Lead Paint Testing Brisbane

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At Surepaint, we use professional lead testing kits that are applied to the surface of your home to determine if it contains lead. These kits help us decide what precautions to take to prepare your home for repainting.

The testing kit contains a chemical coated swab that reacts to the presence of lead. Our kits typically use rhodizonate, a non-hazardous chemical. The swab is dipped in the liquid and applied to various surfaces to check if it contains any lead. The surface and the swab will turn red to indicate the presence of lead.

Due to older houses typically having multiple coats of paint reapplied over the years, the top coats of many homes in Brisbane are acrylic paint, which won’t contain any lead. However, it’s essential to check the undercoatings. Often the initial coat has also penetrated the timber, meaning the wood also contains traces of lead.

When preparing a house for painting, undertaking lead paint testing is an important safety step. The best preparation for a smooth finish involves scraping and sanding through multiple coatings built up over many years. In addition, when we prepare for a new paint job, we typically use a sander which removes a lot of paint. For the safety of everyone, it’s essential to establish if the undercoatings contain lead and if so, make sure to remove all paint safely.

Lead Paint Testing

How do I know if the paint on my house paint contains lead?

As discussed above, there is a range of lead-detecting tests available to ascertain whether or not coats of paint contain lead. These can be easily applied and instantly identify how much of your property features lead-based paint, to work out how best to approach your project. Typically, houses built before 1970 in Brisbane are likely to contain lead paint. Most people used lead-based paint before the federal government banned it in 1978. If your house is pre-1950’s, then it’s likely to contain a higher concentration of lead, as paints in this time typically had higher concentrations of lead.

What about asbestos? Can you check whether or not my house also has asbestos?

Most buildings built before 1970 contain asbestos. Due to safety precautions, we cannot do any chemical removal, water blasting or wet sand over asbestos. The asbestos needs to be entirely removed by a professional asbestos removalist.

We do not provide asbestos removal services, though we can refer you to someone who can help you.

Like lead-paint removal, asbestos needs to be undertaken by professionals due to the level of danger involved.

If your home features aged stucco on exterior walls, which was popular for decorative purposes in older homes, it may contain asbestos underneath. Unfortunately, we can’t prepare surfaces until all the asbestos is removed safely.

Are there standards that you follow when removing lead paint?

As experts in paint removal in Brisbane, we use products and methods that have been approved by both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Queensland Government Department of Environment and Heritage Protection when we remove lead paint. Our team for lead paint encapsulation in Brisbane follows best-practice procedures to ensure that everyone on site is kept safe and isn’t unnecessarily exposed to any lead while we work.