5 ms·

Why remove the paint? Wouldn’t it be cheaper to replace the Sheetrock/plaster?

cimmanom 8y ago
Sheetrock, maybe, but I don't think those buildings (many of them constructed in the 1940's and 1950's) use sheetrock. Plaster, almost certainly not.
sokoloff 8y ago
Lead paint on the flats is less of an issue than lead paint on trim and windows. Trim because toddlers are down near there and some trim presents a nice target for an inquisitive mouth and windows because mechanical action tends to grind the paint, releasing lead dust which is slightly sweet. The trim is intricate to sand and also would be fairly labor intensive to completely replace as well. (Let's face it: all of this comes down to money...)
- cobookman 8y ago
  Wouldn't replacing trim + windows. And painting over existing lead paint be good enough? Replacing trim can't be that labor intensive. Especially if your going to paint all the walls anyways
  - AstralStorm 8y ago
    This costs thousands of dollars. It may be even hard to find a compatible window frame for such old building.
    - cobookman 8y ago
      Thousands is less than full removal of all the lead paint. """ According to the EPA, professional lead-based paint removal for the following three options costs about $8 to $15 per square foot or about $9,600 to $30,000 for a 1,200- to 2,000-sq. ft. house. The average removal project costs about $10,000. """ https://www.houselogic.com/remodel/painting-lighting/lead-paint-removal/ https://www.houselogic.com/remodel/painting-lighting/lead-pa...
      - ekidd 8y ago
        As other posters have noted, one of the biggest sources of lead is window trim. Replacing windows in old buildings is also a serious renovation—for example, I know a landlord who paid about $15,000 to replace the windows in a 3000-sq. ft. duplex about 20 years ago. And that doesn't fix door trim, baseboards, or flaking walls. But more importantly, I've never met a landlord who'd let a tenant replace windows or sheetrock. And what tenant would spend $10,000+ renovating an apartment they don't own? Certainly this is not a viable solution for government-managed, low-income rental housing. A large landlord, on the other hand, can amortize the cost over multiple buildings and multiple years, and they can order correctly-fitted replacement windows in bulk. It makes no financial sense for low-income tenants to do expensive, piecemeal lead remediation. It's just another long-term maintenance cost, like replacing the linoleum floors, fixing the roof, or replacing the building furnace. (Of course, it sounds like the housing authority wasn't doing that reliably, either.)
        village-idiot 8y ago
        Nevermind the fact that poorly done lead removal work actually makes the problem worse, since you're going to produce a lot of lead containing dust that takes specialized skills and equipment to contain. Just doing that willy nilly (and on a budget) will likely expose you and your children to more lead than just leaving it be.

Sheetrock, maybe, but I don't think those buildings (many of them constructed in the 1940's and 1950's) use sheetrock. Plaster, almost certainly not.

sokoloff 8y ago

Lead paint on the flats is less of an issue than lead paint on trim and windows. Trim because toddlers are down near there and some trim presents a nice target for an inquisitive mouth and windows because mechanical action tends to grind the paint, releasing lead dust which is slightly sweet. The trim is intricate to sand and also would be fairly labor intensive to completely replace as well. (Let's face it: all of this comes down to money...)

cobookman 8y ago
Wouldn't replacing trim + windows. And painting over existing lead paint be good enough? Replacing trim can't be that labor intensive. Especially if your going to paint all the walls anyways
- AstralStorm 8y ago
  This costs thousands of dollars. It may be even hard to find a compatible window frame for such old building.
  - cobookman 8y ago
    Thousands is less than full removal of all the lead paint. """ According to the EPA, professional lead-based paint removal for the following three options costs about $8 to $15 per square foot or about $9,600 to $30,000 for a 1,200- to 2,000-sq. ft. house. The average removal project costs about $10,000. """ https://www.houselogic.com/remodel/painting-lighting/lead-paint-removal/ https://www.houselogic.com/remodel/painting-lighting/lead-pa...
    - ekidd 8y ago
      As other posters have noted, one of the biggest sources of lead is window trim. Replacing windows in old buildings is also a serious renovation—for example, I know a landlord who paid about $15,000 to replace the windows in a 3000-sq. ft. duplex about 20 years ago. And that doesn't fix door trim, baseboards, or flaking walls. But more importantly, I've never met a landlord who'd let a tenant replace windows or sheetrock. And what tenant would spend $10,000+ renovating an apartment they don't own? Certainly this is not a viable solution for government-managed, low-income rental housing. A large landlord, on the other hand, can amortize the cost over multiple buildings and multiple years, and they can order correctly-fitted replacement windows in bulk. It makes no financial sense for low-income tenants to do expensive, piecemeal lead remediation. It's just another long-term maintenance cost, like replacing the linoleum floors, fixing the roof, or replacing the building furnace. (Of course, it sounds like the housing authority wasn't doing that reliably, either.)
      - village-idiot 8y ago
        Nevermind the fact that poorly done lead removal work actually makes the problem worse, since you're going to produce a lot of lead containing dust that takes specialized skills and equipment to contain. Just doing that willy nilly (and on a budget) will likely expose you and your children to more lead than just leaving it be.