Lead Paint Blog

Marine paint removal is another place you could find lead based paint.  Many people use a belt-sander to remove paint off boats, but this is very dangerous and harmful to the environment if there is lead paint on that boat.  Many chemical strippers are not suitable for use on a boat and most are not suitable for use on lead paint. 

Lead-Out Paint Stripper is the ideal paint remover for stripping and painting your boat.  It is safe, because it is non-toxic and won’t cause chemical burns if it touches your skin.  It is effective, because it will strip multiple coats of paint over a coverage area of around 100 square feet.  Also, the gel paint stripper keeps all the paint encapsulated in the gel instead of creating a cloud of noxious fumes, and Lead-Out will render the lead paint non-hazardous.  It is easy to use, because you simply brush or spray it on and it will lift the paint off the surface so you only have to wipe it off when it is doen.  If you are thinking about removing paint from your boat, then consider Lead-Out Paint Stripper.

When I bought my house last May, they said that it was a fixer upper.  That’s why I got it such a premium price.  But I don’t think that I truly understood what a fixer upper really was until I tried to do some of the fixing myself.  That’s when I realized that I needed either a lot of time or a lot of help. 

I chose time so that I could get the project done on my own and truly feel like this was my house that I was stepping into: the House that Janet Built.  So I went to the store and the first thing I bought was paint removal tools so that I could take out the God awful pain that was marring the outside of the house.  Next maybe some plumbing?

When shopping for paint removal supplies you want to compare different products just like any other shopping.  The criteria you use should include safety, coverage area, price, and intended use.

To consider the safety of a paint stripper, you should look at pH, VOCs, toxicity, and causticity.  The pH of a substance can range from 1 (most acidic) to 10 (most basic).  High and low pH can cause chemical burns.  Look for a neutral pH of around 4-6.  VOCs are Volatile Organic Compounds and these compounds are hazardous to our health.  Look for a paint stripper with less than 1% VOC content.  Toxic substances have to be labelled as toxic with appropriate warnings.  Methylene Chloride is common toxic paint stripper and the fumes from it can harm your eyes and lungs.  Methlylene Chloride and other paint strippers are caustic, which means they will burn your skin if you touch it.  Chemical burns can be very painful.  Non-caustic paint strippers will say non-caustic on the package or in the product information.  All relevant safety information should be readily available on the package on a product information page.

Coverage area, price, and intended use should be considered together, because $25 for a gallon that covers 20 square feet is not as good a deal as $78 for a gallon that covers 120 square feet.  The same goes for a cheaper paint stripper that only removes oil based paint or latex paint, but not both. 

Lead-Out® Paint Stripper removes lead based paint, oil based paint, latex paint, milk paint, and others off wood, brick, masonry, steel, and other metals.  This industrial strength paint stripper covers 80-120 square feet per gallon.  It is non-toxic and non-caustic with a VOC content of less than 0.25%.  Also, it has a neutral pH as the main ingredient is American grown soy beans.  You should look for yourself and compare paint strippers before buying.

If you’re going to strip lead paint yourself, you need to have specific instruments to be able to do the job safely.  Here’s a short list of paint removal tools that you’ll need to strip lead paint:

A Mask
This will protect you against fumes and dust.  Breathing in lead debris can be very hazardous.

Coverall
Covering the rest of your body will ensure that lead paint chips and dust won’t get into on exposed skin, and you won’t spread the lead paint dust to other places.

Lead Paint Stripper                                                                                                                                               A safe paint stripper is necessary to contain the lead dust and make it easy for you to remove the paint without a lot of work. 

Scraper
It’s the main tool for “scraping” lead paint.  Being without this is like being a knight without a sword.