Getting Lead Based Paint Out of Your Home In The Coastal Bend

In my last post I shared what you should do before you buy a home in Corpus Christi/The Coastal Bend to avoid the risks of lead-based paint in your new home. Today I’ll share how you can get lead-based paint out of your home in the Coastal Bend if you find out that you have it.

In July of 2013, our daughter was turning one, and I took her to her pediatrician for her well-check up. I expected this to be a quick visit and that we would be in and out, and on our way. What I did not expect, was for the doctor to come into our room and begin asking questions about how old our home was, did we live near any refineries, and did my husband do any type of industrial work? She told me that my daughter had elevated lead levels in her blood and was also significantly anemic, meaning her iron stores were low.

I asked her what the treatment was.

“Time,” she said. “And good nutrition.”

As I mentioned in my last post, no amount of lead is safe. It is extremely toxic, especially to babies and small children.

Initially, we weren’t sure where our daughter had been exposed to lead-based paint, but the most obvious source was our home, built in 1955.

After doing more research online, we found out that the spots we needed to look for in our house were painted areas that were flaking, peeling, wet-looking, or sandy. My husband again bought Lead Check Tests, focusing on those areas. The paint will turn pink or red when lead is present, as you can see below. My husband found areas that tested positive around several windows in our living room. Interestingly, underneath these windows, which we liked to open in nice weather, was a basket of our daughter’s toys. We were probably unknowingly exposing her to lead dust every time we opened that window.

Living with Lead-Based Paint

Before you can get lead-based paint out of your home, you may have to live with it for a while. Thankfully, there is a way to do this and minimize the risks. We actually had to live with lead-based paint in our home for six months before we could have lead abatement done. We learned that there are ways that you can clean your home to help minimize the spread of lead-based paint in your home. Since lead-based paint causes lead dust to get around your home and into your kids, we needed to keep our home as dust-free as possible. By doing these steps, we lived with lead-based paint for six months, yet our daughter’s blood lead levels dropped to only trace amounts during this time.

1. We always wet dusted, instead of dry dusting. After a consultation with a lead abatement company, we were given these wipes for dusting around our home.
2. We bought a vacuum with a HEPA filter and vacuumed often.
3. We avoided opening any windows that had flaking or dusty paint on them. These “friction points” cause more dust to be released into the home.
4. We knew we needed to avoid any kind of DIY home improvement projects.

The lead abatement process

The safest way to have lead abatement done is to have a certified lead abatement firm do the work. Lead-based paint has to be removed carefully. The workers have to wear respirators and protective equipment and contain all work spaces. When removing lead-based paint, the dust and particles can get in the air, the soil, the carpet, etc.

We could not live in our home while they did the work. We had to be out of our home for two full weeks. When it was all said and done, we had to have every single window in our home replaced, the trim and sashes on all of our exterior doors, and the entire exterior of our house had to have lead removal and repainting.

It was a lot of work and stress, but in the end, it felt so good to know that our home was safe for us and for any future homeowners!