Lead paint concern?

So I bought this old door. One side was stained and the other side was painted white. I started sanding it in my garage with an orbital sander. I wore a respirator and left the garage door open while I sanded. I totally forgot about lead paint but I always wear my respirator any time I sand. so I bought some testers and sure enough it had lead. My concern is the rest of the stuff in the garage, or how concerned should I be? The kids bikes and a couple strollers are out there and I can see dust got on them. The whole process has been really dusty in the garage. Is this something I shouldn't really be concerned about and just be wiped clean? Is it okay to keep sanding like this? Most of the paint is off now. It's not like it's in my house where we are all the time. Please let me know what you think? Thanks

 

I'm no expert. But I think if you just wet wipe every surface clean, you'll be fine. Lead poisoning happens if you ingest the material. So long as the dust particles are not air borne no harm is done. I'm not minimizing the hazards of lead paint, but for many years people lived with lead painted surfaces and no harm was done. As long as the surface was not compromised or able to be removed easily (like chips) you're safe.

 

Thanks for the peace of mind. I was thinking the same thing. I just took some Clorox wipes to clean stuff off, I still have a couple more fill and sand layers to do so I will wait until the end to clean more thorough

 

I'm sorry, but I would not have piece of mind.
I'm certified with EPA and CA in lead. Lead is most dangerous to infants and toddlers.
You don't have to panic, but stop creating dust immediately.
Take anything you can lift outside and do a water washdown. Mop the garage.
A HEPA vacuum can be used, but don't trust it totally.

Since you said there's a lot of dust, I consider this a serious matter with children around.

 

Huh. What a totally different response. I don't understand how many parents and grand parents are still alive. My grandpa is 75 and worked in remodeling his whole life... I will definitely clean more thoroughly then I thought though. So how do I sand it then?

 

Here is a link to the EPA pamphlet "protecting your family...." Please read it.
You can have lead in your home, but you cannot create dust or have flaking paint, zero disturbance.

What you are doing is dangerous to your kids and I am requesting this thread be closed.

https://www.epa.gov/lead/protect-you...lead-your-home

The best thing you can do is stop now and clean your house the best you ever have.

 

Wow. Sorry I offended you. You act like I just did it on purpose. And to be clear why would I clean my home? It's out in my garage. Also the door wasn't taken from my house. It was bought from a craft store to match the look of my other doors in my house. ( but I'm sure you knew that already) Also all my trim and doors were painted in early 2000's by the previous owners. Done by professional painters. I have done lead checks on the other trim and doors in my house as they are next on the list to renovate. As much as I appreciate everyone's opinion on my question, the way you handled it was more than unnecessary.

I can't believe how many times in my life I have spent time on forums but have never once encountered something like this. Instead of just being negative about a problem or question you should try to be positive and post solutions. Enjoy your day and your negative lifestyle. Hope you don't always try and ruin good forums.

 

You didn't offend me, it sounds like I offended you and didn't mean to.
Please read the brochure, you can make your own determination on how to proceed.
The brochure should convince you lead is dangerous to children, so just clean the strollers and everything in the garage really good.

 

The 2 biggest dangers with lead paint is ingesting the chips and/or inhaling the dust. Children are more susceptible to health problems than adults. What is done is done, you do need to thoroughly clean the garage! before the kids go out there. You should also make sure no dust drifted or got tracked into the house.

 

The side of every paint can advises you not to sand paint. Pretty basic stuff.

I can back up everything Handyone said, having also completed the EPA lead course myself... and I have to say friend, that you are the one that is getting bent out of shape about this.

You are right to be concerned, which i think is why you asked in the first place... sorry if you think anyone is over reacting, but there are obviously a lot of things all of us don't know and each of us need to be honest with ourselves and admit there might just be a few things we could learn. Seems like that was the original question... that we should say what we think, not just pat you on the back and say what you want to hear.

The lead paint course has about 300 pages worth of stuff to process. One of the things it covers is not tracking the contaminates into other parts of the house... not using your household vacuum (or any other non-hepa vacuum) in cleaning... another is not washing your contaminated clothes in the same load as your childrens... another is testing after you have "cleaned", and if it still tests positive, clean it again. The list of precautions goes on and on. I'm not coming down on you, (Handyone didn't seem like he was either) but there is a way to work safely with lead paint... and then there are unsafe ways.

Maybe check out the EPA site on this topic.

https://www.epa.gov/lead/renovation-...it-yourselfers

 

kallas,

If Brian was coming down on anyone it may have been aimed at me. Even though I stated I was no expert I gave advise that cleaning was necessary, but I did not say extensive cleaning was necessary. As the others have stated, extensive cleaning is always better and adheres to the rules and guidelines of EPA.

Brian is one of the experts of this forum and his advise is always to the letter of the "law". He is a professional and knows his stuff. If you're in doubt, always listen to the pros on this forum. I have never known him to get nasty or intend insult to a question. He just gives straight forward answers.

Give him some slack and be assured it was not directed at you.

I'll take one last stab at this. Of course the advise of Brian and the others is very good. If you don't have young children, and you're sure you have not tracked the dust into the house and your clothes are washed separately then a good cleaning of the garage should be OK. But you have been warned.

BTW...the pros here will only give advised based on national codes and rules and/or guidelines. And if anybody here is not an expert they will and should state as such.

Good luck.

 

I replied earlier but it doesn't look like it went through so I'll try to repost what I said.

First off I wanted to apologize for my earlier post. I was just really frustrated with my bone head mistake. I also have GAD so I immediately freaked out about it. So I am sorry for what I said and I do appreciate all the feedback everyone supplied.

So I finally got around to cleaning out the garage this morning. It has been on lock down since I started sanding.

I hand wiped everything in the garage with disinfecting wipes. I then brought everything I could outside in the driveway and hosed it all off about 3 times. Then once everything was out of the garage I hosed that down about 3 times and squeegeed the water.

I didn't see any dust on anything while I was putting it all back in the garage. Is this good enough then? Or is there something else I have to do?

Also, what do I do with the door now? I still want to finish it but it now has some paint on it yet, wood filler and it's half sanded... Any advice would be great.

After all the stress I finally learned something I will never forget. Never sand lead paint.... Wish I would have known before I started, what a mess. Also once again, sorry for how I reacted earlier, stress takes over sometimes.

Thanks

 

If you post a pic or two of the door we will be better able to advise on your next move.

Normally lead paint is dealt with in one of two ways, encapsulation where you cover the lead paint with fresh non lead paint or using a chemical stripper to remove the lead coating. Care must still be used with disposing the lead waste but there won't be any lead dust floating around.

 

Hey everyone. Here is a link to the pictures I took. The door is really close to being ready for paint. I just have a little wood putty on the sides that have to be taken off. How do I go about moving forward then? Can I just be really careful and scrape that and wet sand a little?

You can see the one side is the problem side where it had that bit of lead paint I already sanded. And finally cleaned up.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ultqshwwns..._2076.JPG?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/trk42x1ov3..._2077.JPG?dl=0

Then can I just paint over it with a couple coats of latex primer then a couple coats of latex paint and be good as it pertains to the lead underneath? Or do I need some special primer or something?

Thanks~!

 

Latex primer should be ok although an oil base primer would be better. I normally don't apply multiple coats of primer but for this door I'd apply 2 coats, then sand lightly and proceed with your top coats.

 

Sounds good. Thank you for your help. I am excited to get this door in.