Can you safely paint over old paint which may contain lead?
Is is necessary to remove all the old paint from old furniture which may have lead paint or is it sufficient to lightly sand and paint over it?
it is the sanding that releases the lead into the air and it then settles on the ground. that’s why you shouldn’t plant vegetables next to an old house. you should either use a chemical stripper to strip the paint off, which leaves you with lead paint sludge to dispose of, or paint over it as is. once it is completely covered it is not harmful anymore, until the paint chips. there are company’s that do paint stripping for you. there are a couple of ways they do it, some dip the pieces in a tank of hot stripper and soak it for a while, others wash it with stripper. depending on how valuable the pieces are, you may want to check to see if their way will damage the glue that holds the pieces together. good luck, hope this helps.
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