I appreciate this is a bit of a poor first post but I'm really struggling to get credible answers.

The advice seems to swing between don't worry about it and get in the pros before someone gets killed. I would add that we have two young children and hence I'm probably more sensitive than others to the issues of lead poisoning

Having witnessed the work of some Pro's locally I'm less than convinced, also I haven't got a very big area to deal with so I'm keen to make a good job myself rather than pay heaps for a slap dash job.

Given that just about every house here abouts must have some amount of lead paint I'm amazed that it doesn't get more attention. My reckoning is that most just ignore it and get on with it.

My house is a 30's Queenslander and it has post 70's gloss paint through out, however in some locations this has chipped off to reveal a chalky pastel green colour that is synonamous with lead paint. I'm about to decorate our new extension which is all new VJ Board except for the door posts (which are structural). The paint on the door frame has many chips and it wouldn't be possible to filler them. I'll get the door dipped.

I got a FREE dept of environment lead test on paint samples form around the house (highly recomended) and all the interior ones came up clear, however this was the recent gloss that they chipped off rather than the pastel coloured substrate. So I'm concernd that when I strip beneath it I'll be disturbing nasties.

I looked at the iStrip IR heat and thought I'd give that a go - then I looked in Bunnings and noticed that I can get a hot air gun with a low temp setting for a fraction of the cost. I also noticed someone who had made tehir own from a bar heater!

My questions are;

Can I get the chipped upper layer off safely then wipe back the substrate and paint?

If I create lead fumes how long will it take for them to clear the house if all the doors and windows are open?

Can lead fumes settle on anything i.e. is it gaseous or particulate?

I'm already planning to covering all of the furniture over and mop down afterwards.

Any advice would be much apprciated.

Cheers

Sam


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