lead paint - remove or cover?

teresa17603

We just bought an older house that has lead paint and we are doing the remodel ourselves. The question is what would the approximate value difference be between removing the lead paint and just covering over it? If anyone has any good tips about the easiest method of removal when there are 85 years of layered paint involved we would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

Mike Swearingen

Lead-based paint can be a very dangerous brain-damaging substance if inhaled (sanding dust) or consumed (small children eating lead-based paint chips), etc.
Federal law requires all sellers (and landlords) of residential property built prior to 1978 to complete a "Lead-based Paint Or Lead-based Paint Hazard" addendum to be attached to the real estate sales contract. There also is an EPA brochure called "Protect Your Family From Lead In Your Home" that is required to be provided to the buyer at the time of contract by the seller (or more likely, the seller's real estate agent) for all residential property built prior to 1978.
This addendum discloses any testing (results must be provided to prospective buyer) and any knowledge (or not) of lead-based paint by the seller. The seller(s) and their agent, and the buyer(s) must sign this lead-based paint disclosure addendum prior to the purchase agreement.
Additionally, if your state is a "full disclosure" state, such as North Carolina, and requires an itemized "Residential Property Disclosure Statement" to be signed by the seller and provided to the buyer for their signature like the lead-based paint addendum, then any knowledge of lead-based paint is required to be disclosed on it by the seller (and their agent) as well.
Removing lead-based paint safely and disposing of it properly and legally is NOT a DIYer job. It is a rather expensive specialty contractor proposition, which is why it is also legal to "encapsulate" it so to speak by simply painting over it.
My suggestion is to just paint over it with a good quality sealer and paint.
(I am not a professional painter, but I've been a licensed real estate broker for 20 years, and a DIYer for many more years than that.) Any real estate agent should have a copy of the EPA lead brochure, and most will gladly give you one if you don't already have one. The brochure also has contact information (addresses, phone numbers) of Federal agencies about lead-based paint questions.
Good Luck!
Mike

Paintguy26

A real big difference in price. Encapsulating would be less expensive, if the surfaces are in good condition, with no peeling and chipping paint. If they are in bad shape, it's a whole new project. What Mike said is your next step though....

__________________
"The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year". ~ John Foster Dulles

slickshift

There is no easy way to remove it

teresa17603

no hope then i guess - is there a special type of paint that will cover it the best? i would hate to go crazy with the wallpaper. we do have a very detailed lbp disclosure report that tells us exactly where the lead paint is. the good news is that there are only 2 places where paint is peeling in the whole house and that our kids are older and don't chew on anything anymore. i guess we could replace as much as possible. would it be possible to put a compound over the wall, sand that smooth and then paint it? the baseboards at the bottom of the wall and banister still worry me tho.

slickshift

Ask at your local paint shop (not a paint dept.) for the best encapsulator they have available
It will vary by state and availability
A real paint shop will have the best products and the best advice, and those EPA brochures



Just so we are clear on this:
Do not sand, scrape, media blast, use methylene chloride, propane torch or heat gun that operates over 700* F on this stuff

Tmb9862

I stripped all the lead paint off my old windows.
I set up a drop cloth to catch everything.
Then I put on a good cartrage mask, not the throw-aways which I don't think help at all with any kind of dust.
Then I used the silent paint remover (www.silentpaintremover.com) which doesn't get hot enough to burn the lead. I had tried a heatgun and gave up after a couple minutes.
After heating it I just scraped it off. I had to go over a couple times to get 100 years of paint off.
Then I put all the chips in a 5 gallon pail.
When I was done I brushed myself off, went inside, threw my cloths in the wash, removed the mask, and got in the shower.
Then I labeled the pale lead paint and dropped it outside the hazardous waste disposal before they opened to avaid a dangers of lead paint lecture.

Would I do it again fully knowing the dangers of lead paint? Probably not. But I don't think I'm going to get cancer from doing it either.

Mike Swearingen

Tmb9862,
It isn't cancer that you need to worry about so much...it's the permanent brain damage from any lead that you inhale, ingest or absorb in your body when dealing with it.
Mike

Tmb9862

Well the mask prevented most if not all all the inhalation or ingestion. Absorbing is a new one to me. Does that mean I have to worry about lead bullets and fishing weights as well? All that was exposed was part of my face and hands so I don't think that much of that took place (or at least I hope so). I remember that my grandfather had a lead BB in his hand since he was a child (didn't want to admit it to his parents and it healed up fine around it). Perhaps that was what lead to his mental demise.

Like I said I wouldn't recommend it and I wouldn't do it again.