Thread: How to safely strip leaded paint

They will definitely contain leaded paint. If your house is more than about 40 years old chances are your soil around the house is already contaminated and if it is near any major roads it may even be quite heavily contaminated from leaded petrol emissions so what you add to the mix won't matter all that much. If you want to reduce chip scatter you could lay out a tarp and also put up some tarp sides ?

Originally Posted by BobL

... if it is near any major roads it may even be quite heavily contaminated from leaded petrol emissions

Does ~100 metres from the Great Western Highway count?

Like your logic though, but I was more concerned about it being dropped on top of the ground (rather than what is already there having been washed into it).

Not much difference you think Bob?

Does ~100 metres from the Great Western Highway count?

thats close enough.

re: stopping stuff falling on the ground.
that's why I suggested a tarp.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

I have acquired some Western Red Cedar skirting boards from a 100 yo house. I would be quite certain that in the many layers of paint that there will be some lead based at the bottom.

The intention is to rip saw off the moulded parts to leave flat boards which I may make some outdoor tables with.

The easiest way to strip the paint off is with a thicknesser, but that will pollute the shed mightily, and probably permanently.

and probably completely bugger one or more faces of your cutters -- paint and thicknessers / jointers have a very poor relationship.

how thick are the skirting boards?


In your place I think I'd send the boards out to be chemical stripped

Originally Posted by ian

and probably completely bugger one or more faces of your cutters -- paint and thicknessers / jointers have a very poor relationship.

how thick are the skirting boards?


In your place I think I'd send the boards out to be chemical stripped

19mm thick Ian.

The current face of the cutters is pretty much due for rotation anyway, so this would be the last job for them. Remarkably, they are still the original face over 3 years and many cubes later, and have been through hell dressing all the cypress floorboards and joists from the bowling club (for shed lining, decks etc). Have hit stacks of nails and countless staples but only produced two chipped cutters to date.

I also purchased a full replacement set from Steve at sje tools, so I have 7 sets of faces up my sleeve.

Brett, I had a brother-in-law who was restoring an old house which included all the skirts and architraves. He got some builders plastic and made timber frames to make "tubs" to bath the timber in. He mixed up a caustic soda solution (bought for only a few $) and submerged the timber for x amount of time and then pulled out the timber and just hosed off the sludge. I was very surprised just how clean they came out. I have no idea what he did with the sludge etc.

Thanks Rod

Originally Posted by chambezio

I have no idea what he did with the sludge etc.

Yes, that would be the challenge with such a large quantity of sludge.

The best solution would be wet chemical stripping then air drying the waste and dumping in accordance with your local council's regulations. The aim is reduce fine dusts containing lead from contaminating living and other areas occupied particularly by children and pregnant / breast feeding women (higher risk to them.)

These links may be helpful

Lead alert - Six step guide to painting your home

http://www.environment.gov.au/system...th-edition.pdf

Lead Paint and Asbestos Management

Gday FenceFurniture.Many bondwood caravan owners use a paint stripper which you apply by brush.Cover with glad wrap which holds the heat in & after 24hrs remove.99% of the residue paint falls away leaving minimal paint to sand off. The residue paint falling into the glad wrap allows you to collect in whole & disperse to a plastic tub for disposal.Couldn`t tell you the name but there a few products out there. gordo

My memories of stripping Victorian doors and skirtings are somewhat old and probably no longer politically correct. But we did it with a Primus blow torch and I remember it just peeling off ever so easily. Not much sanding required after the torch and scraper and very little dust.

Don't see much mention of heat stripping anymore. Is it a really bad practice? Is heated lead paint worse than creating a cloud of sanded lead paint?

Originally Posted by Fuzzie

My memories of stripping Victorian doors and skirtings are somewhat old and probably no longer politically correct. But we did it with a Primus blow torch and I remember it just peeling off ever so easily. Not much sanding required after the torch and scraper and very little dust.

Don't see much mention of heat stripping anymore. Is it a really bad practice? Is heated lead paint worse than creating a cloud of sanded lead paint?

heat can vaporise the lead salts which will then allow the lead to pass straight a particulate mask.

Originally Posted by ian

heat can vaporise the lead salts which will then allow the lead to pass straight a particulate mask.

Lead in Leaded paint exists as micron size Lead Oxide particles and this has a melting point of 880º.
This would be a problem using a blow torch but temperatures of much less this is all that is needed to soften paint and hot air guns can regulate temperatures pretty well to keep out below this level.
e.g. My GMC hot air gum has the hot air temps temperatures printed on it that are well within 10%
However, the issue is not of melting /vaporising the lead but in burning the polymer component of the paint since this will contain lead and carry the lead in any oxidised component.
With some careful monitoring I would say it would be possible to keep the temperature below this level but I don't think it would be worth the hassle.

The safest treatment for lead paint is probably just to paint over the top of it but obviously this does not help the OP much.

If you want to het strip, there is a bar heater like device specifically designed for the purpose ..... a mate of mine had one .... don't know the name.

Its all worked out so it wont burn the boards ect

If you where stripping boards, the unit would be set up on a metal support ...... the board would run under the unit ..... once hot enough the heated portion of the board would be pulled out, scraped with a wide scraper, while the next portion heats.

But like so many sources of "free wood" sometimes its just not worth it.

cheers

Lead in old paint is not just in the pigments, it was also used as a drier. Lead salts were widely used to accelerate the hardening of alkyd paints. This practice only ceased about 20 years ago. Probably earlier for consumer products.