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Edible Landscape

Lead in house paint?

iowafarmersdaughter

10 years ago

I want to plant some zucchini, and sweet potatoes in a bed under my dining room window. The exterior paint is peeling on my 100+ year old house, and I am sure some of the a paint chips have fallen in the bed. I have no idea how old some of the chips might be, because there probably has been paint on paint through the years. I don't want to spend a lot of money to find out, and it is getting late in the season to wait for test results to come back. Does anyone know if exterior paint contained lead in by gone years, and should I be concerned?

Comments (3)

agardenstateof_mind
10 years ago
Lead paints were banned around 1978; prior to that many housepaints, especially oil-based exterior paints, were likely to contain lead. It would be wise to have the soil tested for lead before growing edibles in it. If you wish to proceed without the soil test, I would recommend planting in containers or in a deep raised bed with landscape cloth beneath the fill to prevent roots from going down into the native soil. Either of these options would mean you would have to pay more attention to watering and fertilizing.
sojournertam
10 years ago
I agree w/ agardenstateof_mind. I've actually done quite a bit of study regarding Pb (lead) as my son (now 14) was lead poisoned before he was 2 y/o and we lived in a beautiful old Victorian. Any house that has been painted and was built prior to 1978 will have lead paint on there somewhere. Paint doesn't have to be peeling. Years of rainwater wash it into the soil. Just opening a window where there is still lead paint even under some latex can created Pb dust. Plantings must be at LEAST 10 feet from the perimeter of the foundation (if any part of the plant will be some how consumed) with the exception of strawberries (funny, huh?). I'm not sure about other berries but roots and especially greens readily take up the lead. It is dangerous to anyone in the surrounding environment (due to wind) to dry scrape leaded paint; one should wet scrape and collect all scrapings in a tarp for hazardous waste disposal. Check with the Iowa State DEM; I imagine that there are laws regarding this and here in New England (many old leaded Victorians), the DEM has classes and a lot of free information/consultants, etc. re: Pb in homes/soil.
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While it is true that the EPA RRP Rule does not apply to homeowners working on their own home, there are still the health problems associated with lead poisoning for you and your family. There is also the problem when you go to sell your home, one of the documents you have to fill out as a seller is a lead disclosure form. I'm not a Realtor but I've been told by many Realtors that it's very difficult to sell a home that has been renovated, repaired, or painted without following the EPA RRP Rule. Another option on the covering is to lathe and stucco the house. My own house had lead paint on two sides. It also had very little insulation so we opted to place 2" foam board on the house, lathe and stucco. The lead paint is behind all of that so will only present a problem if someone decides to add a window or door!
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@Laura Hoefer seems like your situation is not as bad as ours in terms of exposure. We didn't know about the windows and my kid's bed was right by them. He got exposed a lot with all the opening and closing. Plus the age doesn't help - he still puts everything in his mouth. If you decide to strip them yourself, I would advise to take a class on lead safety. That being said seems like it's a very complicated process and it might make the situation worse. There are some sealing paints for lead, but you'll still have to scrape the peeling paint off, which is dangerous. I'm going to strip only the 1st floor windows as it gets warmer (they are 8 ft tall so super expensive to replace), but we decided to replace the rest. Restoring is even more expensive if a professional is hired. Have you tried using professional lead cleaning products for lead to mop the floors? Maybe this will help reduce the exposure for your kids. It's all so scary. I'm scared that my kid will be permanently brain-damaged due to all of this :(
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so, lead. it is toxic and we all know it is toxic and has long-term effects. there is no arguing about that. the most typical pathway is ingestion. generally, i am relatively unconcerned about adults living in a house with lead paint. adults don't eat off the floor or chew windowsills. they do, perhaps, pick up some object off the floor and then eat without washing their hands first. also, if there is a garden close to your house, where chips would fall in it. but, adults are big and developed and this amount of exposure typically isn't such a big deal. Science has shown us that low-levels of lead exposure in pregnant women that wouldn't be a big deal otherwise can cause some neurological defects. Nothing obvious like a third arm, but something less obvious like a learning problem later in life. Or maybe the IQ is 125 instead of 130. But, as adults, if we are aware of a potential risk we can avoid that risk. A pregnant woman living in a house with lead paint chips or lead paint on contact surfaces (door jambs, etc) should wash her hands frequently, particularly before eating. Vacuum more frequently than usual and frequently vacuum around window sills and doors. If you exercise some caution, I don't see any reason to replace the windows and trim because you have a pregnant person in the house. But by the time that baby becomes mobile, you do want to make sure that the lead issue has been taken care of. How you do this is up to you. You can have the windows replaced by a reputable contractor that follows lead-safe practices (this basically means they use a bunch of plastic sheeting) or you can start with the worst offenders and fix them yourself. If you do this, you want to make sure your work area is isolated and that you aren't making things worse by tracking paint chips and lead dust around. I'm really not going to get into how to do the work yourself, but focus on the doors and windows you use the most.
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If the primer is older than 30 days, you need to re-prime, preferably with Latex. It's too hardened off to bind well to new paint. * Then...2 coats of a good quality Latex paint. * I'd use a Satin or S/Gloss sheen for the "wear & tear" factor. * If existing paint/old prime-coat is well-adhered & no chipping/flaking...you're OK on the lead issue. Go ahead & reprime/paint. * If/when you do the stripping estimates, be aware...it might not be that cheap! Lead you know! Many precautions need to be taken/paid for on the re-finishers' end. Faron
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sojournertam
10 years ago
http://www.bureauveritas.com/wps/wcm/connect/bv_com/Group/Home/About-Us/Our-Business/Our-Business-Consumer-Products/Resources/Frequently+Asked+Questions/Lead

A later thought; I think that the above link can answer a lot of questions that you may have re: lead in your soil. That close to your house, you'd 1st need to seal in the lead with special sealants rendering the exterior 'lead safe' and then use raised beds with an impermeable barrier in between the actual original soil and soil brought in from elsewhere.

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