This weeks Sustainable Saturdays is for people who own a home built before 1978. This is inspired by a client I am helping get a water damaged wall patched and ready to paint. Being an EPA certified RRP I went through the process of using a lead test kit before starting the work. Drywall and plaster can be difficult to get an accurate reading, so I used lead safe practices anyway.
On wood trim and other surfaces, a simple lead test can reveal the need for more involved lead mitigation procedures. If you test positive for lead I would recommend hiring a certified EPA RRP to properly mitigate the lead. This is essential for the safety of you and your family especially if you have young children. Special equipment is required including a HEPA vacuum, disposable plastic tarps, and safety equipment for the workers.
If you are only distributing a small area and do not need to scrape the old paint off, you can safely encapsulate the area with fresh paint. I would still recommend using safe lead mitigation procedures to reduce the chance of children and pets being poisoned. I will have a more in depth posting in the projects section soon.
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