Lead Paint Removal: What Home Owners Need To Know

     Before the 1970s, household paint often contained lead. As lead paint ages, it can chip or crumble into dust. Exposure to lead-paint dust or chips can cause serious health problems. Children and pregnant women are at higher risk. So, if you live in or own an older home, you need to know how to protect yourself and others.
     There are many ways to reduce the hazards of lead-based paint — but SOME METHODS OF REMOVING PAINT ACTUALLY INCREASE THE RISK OF LEAD EXPOSURE. It's important to pick the safest method for your project; the goal is to reduce the hazards while creating as little lead dust as possible.
     You should consider hiring a professional contractor with experience in working safely with lead removal. Whether you're going to do the job yourself or hire somebody, it's YOUR responsibility to see that the job is done safely. BE CAREFUL! During the work, you might stir up dust or create fumes containing lead. This can be very dangerous for adults, children and pets. Always use a method that creates the least amount of dust and fumes.
     Dry scraping, sanding, chemically reacting strippers, and high heat removal techniques are all examples of dangerous removal methods when working with lead paint. First step is to test your damaged paint for lead. You can buy lead test kits at your local hardware store. Tip: Test the top and bottom coat of paint for lead as there may not be lead in all paint layers/samples tested. Second step plan, plan, and plan some more especially if you're taking on this project yourself EZ Strip can help!
     EZ Strip Professional Strength Paint & Varnish Stripper is a water based paint stripper that penetrates coatings and lifts from the surface without chemical reactions that can release toxic fumes into the air. EZ Strip also encapsulates the paint and keeps it wet for dust free removal. All EZ Strip products are skin safe, fume free, biodegradable, and 100% water soluble for safe paint removal.  

For more info on EZ Strip products and where to buy visit http://www.ezstrip.ca/

For more great tips on how to safely remove damaged lead paint from your home follow this link from the New York State Department of Health https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/2502/