Lead paint detected - what to do

[McCheck]

I was about to strip off some paint on woodwork with a heat gun but luckily tested for lead (at home kit). It detected lead in one of the layers of paint straight away. Has anyone got experience with this? Do I need an expert in to remove the lead?

Also, is there lead in the dark oily, transparent paint that's on Victorian floorboards? I think that is bitumen. If there's lead in there then I've sanded it off recently. Feeling alarmed.

No need to feel alarmed 🙂. The paint can be safely removed with some clingstrip which can be ordered online from strippers of Sudbury. The stuff on the floor is unlikely to have lead in but you should always wear a mask when sanding and have all the windows open if you can.

Do you have young children? We had lead paint but weren't living in the house and the builders were removing the cupboards and the architraves that the lead was on for the most part.

We got someone to strip the lead coated front door and paint over it. We painted over some woodwork that we were keeping, as apparently it's safe if encapsulated and kept in good condition.

I'm sorry to say we did have lead on our floorboards, but we covered them over. Staircase also. Maybe get a decent hepa air filter and run it for a while. We did after we moved back in

Thanks for reassuring me @Geneticsbunny You sound like you've got experience with renovating. I'm not sure I'm up for stripping that paint off with a chemical. Still a bit sad I don't get to use my heat gun.

I have two options don't you think? Either get someone to remove the lead paint or paint over it to encapsulate it.

Those home tests are famously unreliable, just so you know

You’re joking? On the black stuff?? We sanded ours ourselves and still have a bit it the corners we couldn’t sand off and have had exposed floorboards for at least ten years!! I’m worried now.

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 kids are teens. I'd like to know what you did and just get someone to remove the stuff. Good you got your floors covered.

I googled HEPA air filter, is that a brand? Which one did you use, there's so many.

I have to say that we sanded the top of a door too damn. I tried swab tests in different locations but so hard to read them IMO.

For false positives or for not picking it up? What’s the reliable alternative?

Does it need stripping? Most Victorian wood was painted and never meant to be bare. You can sand and repaint. Hover well and damp dust.
Lead paint is a bit of a non problem unless you are earing it or removing it as a job.
The black stain on floorboards is probably Darkaline. It would be much better for the boards if you scraped it off (hoover and damp dust) the scrub with sugar soap and treat with a turps and beeswax solution.

Klingstrip!

Have a Google and find YouTube. Also Manwithhammer on instagram. Lots of satisfying videos of slathering it on, leaving it to meld for a bit, and then gently removing the resulting paste to reveal bare woodwork that can be sanded and repainted to reveal the features underneath

@YellowHatt we have the same some sticky oily bitumen still on floorboards in corners. I've run a test on this floor paint. The 3 sticks in the middle have been run along that dark paint. The stick on the very right was the one that gave a clear purple colour instantly indicating presence of lead (that was on the window paint I wanted to strip).

Apologies I didn't do the test perfectly, there's dirt on the sticks and the light the photo was taken in isn't brilliant. I copied in the manufacturers instructions: mustard yellow = no lead, purple = lead.

The sticks I used were from amazon at £1 each. So the cheapest I could find. The suspected lead paint layer came out purple immediately so I noticed a difference in reaction between the materials. Some stayed yellow and some turned I bit pink after an hour :(

Alternative I could find and MIGHT do is

• get a more pro test (although the window guy I spoke to today said the tests are usually reliable and they all do the same thing
• or the next step up is to get them lab tested. I found this when I was reading through amazon reviews https://shop.envirochem.co.uk
• and the last step is getting someone to your home and take samples

What did you do instead?

I think 3M ones are better but still not perfect. It's known that they react with other random substances so can give false positives, and also they're not quantitative so there's no way of knowing whether you're dealing with ppm lead as opposed to a high %

yes. The Window guy who's been doing this for years said the recommendation is to not disturb it and just paint it over.

Tell me more about Darkaline please. We have a timber floor which had a sticky, oily, tricky to sand off paint that I assumed to be bitumen. It wasn't painted in the middle (presumably where the rug was).

We have this paint (Drakaline?) laying bare currently in one bedroom...

3M is discontinued unfortunately. Yeas, I might be wasting my time I think as you're right, they won't tell me much. I'm just going to assume there's lead in the base layer of paint and encapsulate it.

Check out the Klingstrip though ☺️ the safest way to strip it if that's what you want to do

klingstrip is like a paste. It's very easy to use. If you want to paint over it, you will need to lightly sand it to get the paint to stick, which I could dislodge some lead paint.

You can get a decorator to remove it but it will be easier to do the kingstrip yourself because it needs to stay in place for a few days to work properly.

@YellowHatt we had lead paint and some asbestos in some of the bitumen on our flooring. I think the asbestos was where someone later on had tried to put some different flooring over it maybe as it was on top. We had a renovation survey and then professionals came to remove and air test it. I think the lead paint was on bits that had been painted around the edges of the room and the staircase steps and spindles were painted with a white lead paint

@neverwakeasleepingbaby @Geneticsbunny okayyyy warming up to the Klingstrip I assumed it to be drooping all over the place. A paste sounds straightforward.

The videos of people peeling it off are sooo satisfying. Potential rabbit hole to fall down watching them 😅

www.instagram.com/reel/C-ev8utKJaG/?igsh=bzJ0d2twdnk4cHgw