Elevated Lead & Dept. of Health

Hi everyone, One of my children’s lead test level came back slightly elevated.  My pediatrician isn’t overly concerned since the level wasn’t very much above the current standard but she mentioned that the Dept. of Health would probably be coming to inspect our home.  Does anyone have any experience with this type of matter and know what I can expect from the DOH? Thank you,

bk_bstoner1

in Inspection 13 years and 3 months ago

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JohnGromkoski | 13 years and 2 months ago

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The most common methods of lead poisoning is through drinking water, lead dust or chipped paint ingestion.  A visual inspection of your house should provide you with a fairly good idea or direction what areas may need to be addressed.  To determine if you have a lead water main service, locate your water main (your water meter is attached to it) and inpsect the pipe that penetrates the foundation wall.  Does it look like copper (copper colored or green), or is is grey like lead?  If it is lead it will also have a bulge in it near where it connects to the water meter.  This is a clear sign that it is lead.  Remember, however that even if the main water service is not lead, lead solder was used when joining the water distribution piping in the house and could also be a source for lead tainted water, so a water test is still recommended.  Lead dust is caused by peeling paint, rubbing doors on frames, and window ledges just as others have said.  If you have older wood windows, this a good chance that lead can be found here, same with the doors.  Peeling paint on tubs, radiators, walls, doors, window frames and sills, or any other painted surface should also be identified and tested.  Encapsulating and maintining these areas is recommended unless you want to deal with a removal and remediation which can be expensive. And one last thing, if you have carpeting in your home you may want to consider that lead dust can be trapped in the carpet and using a regular household vacuum may fill the air with lead dust when vacuuming.  You should use only a True Hepa vacuum which captures 99.97 percent of small particulates down to 0.3 microns, including lead and mold spores.

callalily | 13 years and 2 months ago

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If you do have visible peeling paint somewhere, by all means take care of it and do it in a safe way (encapsulate, wet it down, don’t sand, etc.).

bk_bstoner1 | 13 years and 2 months ago

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thank you restorationcon. i will pick up some of the suggested kits as well

restorationcontractor | 13 years and 2 months ago

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Lead certified contractor here. Have you had your child retested, sometimes lead tests can show higher than actual lead levels. Do you have your original windows? Windows with lead paint have wear surfaces that deposit lead dust on the window sills when they are opened and closed. This is the most likely spot for lead contamination. Kids put their hands on the sills, when they inevitably put their hands in their mouth they ingest the lead. Any wear surface such as doors that are rubbing, etc. should be tested for lead and repaired if needed. It is a myth that you need to have chipping peeling paint for children to eat. It is also possible they may have picked up lead dust at another location. You don’t need to have someone come in to test, you can buy inexpensive test kits at local home centers or online. Just be sure to read and follow the instructions. I wouldn’t take this lightly, lead poisoning in children is serious and can have permanent effects, it can adversely affect the health of adults also. You should check out the epa website at; http://www.epa.gov/lead/  A Pdf download of the brochure is availiable at http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovaterightbrochure.pdf

JMT | 13 years and 3 months ago

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And despite the dismissive comment above about the tub, you should seriously have it checked. It’s a known source of lead contamination.

JMT | 13 years and 3 months ago

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Following up on the soil testing suggestion, Brooklyn College does this for a very small fee, like $10\. They have a web site with instructions on what to do.

bk_bstoner1 | 13 years and 3 months ago

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thanks so much for the feedback and insight everyone. my child’s level wasn’t far off so i’m guessing that the doh visit isn’t mandatory (normal range is 0-4 and our baby’s level was 6). if anyone know of which site these guidelines can be found please let me know. at any rate, everyone seems to have the same viewpoint of the doh so that’s a can of worms that we won’t open at this time. thanks again

bedstuy06 | 13 years and 3 months ago

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We are going through this ourselves and wish that we had posted a question on Bstoner before we let the DOH in.  It was not clear to us that the DOH lead testing of our home was elective at blood lead level that our child had and it was not clear to us that there were serious regulations that came with a positive result.  We also did not realize that the instrument they use to measure lead samples by x-ray, so if there is any lead in the wall, whether it is painted over or not, the result will be positive for lead.  We let them test two walls before it became clear what the regulations were for repair (drywall encapsulation) and that the test was elective.  If we had continued on with the test, our entire brownstone with original detail would have been drywalled top to bottom and we would gone broke paying for the lead abatement repair.  The cost of repairing ( drywalling a foyer and stripping the outdoor understoop entry) is about 5k we know that it was not the cause of our child’s elevated blood lead level.  If we had to do over again, we would never have let the DOH in and would have hired a private company to do wipe tests and surface tests throughout the entire house so that we could identify the real cause.  I guess we were naive.  we thought that the DOH was going to try to help us identify the direct cause of the elevated lead level but they only operate in a very rigid way that does not allow people to maintain the historic detail of their home and identify and fix the actual lead problems.  It was a very  frustrating and expensive experience in what is a total nightmare scenario for any parent.

pigthree | 13 years and 3 months ago

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If you have and use a back yard, have the soil checked.  there is more lead in the air of a subway station as an express passes through that you could ever get from a tub.

JMT | 13 years and 3 months ago

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You don’t have to let the DoH in, you can politely decline. And you probably don’t want them in your house, or else you might be compelled to do some pretty ridiculous things, like covering up all plaster walls with drywall…just follow instructions and advice about keeping paint in good shape and frequently wet-mop the floor, because that’s where kids can pick up lead. You can also order a lead-water test kit from the city. And don’t overlook the bathtub, a lot of old tubs have lead in the glaze and if your kid takes baths it is very easy for lead to leach into warm water and then be ingested — all kids swallow bathwater, some actually like to do it. Use the red-is-lead test swabs, and if there is lead in the glaze, have it reglazed — costs about $400