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Seattle Lead Paint Removal Contractor
Living in a Seattle home built before 1978 with lead paint can be toxic, especially for children. The Seattle Times states,
“The EPA estimates that nearly 9 out of 10 homes built in Seattle before 1940 have lead-based paint present, and 25% of homes built between 1960 and 1977 contain lead-based paint.” They also state that 56% of King County homes were built before the lead-based paint ban in 1978!
The risks can be consequential and cause severe damage to the body. You may face other lead-related challenges as a Seattle homeowner, such as paint flaking and cracking, which changes your home’s overall appearance. No need to worry, though, as SFW Construction can provide you with the answers to any lead paint related questions you may have and provide you with the best possible solution for your Seattle home.
The Dangers Of Lead-Based Paint
Lead paint is an issue for homeowners as lead-contaminated dust is the leading cause of lead poisoning. Surprisingly enough, millions of homes have layers of lead paint under newer paint. When inhaled or eaten, lead particles can cause severe damage to your body’s nervous system, reproductive system, and blood-forming systems. Lead poisoning can cause permanent brain and nerve damage in children, cause hearing problems, behavior difficulties, and learning disabilities. This is especially true with kids at home doing distant learning and constantly being at home.
If your home currently has lead paint and you are worried that one or more of your kids was exposed or ingested lead, you should talk to your doctor about a blood lead test. The test will give you results if your child has had exposure to lead in the last month.
Get A FREE Lead Paint Test
Knowing your Seattle home has lead paint is the first step in getting rid of the issue. So, how can you be sure? Using the build year of your home is one way to decipher if you need to take the next step in the lead paint removal process, a lead paint test. Hiring a professional lead removal firm like SFW Construction can give you all the tools you need to protect your home and increase the value. We can safely test the inside and outside of your home for lead, and we train all our crews to perform lead paint removal in Seattle.
How To Safely Get Rid Of Lead Paint
Ways to safely handle and get rid of lead paint include; encapsulation, enclosure, removal, chemical stripping, and replacement.
- Encapsulation: We place a lead paint encapsulation formula over the existing lead paint
- Enclosure: We hang up new drywall or another wall surface to enclose the existing lead paint area
- Removal: involves a variety of methods. One example is sanding the lead paint using an electric sander or hand scraping it and using a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter vacuum to catch the dust and debris. A heat gun can also take away the lead paint
- Chemical stripping: is a particular chemical made to lift away the lead paint before being vacuumed up
- Replacement: involves removing the entire painted surface, disposing of it, and installing new material to replace the contaminated area
Your house may have lead paint, but it’s still in good condition; this is the case for some homeowners. If this is the case, another option you have is to commit to maintaining and painting your house periodically. However, if you plan to repair or renovate your home, repainting will not work for you as the spreading of lead particles will occur. So, if your contractor does not contain the area correctly, lead-dust can spread to your neighbor’s homes, causing a domino effect.
Hire A Professional To Remove Lead Paint
We highly recommend hiring a Seattle contractor experienced in lead paint removal for the safety of your family and home. Suppose you hire a professional, like SFW Construction. In that case, you get a contractor specializing in RRP (renovation, repair, and painting.) One who can take care of residential and commercial related projects and knows how to contain lead dust and stop it from spreading to your neighbors.