Testing for lead in paint

Lead-based paint contains the heavy metal “lead”. Normally, lead is added to paint in order to make drying faster, increase durability, resist moisture, and make the fresh appearance long lasting.

No doubt the paint quality gets enhanced because of the presence of lead; but lead is a very harmful substance. Lead-containing paint is a primary source of lead-poisoning which affects both children and adults. Mental dysfunction and irreversible brain damage may be caused by lead-poisoning. Even with very low level of exposure, it can retard foetal growth. In adults, lead-poisoning causes various health problems like irritability, high blood pressure, defects in reproduction, lack of muscle coordination and certain heart and lung diseases. Through testing, you can easily verify whether there is lead in your paint or is there any hazard in your home related to lead-based paint. While doing renovation and repainting without taking care of proper safety measures, there is a chance of people getting lead-poisoned.

As a preventive measure for lead-poisoning, the entire household needs to be scanned first for finding any lead-containing items. Dishware and other suspected surfaces must be tested. Three main approaches are adopted, namely lead hazard screen, risk assessment and lead-paint inspection.

Nowadays, there are many do-it-yourself (DIY) home test kits available in the market. But the Consumer Product Safety Commission of the United States has not yet approved and evaluated any of these products. Using the test kits, presence of lead can be detected in water, soil, glasses, paint, dust, dishware, walls, windows, ceramics, ceilings, and floors. The DIY test kits are quite user-friendly and can be used to know easily and accurately information about lead contamination. The home lead test kits usually contain some non-toxic strips of paper which are chemically infused. Presence of lead on a surface up to a level of 5 ppm can be detected by getting the strips activated with water. Upon activation, if it detects any problem, then the test paper strips which were originally white immediately become bright red.

If you detect the presence of lead in your paint, then it could be dangerous for you to remove the paint yourself. Rather, the local health department should be immediately contacted and a trained professional should be looked for who can remove the lead-based paint. In fact you will find a lot of experts who can cover, replace or remove lead paint. Government officials and the state health department are continuously providing advice on how to deal with lead-containing paint and remove them.

If you want to test for lead, visit us as we help you out:
Test for lead in paint
Home lead test kits