EXPERT ADVICE
Maxwell: Take care with lead-based paint
February 6, 2010
Steve Maxwell
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
You don't have to look back far to see just how easy it is to underestimate environmental hazards, especially when it comes to lead.
When my great grandfather was building houses in Port Credit in the 1920s, he kneaded white lead paste into paint with his fingers.
When I was a boy in the '60s and '70s, every vehicle spewed visible, lead-laden exhaust out of tailpipes.
When my kids were born in the '90s, people began talking about how harmful lead-glazed ceramics were on plates, bowls and cups.
The reason behind our increasing concern for lead is not because we're getting paranoid, but because harmful environmental realities take time – sometimes generations of time – to fully understand. This is why home renovation professionals are getting involved in the lead awareness movement in new ways right now.
On April 22, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations will take effect requiring home renovation professionals to have passed an eight-hour training course in dealing safely with lead whenever they work on homes built before 1978. That's the year when lead paint was outlawed, removing the main source of new lead in houses across the U.S. and our own country.
Canada has been consistently slower than the U.S. in takingsteps toward ensuring that lead is dealt with safely, and the upcoming American regulations are a case in point. Currently there are no Canadian laws requiring home renovators be trained in safe lead handling practices, and from what I've seen there's also very little professional understanding of the subject.
Even tiny amounts of lead cause irreversible neurological disorders in children as well as joint pain, muscular problems and hypertension in adults. But until our government legislates lead-awareness requirements for renovation professionals, you'll need to be your own watchdog.
Besides toxicity, lead is dangerous because it's so easy to ingest. Lead-based paint particles invariably hitch a ride on all that airborne dust that's a part of every home renovation, and from there it's just a quick trip into your lungs, your bloodstream and your life.
There are three main practices required for safely dealing with lead in renovations involving older homes, and though none is technically complicated, prepare yourself to be assertive to make them happen on your project. The friends I know in the trade are rough, tough, invincible builders who don't appreciate being slowed down by all the latest, newfangled safety precautions. They're productivity-minded, which is good, though sometimes productivity is not the only crucial issue.
Lead-safe practices need to be followed whenever surfaces coated in lead paint are involved. Whether you're tearing down lead walls or ceilings, cutting through them or simply prepping for paint, the work area needs to be physically contained with curtains of heavy plastic, sealed to surrounding ceiling and wall surfaces with tape.
Tarps are available with zippered entry points especially for this purpose. Also, all operations involving scraping or sanding off lead-based paint must be done with the surface wet, either by spritzing with water or with a chemical stripper formulated for safe use indoors. Traditional methylene chloride paint strippers do prevent lead dust from entering the air, but it's not possible to use them safely indoors. Even an open window does not provide enough ventilation. Citrus-based strippers are much safer, and they stay wet longer.
Clean up after each day using a work site vac fitted with an HEPA filter, then again at the end of the job. Mop down with lots of water, too. Any scrapings or collected dust must be disposed of as hazardous waste.
It's not reasonable to expect the government to safeguard our well-being in every situation under the sun. Even with the best of intentions, big brother isn't nimble enough to eliminate the need for our own diligence and personal responsibility. When it comes to lead hazards in renovation projects, the day will probably come when tradespeople will be required to have training. Until then, you now know that care is crucial.
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Steve Maxwell, technical editor of Canadian Home Workshop, runs Saturdays in New in Homes & Condos.
Toronto Star