How to deal with lead paint on old floors
Standard sanding is unsafe when old wooden floors test positive for lead paint, leaving homeowners unsure of how to proceed without poisoning themselves or their families. Because hiring professionals is often too expensive, people are forced to look for DIY alternatives or other remediation methods they have no prior experience with.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Covering the floor with 1/4 inch underlayment and troweled floor patch
- 2Painting over the lead paint
- 3Attempting liquid paint stripping
- 4Enclosing or encapsulating the lead paint by framing and drywalling stacks
- 5Using self-leveler or an uncoupling membrane to cover and encapsulate the paint before tiling
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“The light green paint on the column and chimney stack, as well as the dark green paint on the slab contain lead.”source ↗
“The slab is chipped away in places, cracked, and uneven.”source ↗
“The already sub 6 foot headspace should be considered.”source ↗
“I have no experience with tiling or laying any floor but, due to money concerns, DIY is probably my only option.”source ↗
“i just tested the original floor, and all 3 different color spots its all lead paint. so now i think sanding is not an option if we dont want to poison ourselves.”source ↗
“who has experience iwth lead paint on floors? what did you do with it? what do you recommend?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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