Remodeling century home with toddler-lead concerns

[maxsmum]

anyone done this? We are going to purchase a century home which no doubt has lead paint somewhere. Walls will be ripped out etc. We hope to do lots before we move in but some rooms will have to wait a year or so.

my big concern is living there during the renovation of the kitchen. money is tight, we could sort of redo it now but it would be on the cheap and likely we would have to redo it just a few years later. the upside would be that the walls would already be done and any toxins would long be gone when we did the 2nd renovatoin while living there.

or we could wait a few years and do the kitchen once the way we want. my concern is tearing out the old walls and releasing lead dust into the air. We could mostly seal it off from our other living spaces. however the stairs run right through the kitchen so we would need to go through it sometimes.

anyone have any experience remodeling with a todder? advice tips?

[I Fly]

We've lived in two homes with lead paint being an issue due to age of house. Most lead paint was used on the exterior, not the interior. There are kits you can buy to spot test for lead in flaking paint. Flaking paint is one tell-tale sign. Your windows will probably admit lead paint dust from the outside if they are old, so wiping window sills down with soap & water during regular cleaning is important. It's also important not to sand the paint on the exterior ever. I've had neighbors who've had dogs and children with very high levels of lead. Adding compost to the soil around your house helps deal with the lead and prevents much of the uptake of lead into plants. I'm sure taking down walls and such will shake up lots of derbis, but I don't think lead paint will be an issue on the inside, unless you know otherwise, or unless some of the walls used to be exterior walls/old porches/etc.

My prefrence would be to do as much work before moving in as possible for many many reasons. However, we did exactly what you describe in our bathroom - did a speedy, cheap remodel only to gut it and remodel again a few years later. If you plan on staying in the house for a long time, do your renovations "right" the first time!

I think dealing with lead paint dust is especially difficult during the stage where the kids put everything directly into their mouths. By the time we did some painting (outside trim) in our current house, both my kids were little, but not sticking everything in their mouths. I just started a campaign to wash hands whenever they'd been playing outside in the gravel or dirt, and always before giving them food/snacks.

Vacuuming up lead paint dust just spreads it around more, so you need to wipe it up with a rag and soap & water. I have tossed the rags I've used for this, and I am getting rid of the rug in my boys' room because I know it got lots of dust on it from the window trim painting outside (the windows were open so that they could paint all surfaces, and it was really windy those days).

Some of my neighbors painted their exterior with a "lead-blocker" paint. It is supposed to bind the lead in place and keep it from becoming dust that causes problems. I think there is a ton of info on the web. Good luck as you move forward with everything!

I find it very stressful to live in a house that has toxins. The old homes are beautiful, which is why we've always lived in one. However, we are about to move and build our own home, and I am thrilled to be able to pick each material going into the home carefully.

[fuller2]

There are plants (varieties of mustard greens) you can plant that will take up a lot of the lead in the soil. (Obviously, don't eat them or compost them! just throw them away). I actually just had my topsoil replaced.

If you are worried about lead (and if it's an old house you should be, esp. in the eastern part of the country) definitely keep your kid out of there until everything is cleaned up.

Those home stick tests are known to be inaccurate--why not pay for an actual lead inspection? Then you will know exactly where the paint is (if any--you might be surprised) and you won't have to guess. It could be well worth the money.

Windows and doorways are some of the worst places for creating lead dust--the movement of the openings & closings, the sashes rubbing together. I would replace all windows if you haven't already. A lot of lead will be as dust and you can't really see it.

[heatherdeg]

I live in a 130yo house, but we've done a few others. If there's a really good way to do it, we have yet to find it. The best we could do is to seal off the room COMPLETELY and stick a fan in the window--pulling the dust outside. Even then I wonder how good this is doing. After all, the demolition debris falls into the basement (through the walls). Our house was built such that the exterior walls were bricked up between the studs and each floor was built before the walls--creating a blockage downward. Falling debris didn't have an easy time getting to the basement... but it got there... and then the smoke/dust travelled up from there. So sealing off the room certainly contained most of it; but never all of it. And this was the easiest of the 3 places (because of the way it was built).

Do it before you move in. I regret EVERY SINGLE DAY that I didn't do that. : And look for grants/interest-free loans from your state for lead renovations.

[katja]

Originally Posted by heatherdeg

Do it before you move in. I regret EVERY SINGLE DAY that I didn't do that. : And look for grants/interest-free loans from your state for lead renovations.

I second that. BTW, we just had our home inspected for lead yesterday, and I would advise you to not believe it when people say it was mostly used outside. Every original wall in our house has lead paint. Every painted wood surface has lead paint. The inside of every window and door frame is painted with lead paint. We're looking at trying to safely replace our windows while children are living here. It's a serious pain.