# LEAD PAINT A REAL DANGER



## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Recently I came across a post about a child sanding a piece of furniture ,my first thought was how cute it was see a littleone sanding, then my second thought was I wonder if that furniture has lead paint on it. As a contractor of 26 years and even as a home renovator before my contracting years, I've done many jobs that involved scraping or sanding paint. I've heard many times over the years how lead paint is a problem but I thought it was grossly over stated,after all I'm in my 60s and I survived many years of scraping paint that had to be lead based paint. 
As a contractor I'm required to take some continuing education to maintain my contracting licence and one year just to get the credits necessary for my licence I took a on line course on lead paint. After taking that course I was very surprised to find how dangerous lead paint can be and how easy it is to contaminate any area your working in long term.
I was also surprised to see that removal of lead paint has to be treated in a very similar manner as asbestos,involving hazmat suites,multiply tarping and negative air pressure units . 
Lead paint is a very serious health problem particularly for children and pregnant woman. So even if your working away from home on jobs that involve lead paint it is very easy to bring it home on your clothing and shoes and contaminate your home potentially having dire affects on your children or grand children. It takes a very small amount of lead to cause health problems.

PLEASE keep this in mind when working on your home,on the job or evening refinishing furniture.

Here is some information on lead paint.

http://www.cpsc.gov/PageFiles/121915/renovateright.pdf


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## johnstoneb (Jun 14, 2012)

Thanks Jim. 
With all the publicity obout lead paint in old houses you don't think about all the furniture and other items that were painted with lead at the same time.


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## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

I can imagine that the crib I CHEWED on as a baby probably had lead paint


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## freddy1962 (Feb 27, 2014)

Good thing to bring up Jim. Pretty much all antique furniture has lead paint on it.


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## littlecope (Oct 23, 2008)

Good Warnings Jim!
It's my understanding, that Lead was added (especially to House Paint) to keep Mold from growing on siding, it kills any Mold that tries to make a home on it…
Unfortunately, it can kill anything that ingests or inhales too much of it…
The up-side is, if you leave it alone, it won't hurt you!


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

Lead paint isn't that big a deal. Do what I do, go take a IQ test twice. For example, I scored sixty-five both times. Sixty-five and sixty-five is a hundred thirty, which puts me about or above average (when you consider certain voters).


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## mojapitt (Dec 31, 2011)

Easy to forget. Thanks for the reminder.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Thanks guys for responding ,I noticed a lot more views than responses as is normal, but that was my whole point in posting this is to remind folks or inform them if they were not aware of the dangers involved.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

Good reminder Jim. I can remember the old lead paint which was used on just about everything painted at one time. The worst thing for me was working around both lead paint and asbestos, something we had a lot of on ships in 1957 when I went into the Navy. I can imagine that the worst effect was probably caused by babies chewing on their cribs, as mentioned by Joe.

My exposure to lead in the Navy has caused me to make many mistakes on my woodworking projects even though most believe it's just a lack of skill on my part.


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## bold1 (May 5, 2013)

A good reminder. Most of us grew up with lead paint and don't think about it since it doesn't really cause adults a problem unless it's in massive or long term low doses. But children and fetus's are very quickly affected. Makes a fellow wonder how many children were sickened or died years ago, without the parents having a clue.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Wow Mike you really had more than your share of toxins .lot's of folks think you have to chew on lead base paints for it affect you but from what I've read it can be transferred through touch of inhaling its partials.

bold1
It does make you wonder ,it also can cause brain damage in youngsters.


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## SCOTSMAN (Aug 1, 2008)

Thanks JIM as always.This ! I have learned over the years is why many of the Roman emperors became mad they used lead for eating off plates etc and after many years it did so much brain damage to many many people. Alistair


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Your right Alistair in fact they used lead pipes for their water supply.


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## Yonak (Mar 27, 2014)

"My exposure to lead in the Navy has caused me to make many mistakes on my woodworking projects …."

Excellent, stefang ! I never thought of that one. Do you mind if I use it next time I screw up bad in my shop ? I'm thinking it could come in handy next time I forget our anniversary, too.


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## littlecope (Oct 23, 2008)

The Romans used Lead for their Water Conduits too Alistair… It was (and is) easily worked and never rusts… 
On the Periodic Table, Lead is abbreviated Pb, from the Latin Plumbum (hence, the modern Plumbing)

Edit: Oops! Jim beat me to it!


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## Dark_Lightning (Nov 20, 2009)

The Romans also stored some wine in lead vessels. That acidity would have readily leached the lead into solution. Lead isn't really all that soluble in water, though I still wouldn't use it for a liquid vessel I would drink from. I too was in the US Navy, so have the asbestos and red lead paint deal going on. Also, I worked as a mechanic for many years. I'd have to say that I've easily done over 2000 brake jobs. There's some asbestos for you, but dust from worn brake shoes isn't actually the fibrous part you have to worry about.

