I am in the middle of fairly major household renovations, and the next job, having removed the panelling from the panelled-in banisters (all the rage in the 1970s no doubt, but made the stairwell incredibly dark) is to strip off the old paint and (hopefully) achieve a wood finish that can be stained/varnished.
I have already made a start on this, but then the thought struck me - lead. All the packaging of sandpaper, paint stripper etc has a standard warning “Care must be taken when sanding pre-1960s surfaces as these may contain lead-based paints…” but that’s rather vague. My house was built in 1964 (at the earliest), as far as I know.
I have Googled, but only seem to be able to find the date it was banned in the USA (1978) and Australia (1920s), with some sites saying it “had been banned in Europe for many years” by the time it was banned in America.
So does anyone know the actual year it was banned in the UK? I know that is not a guarantee that some old paint may have been used, but it would be nice to know.
(Obviously I am wearing goggles and a dust mask when sanding, but inevitably some dust escapes and will find its way around the house… which kind of raises the question, what the hell are you supposed to do if the paint does contain lead…?)
If the paint contains lead, you are supposed to just paint over it, or remove and replace the affected timbers (disturbing the paintwork as little as possible), or use a non-dust-making removal method (relying on the safe method of using highly caustic chemical stripping agents), or get the professionals in.
Well, that’s what I have been doing, so far, but even after using three coats of Nitromors there’s still a bit of residual paint in the grain which can only be removed by sanding.
Why the hell did people ever think it was a good idea to paint over all that lovely wood grain with thick white gloss paint (not to mention ripping out the original spindles and panelling over the gap with hardboard, which they then covered with “wood grain effect” wallpaper)?
The advice sheet on lead paint and the law says that lead paint was banned from general use by an EU directive in 1988, but a 1989 alteration to the directive allowed lead paint to be used specifically for works of art and historic buildings (grades I and II* listed buildings, not grade II listed buildings).
The general advice is that up until the mid 1960s, lead paint was widely used. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful than that.
The Defra general advice page I linked to gives some advice on safe working practice, and there is more specific advice on this advice sheet. Final removal of paint residue should be done by wet sanding with waterproof abrasive paper, it says.
Thanks Tansu. I have some “wet and dry” sandpaper so I will moisten it down to be on the safe side, and be a bit more careful with the clothes I wear for it.
I should* be OK I think, as the house was built in the mid-1960s and I think the banisters were originally varnished, with the paint being added at a later date by a previous owner. I might see if I can find one of those testing kits, just for peace of mind.
