Lead Paint Chips in My Garden!!

[Norse_Angel]

Okay, well this could have been posted elsewhere but I wasn't sure where to post it.

Today, my girlfriend and I came home to find maintenance workers chipping the lead paint off of our house. This is fine and dandy, but there are tons of lead paint chips EVERYWHERE. I know it was lead paint because 1) The house was built in the 1800s, and 2) in our lease it stated that the lead paint in the house had been stripped and covered. Some made it into my altar room, others all over the flowers, herbs and vegetables we were growing in our garden. Some even made it into a potted plant of teas I was growing. Not to mention the bowls of rain water I've been collecting are now useless, filled with paint chips. There's a HUGE mess, they've literally gotten everywhere. I'm not sure how they plan on cleaning any of this up.

What should I do with the vegetables and herbs I've been growing? Are they now contaminated? How do I get rid of all these paint chips. This can't be safe for contact what so ever. Any experiences with this yourself.

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[anunitu]

Re: Lead Paint Chips in My Garden!!

These people should have put down tarps to keep the chips off of things...They do that when they paint,right?

[Rick]

Re: Lead Paint Chips in My Garden!!

This is a rental. It's a safe bet that it has been stripped and re-painted at least a couple times in the last 40-odd years. Lead paint hasn't been used in at least that long. Relax. You're good. Sweep, rake, vacuum up as much the paint chips as you can, strain the rain water then use it on the plants (yes, it'll be OK). Eat the produce from your garden. You'll get more lead exposure handling fishing weights.

[Norse_Angel]

Re: Lead Paint Chips in My Garden!!

As far as my knowledge goes, the house hasn't been repainted since the 60s. Our landlords were pretty straight forward with the health concerns of the paint, and all that. But there's so much of it! I mean, it literally looks like snow covering the stairs and garden. I don't know how I'll be able to get rid of it all.

[thalassa]

Re: Lead Paint Chips in My Garden!!

So...

Lead paint wasn't banned from use in housing til 1978. EPA regulations in place since 2010 require anyone removing lead paint in 6 square feet indoors or 20 outdoors to be certified for lead based paint removal. If there was any suspicion that this was lead based paint, the paint should have been tested and certified abatement/RPR professionals should be the ones doing the job. They should have (at the very least) been wearing disposable coveralls (including foot coverings), 1/2 face N-95 respirators, gloves, and goggles. Additionally, they should have put down sheeting to cover surfaces in working areas (6 ml poly sheeting at least 6 feet out from the working area), and then cleaned up said paint chips with HEPA vacuums, and disposed of them in accordance with the EPA and OSHA, as well as state regulations.

If they didn't either means you have a shady landlord, or no lead. Many places have been either abated or RPR'd by now and the amount of lead is often below the level requiring it to be treated as lead. Just because something has a chemical in it doesn't mean its hazardous--the dose makes the poison....but there's no way to know this without testing. There are still plenty of buildings with lead paint that has never properly been mitigated...per HUD, 90% of pre-1940 buildings have lead, and 62% of pre-1978 buildings have lead.

You need to contact your landlord. If for no other reason that the workers should have cleaned up afterwards. If he doesn't handle this satisfactorily, you need to consider contacting the local health department, the EPA, and the BBB. However, if you do this, be prepared that you might unexpectedly have to move. The EPA will condemn a building in a blink.

The problem with lead is twofold--one, the inhalation risk of lead dust...this is mostly an occupational exposure (for example the workers, if they were hand or power sanding); the second which is ingestion...this is mostly a risk for children because children stick everything in their mouth and there nervous system is still developing. Its not so much a risk in big chunks (if its not ingested) because they aren't inhalable. But, since your gf is pregnant, right? this is a concern if you plan to let the kid play in the yard or on the ground. Its not so much a problem with the garden though unless your garden is in a high lead area--you should probably read this and this.