Re: Lead Toxins in Home / LORI

[Guest guest]

Lori,

The lead testors at Home Depot may not be good

enough. You can try them though. Here is some

guidance I learned. Most lead paint has by now

has been painted over with non lead paint and the

little crayons you buy there only test for the

top coat. I used them in this house since the

mental condition of my aunt who lived here and I

took care of I thought seemed like lead poisoning

so I tested surfaces. They tested okay. I was

surprised. I was almost sure she had lead

poisoning.

What happened was earlier levels of paint were

lead. How I got sick from those is that I dry

sanded the woodwork, in some cases down to the

bare wood where cracks in paint were bad and

apparently inhaled lead paint dust. I've read

that is more toxic thing to do than to eat paint

chips. Anyway, that seemed to be straw that

broke my back so to speak.

Old layers of lead paint can't hurt you unless

you disturb them OR paint is cracking and

breaking off creating lead dust in house. They

say to just keep painted surfaces in good

condition. If any windows have lead paint on

them, replace them, since opening and closing

them rubs the painted surfaces and creates lead

dust. That is most likely way to get lead dust

in house is painted with lead paint of them. You

can get them striped and repainted but I found

that to be more expensive than replacing them.

If there is cracked or chipped paint in house,

you may use the crayons there. Cracking paint

can put lead dust into air, so you could look for

someplace you rarely dust, and use crayon on that

old accumulated dust. If you don't have either

of those situations, you are probably okay. Just

keep the paint in good condition.

Another tip I can give you is check the date

house was built. If it is older than certain

date (1970's?). I'm sorry I don't know date but

you can obtain that from lead info sources, than

you could have underlayers of lead. If you want

to know if you have underlayers of lead and live

in older home, do this: test bathroom and

kitchen paint. Use a knife or razor and scrape a

small area down to barewood and then use crayon

testor. This is reason: the most frequent rooms

to have lead paint is kitchen and bathroom. That

is because many houses had wood moldings just

stained, not painted. However even in homes that

wood was stained, generally the kitchen and

bathroom were painted to protect wood from

moisture, so paint in those two areas can be

older than rest of house.

If you live in older home, and have a high

suspicion of lead paint, then call a lead

inspector licensed by your state. They don't do

remediation so they are have no reason to do

anything but give you accurate results. Guy who

came here was really helpful. They have a gadget

that they just press up against painted surfaces

and it indicates presence of lead no matter how

many layers of paint there is. I marked

everything with a small piece of red plastic tape

to remember. It was all of kitchen, and bathroom

and hall banister for some reason, and bathtub

finish also (I had to have bathtub reglazed, cost

about 150.00). He tested more things than he

charged me for. He charged me for everything I

asked him to test and then went around testing a

whole bunch of other things just because he was

enjoying talking I think. I don't remember cost

now, but if you have any reason to be concerned,

that would be best way.

--- Lori Baur <lori@...> wrote:

> Thanks, this is helpful. Interesting you

> mentioned lead. I am wondering now about lead

> as a possibility.

>

> I know they are not perfect but I did buy some

> home testing kits at Home Depot today and I

> also got the lead testing one which I may use.

>

>

[Guest guest]

I mistyped below sentence: I meant to say,

opening and closing of windows with lead paint on

them is most likely way to get lead dust in house

as the movement of window will cause a constant

erosion of paint into fine dust into air, so most

important would be to check windows, particularly

those in kitchen and bathroom areas.

--- bbw <barb1283@...> wrote:

> Lori,

> The lead testors at Home Depot may not be good

> enough. You can try them though. Here is some

> guidance I learned. Most lead paint has by now

> has been painted over with non lead paint and

> the

[Guest guest]

Thanks so much for this information. The test kit for lead I got at Home Depot

was not a crayon thing, it is more like these test strips and you drop water on

it and it is supposed to change colors if it's lead. And it also says on the

test to actually peel off some paint and get multiple colors and layers of paint

like you mentioned.

We haven't done anything in our apartment and I haven't done any work in here,

but it is an old building (1920s) and there are many layers of paint and in some

areas it is chipping, especially around door frames. So I thought maybe I

should just test to rule it out, you know? Certainly my joint pains and other

symptoms would be consistent with possible lead exposure symptoms from what I

understand. I think I'll also ask my doc to test for lead this week in my

blood.

There are areas where the paint may be down to the original paint, so I think

those would be the best places to test. I'll keep in mind everything else you

said. I am not super concerned about it, but since the test was 10 bucks it

seemed it might give me some bit of information.

Thanks so much

Lori

[Guest guest]

newer homes do not have lead based paints

bbw <barb1283@...> wrote: I mistyped

below sentence: I meant to say,

opening and closing of windows with lead paint on

them is most likely way to get lead dust in house

as the movement of window will cause a constant

erosion of paint into fine dust into air, so most

important would be to check windows, particularly

those in kitchen and bathroom areas.

--- bbw <barb1283@...> wrote:

> Lori,

> The lead testors at Home Depot may not be good

> enough. You can try them though. Here is some

> guidance I learned. Most lead paint has by now

> has been painted over with non lead paint and

> the

[Guest guest]

Yes Lori, it sounds like you should test for lead

most certainly and the way you are going to do it

sounds correct.

--- Lori Baur <lori@...> wrote:

> Thanks so much for this information. The test

> kit for lead I got at Home Depot was not a

> crayon thing, it is more like these test strips

> and you drop water on it and it is supposed to

> change colors if it's lead. And it also says

> on the test to actually peel off some paint and

> get multiple colors and layers of paint like

> you mentioned.

>