Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home Pamphlet

Impress this fact sheet

by Yard.R. Tremblay Jr.^* (half dozen/12)

Quick Facts…

• Exposure to pb-based paint tin be harmful to children and adults.
• 3-quarters of the homes built before 1978 contain some lead-based paint.
• Test your home and family for lead if you think a potential gamble exists.
• Temporary measures to reduce lead exposure range from following specified cleaning techniques to good diet.
• Permanent measures include component removal and replacement, pigment removal, and covering painted surfaces.

The Problem of Atomic number 82-Based Pigment

In 1991, the Secretary of the U.South. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) characterized lead poisoning equally the "number one environmental threat to the health of children in the United States." Every bit a upshot of the Atomic number 82 Hazard Control program started in 1993, there has been a reduction of over 70% in babyhood lead poisoning cases. However, lead-based paint remains a problem in Colorado.

Lead-based pigment is a major source of atomic number 82 poisoning for children and can bear upon adults. Fifty-fifty low levels of pb in children tin can result in retarded mental and physical development, learning disorders, behavior problems, and reduced attention span. Lead tin crusade abnormal fetal development in meaning women. Astringent lead poisoning in children and adults can crusade irritability, poor muscle coordination and damage to the kidneys, nerves and brain. Lead poisoning besides may increase claret pressure in adults.

You might have lead in and effectually your domicile without knowing information technology because y'all cannot see, taste or smell lead. Before the harmful effects of atomic number 82 were known, atomic number 82 was used in paint, gasoline, h2o pipes, solder, pottery, and many other products. As a consequence, y'all may have lead in the dust, paint, or soil in and around your home, or in your drinking water or food. Because lead does not break downwardly naturally information technology can remain a problem until removed. The greatest threat is breathing or ingesting dust from pb-based paint as information technology wears and disintegrates over time.

Approximately three-quarters of the homes built before 1978 contain some atomic number 82-based paint. It may be found on any surface merely is most commonly found on exterior-painted surfaces, interior woodwork, doors, and windows. Heavily-leaded paint was used in well-nigh homes built before the 1950s, with lower levels of lead used until 1977. In 1978, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission banned the use of lead-based paint in housing. When properly maintained and managed, this paint poses little adventure, although friction surfaces (windows and window sills, doors and door frames, and stairs and railings) are a concern. Atomic number 82-based paint that peels or deteriorates is especially risky. As a general rule, the older a home, the stronger the risk of lead-based paint. People are exposed to atomic number 82, not only through lead-based paint chips and flakes that you tin can see, but also through the fine dust that forms. This grit tin get on carpets, floors, furniture, toys and other objects, likewise equally on the hands of children and adults in the home.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 310,000 children have blood-lead levels above safe limits (ten micrograms per deciliter), mostly due to exposure to lead-based paint hazards. This number continues to drop as a result of active authorities atomic number 82 abatement programs. If your kid is chronically cranky, restless or tired, sick to the stomach, experiences a poor appetite, and does not sleep well, he or she may suffer from lead poisoning. It merely requires a few grains of lead-contaminated dust, eaten or inhaled on a regular basis, to cause these problems.

Checking Your Habitation and Family unit for Pb

Figure 1. Example of a atomic number 82 test kit.

Determine if your home was congenital before 1978 and audit for signs of paint chips or dust. Consider purchasing do-it-yourself test kits from home centers, paint stores, and ceramics supply outlets. However, these examination kits cannot distinguish betwixt low and high levels of pb and it may be difficult to get accurate readings on surfaces with multiple levels of paint. A typical examination kit consists of sealed pouches containing a chemical substance, swab sticks and instructions. Mix the chemic pulverization with a moistened swab stick and apply it to the surface to be tested. If the swab stick turns a given color (usually pink or red), lead is present.

