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Lead Paint: Abatement and Mitigation

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Lead Paint: Abatement and Mitigation FYI No. 12 LEAD PAINT: ABATEMENT AND MITIGATION Updated August 1993 Rehabilitation, restoration, and maintenance projects frequently address old painted surfaces that require preparation and refinishing. In many cases, old lead-based paint is present on these surfaces. Lead is identified as a poison. The presence of lead-based paint in buildings poses a clear danger to the health and safety of their users. Efforts to remove lead paint can create even greater hazards. Many government agencies and health groups are discussing the issues related to lead- based paint. This paper is presented as a synthesis of arguments, and as a resolution of the conflict between the goals of preservation of historic materials versus removal of dangerous materials. It is important to recognize that nothing that you do is entirely safe. Removing lead paint creates problems of lead dust, lead fumes, and toxic waste disposal. Encapsulating lead surfaces leaves the problem in potential form. Discarding affected elements destroys the buildings without abating the lead hazard. The risks associated with exposure to lead can be reduced, however, in nearly all circumstances. Consideration of all applicable concerns, and planning of rehabilitation projects with due regard both for health risks and for preservation of significant historic features, is the only prudent way to proceed. Use of Lead in Old Buildings Lead has been used in making paint, solder, plumbing (a term derived from the Latin word for lead, plumbum), sheet roofing, cames for stained glass windows, gasoline, and many other products. Lead pigments have been used as hiding pigments, colorants, and rust inhibitors in paints since the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. In the United States, the durability of lead-based paints promoted their widespread use for wooden surfaces for over two centuries. In buildings, the hazards of lead are most often encountered in old paint. Dangerous exposure to lead in old buildings, and risk of lead poisoning, can come by the following paths: - LEAD PAINT: ABATEMENT AND MITIGATION - --Old painted surfaces that are peeling, chipping, flaking, or otherwise failing will provide a constant source of small particles of paint which can be ingested or inhaled. --Moving surfaces that are painted can generate lead dust by friction. The dust is difficult to remove and may accumulate over a period of years. The friction of opening and closing window sash, for example, can generate lead dust. --Renovation work and paint removal projects tend to generate tremendous amounts of lead dust. Heated or burned lead surfaces produce lead fumes that can be easily inhaled. Homeowners who undertake such projects should be aware that they may be contaminating their environment. Unless meticulous masking and clean-up methods are used, it may be safer in some cases to leave intact paint layers undisturbed. --Lead dust or accumulated lead debris in the soil of play areas and vegetable gardens, lead from unsafe water systems, and other lead sources may also contribute to lead poisoning. Most experts argue that while all of these sources of exposure to lead are dangerous, the greatest danger is the exposure of children to architectural features coated with lead-based paints. Surfaces that are most accessible to small children, painted features with protruding elements ("chewable surfaces"), and deteriorating paint surfaces are generally identified as the greatest source of the threat to children. Dangers of Exposure to Lead Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, writing in the first century B.C., recognized the dangers of lead, and advised against its use in water pipes and other elements that came into contact with citizens. "No doubt the thing itself is not wholesome," wrote Vitruvius of lead: This we can exemplify from plumbers, since in them the natural color of the body is replaced by a deep pallor. For when lead is smelted in casting, the fumes from it settle upon their members, and day after day burn out and take away all the virtues of the blood from their limbs. Hence, water ought by no means to be conducted in lead pipes, if we want to have it wholesome. Despite these warnings, lead remained in widespread use until the later twentieth century. By the mid-19th century, the problems associated with lead exposure were more widely acknowledged, and the medical profession began publishing articles warning of the dangers. Lead poisoning was described as "painter's colic." By 1868, the Bath (England) Hospital was advising painters and plumbers "not to eat or drink in the room or place wherein they work."1 The New 1 O.A. Roorbach, The Painter's Handbook (1868), quoted in Pamela W. Hawkes, "Economical Painting: The Tools and Techniques Used in Exterior Painting in the 19th Century," in H. Ward Jandl, editor, The Technology of - 2 - - LEAD PAINT: ABATEMENT AND MITIGATION - Jersey Zinc Company, in a 1906 advertisement, observed that: White Lead