Refurbishing your house? Was your home built before the 1970’s? Prior to research on the potential dangers of lead exposure, many homes were built and decorated with materials containing high levels of lead.
The Healthy Homes team recently visited a client’s 1950’s home to test for Lead Paint due to the owner being mindful of the houses age.
The main areas the client felt could contain lead were the peeling paint from the ceiling and walls however, interestingly lead was found elsewhere in the home.
The tiles in the laundry and outside the back of the house were the main culprits of lead, specifically those coloured yellow and pink. The bathtub outside the house, which had been used by the previous owners also had high levels. The walls and ceiling were all within the safe limits. For further reference the ‘safe’ limit of lead is 0.1% according to Government of Western Australia Department of Health (Healthy WA, 2021) and anything above 0.4% is considered potentially unsafe.
Now that the owner is aware of the exact areas of the house which contain lead if they decide to refurbish the house they are prepared to be wearing the relevant PPE and know to take care not to inhale the dust created or come into contact with any cracks/broken areas if at all possible.
If you are curious about whether there is lead in your home and are interested in finding out more about our lead paint house surveys, please see below link.
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Article written by Ellie Le Messurier