Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Tenpat t1_ja9reji wrote

It is surprisingly easy to breathe in a whole lot of lead dust and have that lead contaminate your entire house if you clean this up wrong.

I suggest hiring someone who does the work professionally to get it done especially if you have kids. Because it is far too easy to bring that lead home via your clothes or even just on your body and expose them to it negatively affecting their development.

Just for reference OSHA requires that people who work with lead change into work only clothing which the employer pays to have washed, that their job have dedicated shower facilities for them to wash the lead off, and that their street clothing be kept in a locker away from the work area. And that employees are monitored for lead levels.

edit: might as well have them check for asbestos too.

7

threwthelookinggrass OP t1_ja9sfte wrote

Yeah my preferred way to handle this would be to deal with it professionally. Just sucks to have to pay a few grand to clean up someone's toxic half assed job from 40 years ago.

Also sucks that I already tested for asbestos once before finding this goofiness.

3

Tenpat t1_ja9szsl wrote

>Just sucks to have to pay a few grand to clean up someone's toxic half assed job from 40 years ago.

You are paying that to prevent it becoming your toxic problem. Worth it. Also might be worthwhile to have your lead levels checked because just opening that area up probably disturbed a bunch of lead based paint dust.

6

HerandBelle t1_jaa62k5 wrote

You could seal the room off with double plastic and tape sealing every doorway. Open a window in the room if it has it and tape a fan into the opening blowing out, to get negative pressure. If you have HVAC vents, disconnect them from the ceiling and tape and seal the ends of the supply. Do the same if you happen to have any return in the room. Obviously turn off HVAC. Buy a nice full face shield mask and a tyvek suit from a big box store. Buy a shop vac with a dust filter AND the bags that go inside that capture everything you suck up to save the filter. Buy a couple boxes of contractor bags and seal yourself in and then tear out everything and bag it up. Would cost you like a couple hundred dollars, be pretty easy and essentially have zero risk of any contamination or health problems. Vac the room twice, take the bags out and vac it again. You'd be more than fine.

I've done like. . . a dozen or more of these tear outs on similar houses. Most were in much worse shape than what you are showing.

3

threwthelookinggrass OP t1_jaa7f0g wrote

Same advice if the plaster turns out to be asbestos? House is from at least 1900.

1