Exterior Lead Paint and aluminum siding

[simpsongal]

Ugh, I'm not surprised but our garage door and the columns in front of our house tested positive for lead. They desparately need to be scraped, cleaned, and repainted. I was planning on doing it myself but DH thinks we should hire a professional.

WWYD? Does anyone have experience working over lead paint?

I may as well add another exterior issue - I want to paint our aluminum siding. There's an instructional video on "This Old House" that says to use a TSP + bleach solution to clean first. Does anyone on the board have experience working w/aluminum siding?

[penguin23]

In MA you have to hire a certified in lead paint removal person. Our neighbors in our condo building had their windows replaced, and there front door was sealed off with plastic, there was a sign up, etc. The house we are buying has some lead paint around the door frames, so we had to find a contractor that is certified in lead paint removal to remove and replace the entire frame. Lead paint is really common in New England, so its not hard to find someone here.

[FoxInFiji]

Yes it's against the law to DIY it here too. Check your state/local laws. Abatement itself isn't hard it's how you clean up and what you do with the lead paint chips that is difficult. You can't just toss it in the trash to go pollute a landfill somewhere. You have to pay to get rid of it at a hazardous waste facility.

[emjacobs]

My county (Just south of the NoVA area) requires a professional, although VA as a whole doesn't have a law against DIY'ing it.

Looking at your location I would assume all of the NoVA area and all of the DC metro area to have local laws against DIY'ing.

[ssmjlm]

No idea on the lead, but I wouldn't DIY it for my own personal sanity.

As for painting aluminum siding, we looked into it, but our was so oxidized it wasn't worth it. And we wanted our fascia and soffits wrapped anyways. We got a quote for $5k to clean, prime and paint the siding. DH's friend quoted us $9k for new siding and that was before the credit for recycling the old.

[simpsongal]

It doesn't look like professional lead abatement is required. I'm thinking of using a chemical stripper - that way I don't get dust and pieces flying like a scraper or grinder. Of course I would wear gloves and a respirator. Maybe I'll just get a quote....

[heliocentric]

Peel Away is a good option if you don't want to worry about getting it airborne (breathing in lead dust is a big problem for children). You'll still need to look into your local requirements for disposal, though.

[sierramist03]

I'm in Kansas but even here you have to put traps on the ground for the scraping to be collected on. We DIY it with a power washer but I know it depends on your area restrictions.