn on a diagram, a sample taken and I'd recommen it's marked on the diagram and a list kept of the samples so it can be cross checked later on to see what's positive and what's negative.

Do that for each room and each hallway / hall / lean to etc unless its a new section constructed after the 1960s. Don't forget to check under carpets if you're pulling it up and sanding the boards, as this may have had the edges painted, including on stairs.

If you're refurbishing, are you ripping things out? Are you doing the work yourself or do you have a Principal Contractor appointed under CDM? Have you had an asbestos survey done? Are the windows protected under heritage?

Thanks for tips. Doing work ourselves. No asbestos survey, do we need this as well? Full structural survey did not highlight anything they thought might be asbestos (although they always cover themselves saying you should get one to be sure).

Windows are wooden but not protected (not in a conservation area or listed)

Structural survey - ask your surveyor whether they considered asbestos as part of it. In my experience, they rarely do. You will therefore need to look at a refurbishment and demolition survey if you're disturbing the fabric of the building.

Asbestos may be in all sorts of unexpected locations - black toilet seats / cisterns, insulating board, window seals, you name it: www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/building.htm

If you're unfamiliar with some construction health and safety-related risks, maybe sit down with a cuppa and have a browse of some of the topics here:
www.hse.gov.uk/construction/healthrisks/index.htm.

If you're doing it all yourselves, you have no legal duty to comply (most of) with the law as such, however given you're asking about lead, you've clearly got a heads up! If you bring anyone in to work for you, you want to be in as strong a position as you can anyway to be informed about the work to make sure they dont expose you to anything unsavoury either.

@PigletJohn Who is IIRC? I've googled it and it's just coming up with the International Integrated Reporting Council. I don't think this is who you mean!

I think he means "if I recall correctly".

@MotorcycleMayhem Thanks for this. I will have a proper look at that later. I am very conscious of toxins generally and v worried about my mainly DH doing DIY at home. We were much less aware in our last property and had a v likely run in with asbestos and lead paint. I have a chronic health condition and am keen to reduce exposure in our current property.
I already make my DH wear a full face mask with filters that filter dust and VOCs. We also have a DIY hoover with a hepa filter that tools can be attached to.
We are having a back door replaced v soon, it doesn't say this is an asbestos risk in the link you mention, but is there anything we need to be aware of.

I think he means "if I recall correctly".

Oh. Oops!

Is the hoover an M class vacuum? HEPA filters are great, but if they are popped onto a Henry Hoover, they wont do much as the filters aren't up to the task. M class or even H class is what is used in construction if that helps.

Check your DHs filters are replaced at appropriate times. They should be a P3 or FFP3 standard for most construction dusts, including asbestos fibres. For the VOCs, I'd have to look up the protection so be sure that the cartridges are fit for the purposes you want.

For your back door, chances are there will be no asbestos issues - it's usually visible as a loose insulation if it's present at all. Either a fibrous board or a fibrous wool. Any idea of age of the existing installation?

Sorry, should clarify, M class and H class have different uses.

It's a DIY hoover designed to be used with power tools and as a hoover for diy rubbish. Can also be used wet too. It has dual hepa filtration. So not just a hepa filter bunged on a normal hoover but not as good as the ones used in construction industry I suspect. My husband thought it seemed good when he last used it for sanding - there was much less dust than normal.

I can't remember the exact cartridges but DH knows when to change them (I can't remember the details but I know he looked it up) and they protect from both dust and vocs. I think it may be an A2-P3 filter.

No idea if the age of the door. House was extended twice. Once in the 80s and once some time before then. Door is on the older extension part. Can't see any obvious asbestos fibre. I've had two carpenters round and neither of them have mentioned noticeable asbestos.

Thanks for the advice on this.