Replacing Lead Painted Siding

Replacing with vinyl siding.

Replacing lead painted siding.

State laws may require property managers to eliminate the substance from subsidized housing. We just bought an 1880s farmhouse in the catskills and are about to start major renovations. For example last summer zorzy s crew replaced siding on a house located in a neighborhood where homes are situated within 20 feet of one another so close that dust from the tear off could easily make its way into the adjacent home. Aluminum siding first gained popularity during the 1940s as a durable and easy to maintain alternative to traditional wood siding products.

This rule does not apply to total demolition of a structure. A high lead finding might even steer you away from painting and toward siding that safely covers contaminated paint. Because it expands and contracts in temperature changes the paint on it chips off or cracks and will then need to be re painted or replaced. Simple testing determines the presence of lead based paint.

However we recommend the use of lead safe practices during total demolition activities. It s a wood frame house with traditional clapboard siding and no sheathing or insulation. But where painted wood is scraped or torn away standard or more than standard precautions need to be taken. If you have lead based paint you have several options for removal.

Under the lead renovation repair and painting rule contractors who renovate or partially demolish pre 1978 residential buildings must be lead safe certified by epa and use lead safe practices. Or if the cost is high replace the old wood with brand new wood whether it s siding trim window sashes or entire windows. Lead paint can be nasty and laws enacted by the environmental protection agency epa in 2010 are designed to prevent contamination from lead based paints. Total elimination projects are expensive and rare.

I would start by having some of the paint on the siding tested to see if it contains lead there is no use in assuming that it does. The next step would be to evaluate the condition of the siding and paint to see what it might involve and what it would cost to prepare the siding for a new coat of paint. That gets the lead out of the house. There are also environmental concerns regarding vinyl siding because it releases a toxic gas called dioxin when it burns.

We d like to re side with fiber cement we know you can t just install fiber cement over. Take extra care around trim lead concentrations tend to track pretty closely to. Full removal involves stripping paint or removing and replacing affected areas such as walls windows pipes and soil. Painting aluminum siding vs.

If you want to remove all the paint compare the cost and time of other options. Although some states allow you to do the work yourself a contractor who is certified in lead paint removal is. You can remove painted trim and window sashes and send them out to a professional paint stripper.