Young House Love

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How To Test For Lead

We’ve had a few moments lately where I’ve thought to myself, “self, this is not ideal.” And you know we like sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly around here, so here are three things that fall into the latter two categories.

First we have this page I saw in Domino magazine with a mixture of black and white frames, which inspired me to add some black frames to the grouping over our TV in the living room (initially I was leaning towards a few black mats and some darker art).

Electricaltape1

So I thought I’d be clever and use black electrical tape on the front of a few of our frames to “get the look” without breaking out any paint (or committing to anything permanent, in case I hated the result).

  Electric Tape1

About a half-hour later I had some really fun black-fronted frames (I like the contrast of the white on the side) and even cut the tape into eight 3-inch strips to make the corner detail on that frame in the top right.

  Electric Tape2

They definitely helped to tie into the dark TV and in general I was pretty proud of myself for a while there.

  Electric Tape4

And then a few days later I noticed it. The tape was puckering up and peeling and generally just looked terrible. Maybe washi tape is cool for projects like these, but electrcial tape…? No dice. It seems that it shrinks up over time and literally pulls itself right off the corners and eventually falls on the floor in a jumbled mess. It only took a few days for some of the frames to completely detach. But that wasn’t the worst part. Some of the glossier frames were unscathed, but the chalkier white matte frames ended up with black smudges on them from the tape. Boo! I tried some Goo Gone on a few of them and it didn’t seem to work, so I’m thinking I’ll break out the Magic Eraser and see if that does. If not, I’ll be re-painting these bad boys to get them back from their smudged and dirty looking state.

Smudgy Frame

So let that be a lesson to you. Washi tape or black paint or even contact paper might have worked, but electrical tape = no bueno. Onto the next oops moment! Remember when we posted about how we have transplanted this maple tree in our last three homes? It’s an offshoot from a gorgeous maple at John’s childhood home and was a gift from his parents to us in our first house that we’ve moved with us each time. When we wrote that post, all was well in Mapleville, and it was looking like this…

Maple In Earth

But maybe it just took the deer a few weeks to decide that they wanted to have it for brunch? We never quite caught them in the act, but over the following weeks we noticed it was looking less full and a little nibbled, especially down below. Noooo! We didn’t want to lose this tree baby of ours, so we ran out to Home Depot and grabbed some black netting to throw over it. We’ve seen neighbors deter deer in the same way (we chatted a few of them up about what didn’t work for them as well, which was everything from human hair and Irish Spring soap to deer sprays and – cringe – animal urine). So since the black netting was neighborhood approved, we went straight for that.

Netted Tree Detail

And I’m happy to report that this oops has a happy ending, because the deer don’t seem interested in the maple anymore, and you can only see the netting if you’re literally about an inch away from the tree (it’s on in the shot below, but it’s nearly impossible to see). So… so far, so good.

Maple Netted

The cool thing is that there are a ton of healthy bigger maples in our neighborhood that the deer don’t bother at all (they only nibble low branches that they can reach) so we’re holding out hope that in a few years our tree will be all “haha, you can’t reach me!” to those deer, and we can free it from its netted prison.

For our third act, we have the biggest “bad” in this group. Especially since I’m a paranoid prego person. LEAD! I don’t know if it was mommy intuition or what, but something in my head kept saying “check the doors in the dining room for lead, since those metal frames around each pane look suspect”). It was probably because there was a black powdery dust in the cabinets when I wiped them down back when we moved in (which in my head said “wait, if that’s coming off the metal frames, I should test those because it’s clearly not staying contained). We don’t hang out in there much at all (maybe once a month) and Clara doesn’t play there and we don’t store anything in those cabinets yet, but I still wouldn’t put something dangerous in two corners of a room and say “heck, we don’t hang out in there much so it’s fine.” So I guess that realization is what drove me to break out a lead test kit.

Lead Test1

I love these things. They’re cheap from Home Depot and you just snap them and shake them and then rub the tip on any surface that you want to test for lead. I, being the super-freaked-out-by-potentially-dangerous-things person that I am, never touched the metal grates around the glass during testing (I didn’t want to actually get any potential lead dust on my hands or anything) so I just let the stick touch them for me as I rubbed them gently for a quick test. Within about ten seconds…

Lead Test2

…they came up positive. Ahhh! If the test stick stays white or turns slightly yellow, it’s negative, but if it’s pink or red (or in this case, neon red) you got some serious lead on ya hands.

Lead Test 3

It was this strange feeling of “gotta wash my hands even thought I didn’t touch it!” and “I KNEW it! For some reason I just knew it!” – so the doors have since been removed by John and placed in the corner of the garage that Clara and Burger can’t even access if they wanted to (they’re blocked in by a bunch of other buckets). Update: As for what we’ll do with the doors, we’re hoping to find an antiques vendor who knows how to handle lead to see if they’re interested instead of sending them straight to the hazardous waste area of our recycling center (I hope someone who knows how to safely seal them or rebuild them will rescue them).

Another update: When it comes to lead paint (both of our previous houses had it) the recommendation is usually just to paint over it with fresh paint to seal it in, but in this case we worried that black dust in the cabinets was lead dust, so we didn’t want it falling all over our cabinets and the floor to be breathed in by anyone since the two main ways to get lead poisoning are 1) by ingesting it or 2) by inhaling lead dust. We also realized if we ever wanted to store serving dishes and platters in those cabinets, they could end up with lead dust on them if the doors stayed, which sounds like a bad time.

