Mustachian Lead Paint Removal

[DreamingofFreedom]

I recently became a property owner, and I am just thrilled with the decision.  But one of my longer-term projects is to strip all of the trim around all of my windows.  It's beautiful wood with distinctive carvings.  The paint on the trim tested positive for lead using a home test kit.

My question is - should I hire a professional?  My skill level is very low, but I am persistent and willing to work hard.  My worry is that if I do it myself, I might make mistakes or do it in a way that would compromise my health.  Since I need to stay healthy to enjoy my post-retirement life, that's not a risk I want to take.

So- spend the money on the labor of someone who knows how to strip the lead?  Or spend my next few months of weekends carefully stripping myself?

[AnonymousCoward]

What Home Owners Need to Know About Removing Lead-Based Paint, from the New York State Department of Health.

[smbucky]

We bought a 100 yr old house last October and after doing massive amounts of research I ended up buying a speedheater.  http://www.speedheater.us/  It is supposed to be less likely to vaporize the lead in the paint compared to heat guns that can get a lot hotter and the paint scrapes up in big flakes and sheets instead of being turned into dust like scraping it dry.  You still need to wear a ventilator because it gives off a pretty strong burny paint smell.  The ones with the replaceable pink filters are pretty great.

We used ours to strip about 400 square feet of painted wood floor and also our stairs.  We'll also be using it to strip windows, porch floor, and parts of exterior so we'll definitely get our moneys worth.

It's an expensive tool but I would think it would cost fraction of hiring it done and could probably be sold to get most of your money back after you're done.  Start getting quotes and see!

Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll help if I can.

[velocistar237]

Get some contractor bids to help you decide.

I think you can do it yourself safely. Stripping paint is a pain, and following lead abatement safety guidelines won't add that much more pain.

This DIY Infrared Paint Remover costs less than Speedheater and doesn't look too difficult to make or use.

Test the wood itself after paint removal. It's possible that some lead will remain, and sanding the wood will release it as dust, which is what you care most about preventing. If so, then follow lead removal safety procedures until you finish sanding.

If you contain the dust and wear a respirator, and afterward you vacuum for dust frequently and maintain calcium and iron intake, you should be fine. Are there kids in the house? It matters more for them.

Let us know what you decide. The paint on my trim is in bad shape, so I'll be thinking about this sometime in the future.

[ultrarunner]

Unless the paint is in bad shape (cracked and peeling), just paint over it and go on.  Lead paint is harmless if it's stable and you're not chewing on your moldings.  :-)

[velocistar237]

Agreed. Intact lead paint almost never causes lead poisoning. The OP says they want unpainted wood because of the carvings, though. In my case, our paint is in bad shape, with tiny bubbles all over the place, though I haven't tested it for lead, yet.

[ultrarunner]

Agreed. Intact lead paint almost never causes lead poisoning. The OP says they want unpainted wood because of the carvings, though. In my case, our paint is in bad shape, with tiny bubbles all over the place, though I haven't tested it for lead, yet.

Ah, thanks.  I misread that as the OP just wanted to keep the moldings because they were distinct, not as finished wood vs painted wood.  I guess the paint has to come off then. :-)

[kisserofsinners]

2nd call for updates. I have an old house and wan to get to the wood, too. :)

[Mynameisnotfluffydude]

I used a heat gun, LOTS of Jasco, and then sanding the bejesus out of the wood to strip all the crown, door and base moldings in our house.  It took me a month to do each room, but it was well worth the effort to unearth all that gorgeous wood!  My neighbor has the infrared light stripper, but it just didn't work as well as the heat gun/jasco combination for my 10 or so layers of lead paint.  It was weird to see the different layers come off.  I felt like an archaeologist seeing the 'fashionable' paint colors going back through 100 years of time.  I also stripped the 30+ doors in the house (and redid the lites with itty-bitty wood moldings instead of glazing them).  I could NEVER have found a crew that would do the work as lovingly and painstakingly as I did.  That year when people asked what I did for a living, I said: "I'm a Stripper".  DH found this very amusing.

Please be sure to wear protective gloves and a respirator when doing this kind of work, and keep all children and animals away from any lead paint chips.  Happy stripping!

[Dynasty]

We bought a 100 yr old house last October and after doing massive amounts of research I ended up buying a speedheater.  http://www.speedheater.us/ 

I have one of these and have used it extensively, and still have more extensive use of it left. I highly recommend it.

Of course, to fully prepare the wood for new paint, it is a pretty good idea to go over the scraped surface with some 60 grit paper. And that will generate some lead dust. Hence, the mask.

For outside stuff after the wood is prepped, I'll apply a penetrating wood resin epoxy. This sticks to wood better than paint, and paint sticks to the resin better than wood. Plus it restores resins to the wood to help it resist rot and decay, and is a strong water proofer. All of which will make the new paint job last a lot longer.

PM me for details.

Additioinally, I use a two setting heat gun on the low setting to get into corners or other areas the speedheater is too cumbersome to use.

As a caution, many a house fire has been caused by using heat to remove paint.

Last but not least, invest in a set of some good paint scrapers. This will make your paint scraping life easier.

[Greg]

The best thing would be to remove the trim (label the parts' locations on the back) and work on it in your garage or shop, observing the EPA's lead-safe renovation guidelines.  This will give you the best results for a number of reasons; less interior contamination, ease of working on the trim parts, ease of cleanup, etc.

[DreamingofFreedom]

I realize this update was long time in coming, but here goes.

The goal of removal is to get to finished natural woodwork, so painting was never on the table. 

In the end, I got multiple bids on different parts of the job.  I'm starting with half of my house.  I hired out one quarter and I am working hard on the other quarter.  I chose which quarter to hire out based on how many layers of lead paint I thought there were (using my home lead test kits).

I haven't died yet, so I suppose I am not messing anything up too badly.  My method is to use a chemical stripper (Soygel), then a high quality scraper, then a couple different grades of sandpaper + dental picks for detail work.  It is slow, slow going.  Luckily, I am really stubborn.

To deal with the lead, I chose a stripper that supposedly helps encapsulate the lead dust.  I vacuum up scrapings right away with a good vacuum dedicated to this project.  I wear a lead paint-specific mask.  And I also will sometimes wipe down the wood with a barely damp rag, because my reading says that this helps prevent getting the dust into the air in the first place.

Given the price of the contract on half of the work, I am glad I am tackling some of it myself.  But this is a really, really big project that will likely be going on for many years to come.

[Greg]

Nice to hear it's going well.

About your vacuum, unless it's specifically a HEPA system designed for preventing things like lead dust from passing through, you might be causing an unforseen problem.  My HEPA vacuum has a bag+canister filter+rubber seal on bag/filter cavity for just this reason.  The links about to lead-safe renovation practices are important, so I hope you're following most of them.

The EPA takes this pretty seriously, and contractors like myself have to undergo training about it.  Some of it seems silly, but some of it is very important.  Hopefully your contractor is lead-safe renovation certified as well.

[DreamingofFreedom]

Yep, I am using the type of vacuum approved for lead dust.  I am following most of the EPA guidelines.  I can't say I am following all of them. 

[Greg]

I think they design them with that in mind, so if you follow most of them you're doing pretty well.