There is an of import distinction between the presence of pb-based pigment and a lead-paint hazard. The latter poses an immediate threat, while lead-based paint in adept condition might pose a hazard some fourth dimension in the future. For this reason, HUD divers a detailed procedure that involves analyzing many painted surfaces in the abode, evaluating the condition of paint, and measuring lead dust concentrations. A hazard assessment conducted by a qualified professional will tell you if at that place are any sources of serious lead exposure and what actions to accept. Consider using a laboratory to clarify paint and dust samples for pb content. Your local health department may be able to suggest private laboratories in your area that tin can test your pigment and tell you lot how to obtain a sample for testing.

Young children (upwardly to 6 years) are specially at risk. Frequent hand-to-mouth activeness of immature children provides an important path for ingestion of leaded grit. A child'south digestive tract volition absorb a high proportion of lead in comparison to adults. Nigh important, the period of rapid growth and evolution in the early years of life leaves the torso'southward systems most vulnerable to the effects of toxins. You lot cannot tell if a child has pb poisoning unless you have him or her tested. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children upwardly to age 6 be tested for claret lead. A blood test takes only x minutes and results should be set up within a calendar week. Ask your md for details. This is especially of import for children living in older homes, deteriorated homes and urban areas.

Temporary pb-removal measures:

Clean up paint chips immediately (duct tape efficiently picks up chips).

Clean floors, window frames, window sills and other surfaces weekly. Use a mop or sponge with warm water and a powdered high-phosphate automatic dishwasher detergent or a solution of trisodium phosphate (TSP). Habiliment protective gloves and use ii buckets — one for wash water and one for articulate rinse water. E'er wring dirty water into the wash bucket.

Thoroughly rinse sponges and mop heads afterward cleaning.

Wash children'due south hands oftentimes, peculiarly before they swallow or go to slumber.

Keep play areas and toys make clean.

Keep children from chewing painted surfaces such equally window sills or cribs.

Remove shoes before entering your domicile to avert tracking in lead from soil.

Brand sure children eat nutritious, low-fat meals high in iron and calcium (such equally dairy products, eggs, beans, spinach, and lean red meat). Children with good diets absorb less lead.

Reducing Atomic number 82 Exposure

Instead of addressing homes afterward a child is poisoned, ensure that poisoning does not occur in the beginning place. There are several ways to reduce your family's lead exposure ranging from fractional measures that reduce immediate exposure, to abatement (complete removal of atomic number 82-based pigment). Remediation costs tin can exist as low equally a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars for abatement.

Avoid activities that disturb or damage pb-based paint and create dust. It is extremely important to avoid sanding or scraping leaded paint. These are preventative measures just and are not an adequate alternative to replacement or removal of lead-based pigment.

Removing Lead-Based Paint

Measures to permanently eliminate pb dust hazards include component removal and replacement, pigment removal, and covering surfaces. There is no completely safe method for practice-it-yourself removal of lead-based paint. Each pigment removal method – sandpaper, scrapers, chemicals, and rut guns – can produce lead fumes or grit in the air that can be inhaled. Grit can settle on floors, walls and tables. It can be ingested through hand-to-oral fissure contact and re-enter the air through cleaning (such equally sweeping or vacuuming) or when people movement throughout the house.

Except for the well-nigh elementary measures, dealing with lead removal is a complex job. Implementation may be afflicted by local regulations. In most instances, lead-based paint should be removed by professionals who follow detailed procedures to minimize, control and contain pb dust created by the removal process. Do not attempt to remove more than a minor amount of lead-based pigment. However, address all chipping, peeling, or flaking lead-based paint, as well equally friction surfaces (for example windows and doors) in the dwelling house.

Information technology oftentimes is much safer, and sometimes more economical, to replace painted items and comprehend painted surfaces. You lot tin replace a door, molding, or other particular yourself if information technology can exist easily removed without creating lead dust. Cover walls and ceilings with gypsum wallboard, plaster, or paneling (encapsulation). If it is necessary to strip lead-based paint to maintain historic integrity, remove the detail (for case molding) from the home for stripping. If the painted surface is non peeling or cracking, y'all tin can spray the surface with a sealant. Painting over lead-based paint is not a permanent solution. Obtain a copy of the Environmental Protection Bureau's (EPA) pamphlet Reducing Lead Hazards When Remodeling Your Home before you begin whatsoever pb removal project.

