Lead Paint & Asbestos
I just moved into a 1949 A Quincy Jones and did some Lead Paint tests on all the walls and most of them came back positive. It seems like the stain on the wood all has lead in it. Has anyone else done a lead abatement? How much did it cost? The house is about 1900sqft. I'm suspecting every wall and redwood siding board is contaminated. I already have a quote for $6600 to remove all the asbestos from underneath the house and in all the tiles...
- When I get into the walls will there be more asbestos insulation? Maybe I should have the lead boards removed first? Then I figure with the walls all gone I should have the electrical and plumbing do their thing and get some nicer insulation put in since these beauties are so horribly energy inefficient!!!
Please help!
location los angeles.
Consumer Reports rated all the lead testing kits a few months ago. When purchasing an older home, there is always initial alarm since the 'lead in construction' disclosure program started many years ago. You should do cost benefit analysis before spending a lot, since there may or may not be any urgency in abatement. I believe the main danger with lead in paint is through ingestion. Do you have small children?
What is the source of contamination under the house???? Re. the wall insulation, I don't believe anything is used in walls that contains lead.
Randy from Dura-Foam Solar Center
I am a builder who has worked on quite a few eichlers in our area. While many of the materials used in eichlers was not standard, the flooring was and the original tile flooring on the few that we have had tested does contain asbestos. Be extremely cautious and hire an abatement contractor to remove. One abatement guy told me that all tiles that measure 9"x9" were made by one company and they all contain asbestos. In eichler books and literature they even highlighted "Asbestos tile" as a selling feature before the risks were known. Asbestos is bad news. As for lead paint, one solution would be to with cover or replace the walls in question with drywall or new mahogany paneling to match the new spec and contain the contamination. Asbestos needs to be airborne to be a threat, lead can transfer from surfaces to fingers to ingestion easily... Don't skimp on safety...
Hello,
Lead poisoning, the No.1 environmental illness of children, is caused primarily by lead-based paint in older homes. Many houses built before 1978 contain lead-based paint. Division staff in the Environmental Lead Program inspect the dwellings of children who exhibit elevated blood lead levels. Homes with hazardous lead-based paint conditions are required to be mitigated by removing the paint or otherwise rendering it safe. The division also licenses lead paint inspectors, risk assessors, and lead abatement contractors, supervisors and workers, and approves training courses for these individuals.
thanks!!
