Replies

1. 
   frederic | Nov 12, 2003 05:50pm | #1

   Check with a local paint store, I found Home Depot useless in this department, and they may have a simple test available.  My local store had one $12 CDN. which included two test and they worked beautifully. The kit consisted of a 2" stick which had to be bent in the center to crack an internal vial, then the swab at the end is rubbed on the paint and within second the swab will either stay white if no lead was detected and in my case bright red where great amounts of lead are detected.  As for the accuracy maybe not as reliable in the "no lead present" but at least it confirmed the "lead present" for me which as you are concerned will eliminate removal by grinding or heat options.

   Freddy

2. 
   csnow | Nov 12, 2003 06:59pm | #2

   From what I have read, the self-service kits are reliable for the binary lead vs. no lead distinction.  The concentration of lead varies dramatically, and requires x-ray equipment, or a better chemical test.  Make sure you scrape down to the brick and test all the layers of paint.

   Removing paint from brick is a miserable task.  If it is exterior brick, using a grinder may destroy the hard protective outer layer.  Just something to consider.

1. 
   NormKerr | Nov 12, 2003 08:11pm | #3

   I highly recommend Peel-Away products. They disolve the paint and it is swabbed away with green scrubbies, plastic scrapers and water. I have used it successfully to strip wood moldings in my house and have seen it used to strip the whole facade of a downtown building which had been painted, soft-faced brick (very delicate, old brick).

   The Peel-Away stuff comes in several different grades, but are mostly free of harsh chemicals and work slowly. You brush it on, cover it with their paper covering (to prevent evaporation) and come back after 24 ~ 72 hours (some experimentation is needed, longer is better so long as it does not dry out).

   Wear gloves and scrape it all into a drop cloth and voila, no more paint, lead or not.

   Norm

1. 
   csnow | Nov 12, 2003 09:44pm | #4

   I read somewhere that when you use the 'non-toxic' chemical strippers on brick, you can remove the softened paint gently with a pressure washer instead of a scraper.

   While a pressure washer will certainly remove hardened paint from brick as well, the brick would be destroyed before the paint would give.

   I have only used Peel Away (Types 6 and 7) and some equivalant chemicals on wood.  Works well, but pretty expensive for a big area.  The cost/benefit ratio would likely be better for brick.

3. 
   DavidThomas | Nov 12, 2003 10:53pm | #5

   csnow is right.  The $10 test kits give only yes/no results.  But that is typically enough.  I'll explain below. 

   The standard in housing where children are present is 1.0 mg/square centimeter.  Above that is "lead-based paint" (LBP) and below that is not LBP.  Which means, legally, you don't have to remove 0.9 paint from the double-hung window in a child's room but you do have to remove 1.1 paint from ceiling of the parents room to declare the housing unit LBP-free.  And if that 1.1 paint is being abated then it has to been done by a licensed LBP abatement contractor. 

   Now I will take off by LBP Inspector hat and put on my Lead Risk Assessor hat on (more training involved).  Obviously, in the example above, the less-than-LBP on a friction surface is much more of a risk to the children than the technically-over the-limit LBP that has no identified pathway to human exposure.  And for the worker dry sanding/grinding them both, the lead exposure would very similar.

   And the 1.0 cut-off still can generate a significant case of actue lead posioning to a worker.  NO DRY SANDING.  0.5 could as well.  They had to draw the line somewhere and picked 1.0 for many practical reasons.  But protection of construction workers was not one of the reasons.

   Yes/No results.  On the upper end:  You can find 2 or 3 mg/cm2 on a surface that got a coat of lead-containing paint before 1978.  You can find 25 or 40 mg/cm2 on a window sill of a 1915 Victorian.  10 times the lead, ten times the exposure.  But in either case, workers should not dry sand, should isolate the area from the rest of the house, use HEPA filters, and review state and federal OSHA requirements, etc.

   On the lower end:  By 1978, they'd gotten essentially all the lead out.  Paint will test (by X-ray fluoresence, an $11,000 instrument), at 0.00 or 0.01 to maybe 0.06.  A hundred or thousand times less than old paint.  There's not a lot in between.  Not a lot of 0.2 or 0.8 paint out there.  So the Yes/No results are actually fairly useful.  "No" is good news - work normally.  "Yes" almost certainly means moderate to high concentrations of LBP and, legal condsiderations aside, the right thing to do is protect your workers (and yourself) from the exposure to that lead.

   Press the stapler in your desk.  That tiny little bent staple that comes out, weighing a tiny fraction of a gram?  That much lead (completely absorbed) into your body would kill you.

   $10 test kits, more info:  If you prep all the areas to tested in advance, you can use each tube to dab about 6 areas instead of one.  Giving you more info on more building components for less money.  Ideally, cut through all the paint layers with a razor knife at a shallow angle.  After you dab it, look for the tell-tale pink color with a hand lens.  This can tell you which layer/paint color is the culprit.

   David Thomas   Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska