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Thirty to forty years
ago, lead-based paints were the norm. It goes without saying (but I'm going to
say it anyways) that if your house is more than thirty years old, there's a good
chance that it's caked in lead paint. If you are the original owner of your
home, there's a good chance you already know whether the paint on your home's
exterior is lead-based or not. If you don't know, or if you live in a home
that's had former occupants and owners, and you are thinking about giving your
home a new exterior paint joby, be certain to verify if your current paint
coating is toxic or not.
Indeed, lead paint is toxic
paint. It's widely known that even in the smallest amounts, ingested lead can
cause irreversible damaging effects on organs and the brain. Lead is also very
toxic to the environment. In fact, lead paint must be disposed according to
toxic waste disposal.
That being said, before you
start stripping and scraping old paint from the exterior of your home, purchase
a lead test kit and be sure to put each layer of paint that has ever been
lathered on your home under the microscope (Well, lead test kits aren't actual
microscopes per say, but you know what I mean!).
If you happen to find out that
you are in fact dealing with lead-based paint, do the following to safely remove
it.
First off, you've got to get
yourself prepped. Always wear a respirator when removing lead paint. Nope, a
dust mask won't cut it. Eye protection, disposable clothing and gloves should be
worn at all times as well. If you are working outdoors on the exterior of your
home, place drop sheets (plastic or otherwise) on the ground to catch paint
chips and prevent them from contaminating the soil.
Alright, now that you have
everything prepped, it's time to start removing the lead paint. Warning: Do not
ever use sanders or open flame heat guns to remove lead-based paint. An open
flame will get the paint too hot and cause lead to vaporize. If you need to
soften the paint for easy scraping and removal, opt for either electric heat
guns or the most safest of all - an infrared paint stripper. After the paint has
been softened, simply scrape it off and dispose of it as toxic waste at your
nearest disposal facility. Call you local sanitation department to find out
where the nearest disposal facility is.
When it comes time to sand the
surface before putting on a new coat of paint, remember to wear your respirator,
eye protection and gloves. Lead residue may still be present. Lastly, and just
as important to your health and well being, is to use a soy-based or low VOC
paint for the new coat. VOC's are volatile organic compounds, which most typical
paints contain in high amount. The best low VOC paint we've come across is
SafeCoat.
It's not only safer and minus toxic chemicals, SafeCoat does not
contain extenders, drying agents, formaldehyde, mildewcides and fungicides. Furthermore, because of its higher resin content, the finish is of better
quality and more durable. SafeCoat is not always easy to find in stores
(depending where you live), which is why the green superstore website,
GreenNest,
is a Godsend. They offer a good selection of SafeCoat paints in their green home
building supplies store.
Author: Ry
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