9 ms·

It sounds like a problem of poverty means old buildings were never decontaminated.

bcrosby95 5y ago
It's also an issue of disrepair. Any house built in the 70s (or before) in California probably has lead paint. Which is a lot of them - that's when the primary population booms occurred. Those houses aren't being stripped of all paint, instead you need to keep the paint in good condition.
- geekbird 5y ago
  I literally can't get my 1904 Victorian house painted with any of the modern energy saving paint on the outside because the contractors all look at the age of the house and say "that's a lead job" and then can't find a remediation contractor, plus want to charge me $100k for a paint job. But the house has been pressure washed and repainted with lead-free pain by the former owner. Has me tearing my hair, since I'm disabled and can't climb ladders to do it myself. So my house has a decaying paint job.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
johncessna 5y ago
It's a hard problem. Remediating lead is expensive. The standard appears that you sign an attestation that you don't know there's lead in the house. This leads to a situation where no one actually does any testing. Lead pipes and contaminated ground have their own challenges, but I was under the impression that the cheap way to remediate lead paint was to paint over it. Is that not the case, or have these places not been painted in 45 years?
- errcorrectcode 5y ago
  It's "screw the poor by sticking ones head in the sand." Paint chips. Kids touch the paint underneath, don't wash their hands, and then ingest toxic residue with their food.
  - randomifcpfan 5y ago
    No, what happens is they eat the paint chips, because lead is sweet. https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/publications/health-matters/lead-poising-is-your-child-at-risk https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/publications/health-matt...
    - errcorrectcode 5y ago
      I gave an example that didn't exclude any possibility, while you're disagreeing with a linear, all-or-nothing, black-and-white proclamation. Clearly you have an omniscient view into all child behavior. Please enlighten me as to how exactly, in specific detail, that you came about this fountain of perfect knowledge.
- sokoloff 5y ago
  If you have a window or door that inherently rubs during usage, merely painting over it won’t fully eliminate the lead dust exposure. Similarly, chipping paint (from ordinary wear) will often chip off all layers of paint. Painting over it helps, but isn’t an elimination.

It's also an issue of disrepair. Any house built in the 70s (or before) in California probably has lead paint. Which is a lot of them - that's when the primary population booms occurred. Those houses aren't being stripped of all paint, instead you need to keep the paint in good condition.

geekbird 5y ago
I literally can't get my 1904 Victorian house painted with any of the modern energy saving paint on the outside because the contractors all look at the age of the house and say "that's a lead job" and then can't find a remediation contractor, plus want to charge me $100k for a paint job. But the house has been pressure washed and repainted with lead-free pain by the former owner. Has me tearing my hair, since I'm disabled and can't climb ladders to do it myself. So my house has a decaying paint job.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

johncessna 5y ago

It's a hard problem. Remediating lead is expensive. The standard appears that you sign an attestation that you don't know there's lead in the house. This leads to a situation where no one actually does any testing. Lead pipes and contaminated ground have their own challenges, but I was under the impression that the cheap way to remediate lead paint was to paint over it. Is that not the case, or have these places not been painted in 45 years?

errcorrectcode 5y ago
It's "screw the poor by sticking ones head in the sand." Paint chips. Kids touch the paint underneath, don't wash their hands, and then ingest toxic residue with their food.
- randomifcpfan 5y ago
  No, what happens is they eat the paint chips, because lead is sweet. https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/publications/health-matters/lead-poising-is-your-child-at-risk https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/publications/health-matt...
  - errcorrectcode 5y ago
    I gave an example that didn't exclude any possibility, while you're disagreeing with a linear, all-or-nothing, black-and-white proclamation. Clearly you have an omniscient view into all child behavior. Please enlighten me as to how exactly, in specific detail, that you came about this fountain of perfect knowledge.
sokoloff 5y ago
If you have a window or door that inherently rubs during usage, merely painting over it won’t fully eliminate the lead dust exposure. Similarly, chipping paint (from ordinary wear) will often chip off all layers of paint. Painting over it helps, but isn’t an elimination.