Found out old lead paint can be under 5 layers of latex

I was stripping trim from a 1920s house in Detroit and got down to what I thought was bare wood. But there was this weird grey chalky layer underneath. I grabbed a lead test kit from the hardware store and sure enough it came back positive. So even if you've stripped off years of paint jobs, that original lead layer could still be hiding down there. Has anyone else run into this while sanding old woodwork?

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william_miller8d ago

Yep found the exact same thing in my 1890s row house in Philly. I was sanding window trim and hit that same grey chalky mess. Test came back hot too. Heres what I did and it worked pretty well. I switched to a chemical stripper like Citristrip so I wouldnt kick up any dust. I just painted it on thick and let it sit overnight. A plastic scraper took it all off without any sanding. That way the lead stays wet and contained. Just make sure you wear gloves and a respirator even with the chemical stuff. The dust is really the main danger with lead so avoiding sanding is the big trick.