Training and certification programs for lead abatement contractors are available. Make sure y'all hire a Certified Renovation and Lead Grit Sampling Technician firm to abate lead in your home. To detect out more visit world wide web.epa.gov/lead.

Selecting Professionals

Before hiring, question paint-removal contractors about their familiarity with the following procedures.

• Seal the room from the rest of the house. Remove all furniture, rugs and drapes. Comprehend floors, windows and doorways with heavy plastic sheeting and seal with duct record.
• Turn off forced-air heating and air conditioning systems.
• Workers should clothing protective vesture and shoes besides equally respirators designed to avoid inhaling (high efficiency particulate assimilation [HEPA] respirators).
• Practice non swallow, drink, or fume in the work area. Remove all food and eating utensils from the room. Embrace and seal all cabinets and food contact surfaces.
• Go along children and other occupants (specially infants, pregnant women, and adults with high blood pressure) out of the firm until the job is complete.
• Standard dry sanding and dry scraping methods create airborne dust and are not acceptable. Remove loose and flaking paint by wet methods such every bit spraying the surface with water, gently scraping off the loose paint, and collecting droppings (on a disposable drop textile).
• Carefully collect construction debris into plastic bags and seal for disposal according to local ordinances. Remove plastic sheeting by rolling or folding in.
• Schedule terminal cleanup and removal of plastic bags at least one 24-hour interval after piece of work is complete to let any airborne dust to settle. Clean upward the unabridged surface area using a special vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter. This is a special type of vacuum cleaner that removes modest lead particles from surfaces and keeps them inside the vacuum cleaner. After vacuuming, moisture wash the area with a TSP solution and vacuum with a HEPA vacuum.
• Dispose clothing worn in the room later working. Piece of work clothing should not be worn in other areas of the house and workers should shower and launder hair after finishing piece of work.
• Exam work areas for pb grit contamination after concluding cleanup. If you decide to remove lead-based paint yourself, understand these procedures.
• Contractors at present must be trained in lead-safe work practices equally office of the Ecology Protection Agency's Lead-Safe Certification Program.

Lead and Real Manor

To protect families from exposure to lead, Congress passed the Residential Lead-Based Pigment Hazard Reduction Act (also known as Championship Ten). As a result, near all sellers and landlords of housing built before 1978 must disclose known lead-based paint and pb-pigment hazards and provide available reports to buyers or renters before ratification of a contract for housing sale or lease. Buyers and renters are given x days to have lead-run a risk testing conducted (at their expense). Additionally, buyers and renters must receive a copy of the EPA's pamphlet Protect Your Family from Pb in Your Home, which describes lead poisoning. Domicile renovators also are required to provide their clients with this pamphlet.

Resource

Free pamphlets on how to forestall lead poisoning and remove lead-based paint are available from the National Lead Information Center Hotline at ane-800-424-LEAD. You can also obtain answers to technical questions from a specialist and go a list of laboratories that clarify paint and grit samples for lead. All EPA pamphlets and the pb disclosure dominion tin can be obtained past contacting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at www.epa.gov/lead.

The EPA Region 8 Office (Denver) can be reached at world wide web.epa.gov/region8. For data about lead hazards and assistance, contact the country lead-poisoning prevention program operated past the Colorado Section of Public Wellness and Environment at www.cdphe.land.co/us/ap/leadhome.html. Call your local building code officials to detect out what regulations apply to renovation or remodeling piece of work.

Your Colorado Land Academy county amanuensis is a source of additional information, and your county health unit of measurement or family unit doctor can provide claret tests and medical advice.

^*Colorado Land University Extension housing specialist and professor; design and merchandising. 2/01. Revised 6/12.

Colorado State University, U.South. Department of Agriculture, and Colorado counties cooperating. CSU Extension programs are bachelor to all without discrimination. No endorsement of products mentioned is intended nor is criticism unsaid of products not mentioned.

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Source: https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/family-home-consumer/lead-based-paint-in-homes-9-538/

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