is one of the oldest of artificial pigments . It has, however, many defects. It is, first of all, a cumulative poison, and the prevalence of lead colic among painters and lead workers has induced restrictive legislation in many countries.2 Lead accumulates in the body following exposure. Lead stays in the blood for several months, and it can be stored in the bone for many decades. Lead poisoning (plumbism) usually results from many small exposures over a period of weeks or years. The brain and nervous system are particularly susceptible. It has long been known that high levels of lead exposure can cause serious disability or death. Lead poisoning interferes with the formation of blood cells, which may cause anemia. Lead can also damage the kidneys, digestive system, reproductive system, and other organs. More recent research has focused on the toxic effects of low level exposure. There is no established safe level of lead in the human body. No level of exposure can be regarded as free from potential harm. Low level exposure can damage hearing, learning ability, and coordination. Children less than six years of age are of special concern because their developing brains and bodies can easily be damaged by lead. It is common for young children to put everything, including hands, pacifiers, and toys, into their mouths. Anything which contains lead, from small dust particles to large paint chips, can cause harm if swallowed. Lead poisoning commonly contributes to problems which may be permanent in young children. Learning disabilities, behavior abnormalities, attention deficit problems, and insomnia are common symptoms. Some studies estimate that one out of every six children in the United States has some degree of lead poisoning. Symptoms of lead poisoning can go unnoticed. Blood tests are very important to detect lead poisoning early, and they should be part of the routine health care for all young children. Lead, even at very low levels, can have toxic effects on unborn children. Infants born with only slightly elevated blood lead levels have been found to have developmental problems. If detected early, lead poisoning can be treated. In extreme cases, a medical procedure called chelation therapy may be initiated to help expel toxic levels of lead from the blood system. Historic American Buildings: Studies of the Materials, Craft Processes, and the Mechanization of Building Construction (Washington, D.C.: Foundation for Preservation Technology, 1983), pp. 189-220. 2 Sweet's Indexed Catalogue of Building Construction for the Year 1906 (New York: The Architectural Record Co., 1906), p. 728. - 3 - - LEAD PAINT: ABATEMENT AND MITIGATION - Testing for Lead on Painted Surfaces The National Institute of Building Sciences has estimated that dangerous levels of lead- based paint exist in 42 million of the estimated 80 million housing units in the country. Property owners should assume that most older paints contain lead. The presence of lead can be confirmed by qualified inspectors or laboratories. Two processes are used to test for lead on site: the application of sodium sulfide to the painted surface, and the use of a mobile X-ray fluorescence analyzer. Paint samples can also be sent to commercial laboratories for analysis. Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages: Testing Process Advantages Disadvantages --Spot chemical test, 8% --Easy to use --Cannot quantify the amounts of lead sodium sulfide solution --Readily available in kits from many paint present stores --Cannot be used on dark colors where --Results are easily visible: paint that color changes may be imperceptible darkens usually contains lead --False readings can sometimes occur --Has a limited shelf life --Mobile X-ray fluorescence --Gives digital readouts quickly --Seldom available to individual because analyzer --Readouts are accurate of high cost --Gives lead measurements per unit area --Cannot be used in inaccessible spaces --Cannot measure levels of lead dust --Analysis of samples by --Gives the most accurate results --Laboratory work can be expensive commercial analytical --Can give percentage lead by weight --Results may not be available laboratory --Can verify other methods immediately The mere presence of lead-based paint is not sufficient cause for abatement procedures. Some contractors and review authorities have acted on the assumption that any and all features that have lead-based paint must be removed. This is an expensive and destructive approach. Not only does this presumption lead to unnecessary loss of historic architectural elements, it has great potential to accelerate the dissemination of lead dust into the environment. Paint removal projects tend to generate tremendous amounts of lead dust. Homeowners who undertake such projects should be aware that they may be contaminating their environment. Appropriate follow-up planning to deal with lead-contaminated features should include these steps: 1. Specification of which elements are affected. Not all rooms in a building, nor even all features in a space that contains some lead-based paint, may be affected.
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