All About Safe Removal Of Lead From Your Home

Lead has several harmful effects associated with it, lead poisoning being the most common. The metal is known to cause serious health problems if ingested or if dust containing toxic Lead gets inhaled. Accumulation of Lead in the body over a long time causes lead poisoning. The Lead abatement process is the method deployed to eliminate the hazards of Lead from surfaces permanently. Lead-based colorants in good condition cause less harm. With time, as the toxicity of paint starts deteriorating and lead dust and flakes of lead paint begin accumulating on surfaces, the risk of lead poisoning increases. Children and aged people are more susceptible to being affected by lead poisoning. Various methods can treat lead poisoning, but any damage caused due to it cannot be reversed by any means. Hence, removal of Lead from paints becomes an essential step in prevention from various Lead related hazards.

Steps to ensure safety from lead-based paints

1. Lead-based paint inspection: This step involves determining the presence of lead-based paint on any surface. Laboratories recognized by the EPA’s National Lead Laboratory Accreditation Program conduct tests to confirm Lead’s presence. The test uses X-ray fluorescence (XRF), which measures if the paint was lead positive or not. This report only confirms the presence of Lead and gives no information regarding the risks associated with the Lead-based colour.
2. Risk Assessment: This step involves determining where lead hazards can be present at one location, for example, home. This assessment tests surfaces with deteriorated paint, the soil outside the home, household dust, and dust around the window. Negative risk assessment does not assure that there is no lead-based paint in the house. 
3. Lead Paint removal: Once Lead’s presence is confirmed, one must take temporary and permanent measures to ensure safety. Some interim measures to ensure safety in homes where Lead tests are positive include:
   

• Keep areas inside the home clean.
• Not letting children chew or bite painted surfaces.
• Avoid wearing shoes inside the home to avoid Lead from the soil.
• Clean up paint chips immediately as they fall off.

The permanent solution to get rid of lead-based paints is lead abatement, i.e., permanent elimination of Lead from the surface. 

The Lead Paint Abatement Process

Making the house lead-safe using stripping, encapsulating, and replacing contaminated surfaces to remove the Lead is called lead abatement. Various stages involved in the lead abatement process are:

1. Inspection by a Licensed Lead Inspector: The initial step requires monitoring of the situation by a licensed lead inspector to generate a comprehensive report regarding the case.
2. Beginning of Lead Abatement work: Once the report gets generated, a licensed lead abatement contractor can decide which method will work the best. The methodologies deployed for removal are recorded in the file by the contractor.
3. Final Check & Letter of Compliance: Once the work finishes, the inspector will do the last inspection with a wipe test to confirm that it is clean. After a successful abatement process, a Letter of Compliance is issued by the inspector, officially declaring the site free from lead hazards.

The lead abatement procedure is a one time process and can eliminate lead hazards permanently. Hence after the abatement process, one can be sure of living in a “Lead-Safe” Building.