Mercury is another toxin a lot of people don't think about (except for that found in fish). I put an addition on my previous house in 1990. I was surprised to find that there was mercury in the paint I had used (after the fact, of course, I would have found something else, if available). It was phased out about that time frame.

Any more, if I was to remove paint from an old piece of furniture, I'd use stripper and pack it away wet.


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## JollyGreen67 (Nov 1, 2010)

Jim, I know not to sand anything I believe to be of a certain age - but - is alright to use a wet type stripper ?


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Jimbo
When taking the on line class about lead paint, chemical stripper was the recommended method of removing lead paint but they still wanted everything around it massed off and the the person removing it in a hazmat suite and the removed paint has to be double bagged . In my state as a contractor we are not allowed to remove lead paint unless we have a lead abatement certification.


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## littlecope (Oct 23, 2008)

Let's not forget Lewis Carroll's "Mad Hatter"...
Lead was used extensively in the Hat-making trade and can affect the Brain and Nervous System…
"Mad as a Hatter" was a very apt description way back when!


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## paxorion (Oct 19, 2012)

I'm going to right out and say that it was my post that inspired this topic a1Jim gave me and my wife a good reality check. We are very lucky that the piece did NOT have lead paint in it (it may not have been older than 1978) and we will certainly be more conscious of it in the future.

Thanks a1Jim for the valuable lesson and adding to my arsenal, rebuttles for future pinterest or ReStore inspired project my wife comes up with for me.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Good point Mike I've heard that too.

Paxorion 
Yes it was your post that made me think about a thread regarding the dangers of lead paint should be posted. Seeing the photo of your sweet little daughter made me think that perhaps I could alert more folks about the possible dangers to their loved ones. Your welcome


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## Yonak (Mar 27, 2014)

When sealed tin cans, as a way of preserving and transporting foodstuffs, was invented in the first part of the 19th century, they used lead to seal the cans.

One of the first uses of the new invention was an exploratory expedition to the Arctic. The explorers never returned. Only years later did scientists learn that the expedition's demise was due, not to ravages of nature, as was assumed at the time, but to the canned food they took with them. Deductions from the words they wrote in their diaries and the way they wrote them confirmed it.


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## runswithscissors (Nov 8, 2012)

Actually, hatters used mercury in making felt hats, not lead.


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## Knothead62 (Apr 17, 2010)

After reading this, I am surprised that the human race has survived for this long considering how people lived in the past few thousand years.
As a sort-of student of Roman history, the upper classes would not have had lead utensils but fired pottery or even gold. Emperors were not, IMHO, affected by lead but by a mega-ego, coupled with paranoia. Read how many had their own families killed to eliminate competition for the throne. If you disagree, please give your source so I can research it. Thanks.

Quote: You get to the point where the iron in your blood turns to lead in your pants.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

*Yonak* Feel free to use this excuse. I'm always glad to share good ideas with my LJ friends.

*Knothead* My theory is that most people had children when they were quite young and probably were not yet seriously affected by lead and other poisonous substances at that age. I don't have any proof of this theory, it just seems to make sense.


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## bold1 (May 5, 2013)

If you survived childhood you had to have a good immune system and a high tolerance to things like lead. Most adults shrug off the effects unless it's massive doses or low doses for a long time. That's one of the reasons that heavy metals were used up till recently in many objects. When testing was started, it was done on adults not children. And what took an adult years, maybe a lifetime, to show up, is deadly in children.


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## TCCcabinetmaker (Dec 14, 2011)

Mercury is in the new squiggly energy efficient light bulbs to. Much safer than those old power consuming incandescents…. lol


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## joeyinsouthaustin (Sep 22, 2012)

I am commenting just to send this back up to the top of the pulse…. I have been exposed to many things in my career that I wish people had been talking about on a reg. basis. Thanks *A1* for posting this.


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## woodworkingdrew (Dec 29, 2013)

Jim its funny you happen to post this. I will be repainting my house this summer and was tossed up about the fascia boards. I went back and fourth between sanding them or just straight replacing them. Some have a little rot, but my main concern was the old lead paint. I decided to just replace them with new ones. Thanks for the info.


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## Kentuk55 (Sep 21, 2010)

Gr8 info Jim, and a good reminder to all. Thnx for posting.


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

Just a reminder: The Navy was loosing sailors to lead poisoning, until they discovered EDTA removed the lead (it's also used as a preservative in your salad dressing).

For what it's worth, EDTA is about a molecule off from vinegar.

There are many programs out there for removing lead and other heavy metals from the system. Too, some foods, such as cilantro, are natural chelators of heavy metals.



> Good reminder Jim. I can remember the old lead paint which was used on just about everything painted at one time. The worst thing for me was working around both lead paint and asbestos, something we had a lot of on ships in 1957 when I went into the Navy. I can imagine that the worst effect was probably caused by babies chewing on their cribs, as mentioned by Joe.
> 
> My exposure to lead in the Navy has caused me to make many mistakes on my woodworking projects even though most believe it s just a lack of skill on my part.
> 
> - stefang


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