John also wiped down all the shelves and the floor and the walls around the doors with TSP, just to be safe (you can read more about lead safety/testing/protocols, etc here).

Lead Doors Off

Thankfully we’ve seen pretty corner built-ins without doors (like these over on A Beautiful Mess) so we still hope to make those cabinets over someday, and in the meantime, it’s nice to know there’s not any lead lurking in the corners of the dining room anymore. Any oops moments going on at your house? Are you breaking out the black netting or some magic erasers to remedy them? Do they tend to happen in threes to you too?

Comments

  1. Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says

    I was going to suggest the washi tape but you beat me to it. ;) I think you were onto something with the look though.

    People will totally snag those regardless of the lead. Especially an upcycle antique store that might deal with that quite a bit.

    Have a great weekend guys!

    Reply

  4. Nancy says

    Dang. Leaded glass is beautiful but guess its called “leaded” for a reason. Speaking of which I’m also told to be wary of leaded crystal. As in your fancy liquor in the beautiful canister will be contaminated. Old dishes are suspect too I think.

    Reply

    • Emily says

      This is true. All our of wedding crystal is real, lead crystal. Safe for occasional drinking (especially after a 24 hour soak in a vinegar solution when newly purchased), but not for any prolonged storing of liquor. The acid leaches the lead out of the glass and into what you drink– actually one of the causes of gout among royal/noble families back in the day. So, my husband’s collection of vintage decanters are display-only…. he has other, non-leaded glass decanters for actual use.

    • Lindsey d. says

      Well, this comment led me down a rabbit hole. And ended with a decision to stop using my vintage dishes immediately and make them decorative only. :(

    • Emily says

      I’ve been told to avoid original fiestaware in dark blue/purple colors for that reason. Apparently the glaze is lots of lead.

    • Emily says

      I didn’t mean to scare anyone off! We still use- and love- our crystal! Just not all day, every day. And, its not like you’re sniffing the finish off you dishes :) Just something to be aware of!

      At the risk of making things worse, it’s also true of original Fiestaware… but it’s actually uranium in the glaze. Everybody say “whaaaaaaat”. Old Fiesta only! The new stuff is totally fine.

    • Nichole K says

      I’ve done a lot of pottery (i.e. with a throwing wheel) and my teaches told me that any glaze that’s red, blue or purple probably has lead in it to achieve those colors – and they warned us to wash like crazy after we used them. So, all of my high school and college cobalt blue pottery is decorative only.

      I love handmade pottery but, just to be careful, I try to avoid using it with food for this reason.

  5. andrea says

    Poo on the tape messing with the frames! But I do think it looks awesome. Washi tape might be too matte if you decide you like the look enough to make it more permanent -I think the gloss/sheen is what makes it so high end looking.

    Reply

  7. Peggy Mckee says

    I’m confused. Which part of the cabinet door has lead? The glass? The paint? Your lead test stick is on the dividers between the panes and seems to be on the inside of the door.

    If the lead is in the metal dividers, what kind of metal is it? What I’m wondering is whether other metals besides lead give a positive test result.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yes, the metal edging pieces (not the glass itself) had lead. I believe it’s called leaded glass, but I’m not sure (even though the lead is in the border pieces of metal and not the glass). I think a lot of stained glass has lead as well in those border pieces around it, so hanging it out of reach is probably best for kids. Anyone have more info for Peggy?

      xo
      s

    • Emily R says

      leaded glass is called that because the individual pains of glass (which may or may not have lead in them) are held together with strips of lead. Lead is safe to touch. People who make stained glass windows touch it everyday. You just don’t want to ingest it. And I imagine folks who touch it all the time everyday use gloves. Adults have to consume LARGE amounts of lead to get lead poisoning. Children are who you really need to be concerned about. A lot of things can have trace amounts of lead in them, even your food.

  8. Mary | Lemon Grove Blog says

    Ah, yes. That tried and true oops moment – par for the course I think if you’re a DIY’er ;) By the way – LOVE the black and white frame idea, you should totally paint them to get the same look.

    Also, a question on the lead paint. How do you guys know that it’s just limited to the built-in? Are you going to test the rest of the trim, etc? Just curious, since this is something I get rather paranoid about too!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Our house was actually built after lead paint was phased out, so we did a test on some of the trim just to be sure during inspection but it came back clear. I think another reason the built-ins were suspect to me is because they appear to be antiques, so I wanted to test those old doors to be sure they weren’t harbroring anything since they’re older than the house. I did check the wood/paint on them and it was clean, so I was glad it was just those doors.

      xo
      s

    • Erin says

      A friend of mine and her husband live in an old house–their 1-year old tested high for lead and it was determined that lead dust was in the air ducts from renovation that they had done. I had also previously thought that lead needed to be ingested to be harmful but now I know that inhaling it has consequences, too.

  9. Emily R says

    I feel a little in the dark regarding the lead. My understanding was always that you had to ingest it for it to harm you (unless of course you work with it in some sort of industrial setting and it is an occupational hazard because it is in the air/water/soil). Unless Clara and Burger start licking the mullions I’d imagine they’d be fine. It’s not like they are chipping or flaking so they aren’t becoming air borne. Are you just being hyper-cautious?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Our understanding is that lead should be sealed in and shouldn’t be able to be touched/rubbed upon by anyone since that can release inhale-able lead dust particles in certain instances. So even if you have lead paint, I believe the protocol is to paint over it with fresh new non-lead paint to seal it in. We hear one of the more annoying ways to get lead poisoning is actually through the aerated lead dust coming off of something (so it’s not just kids eating paint chips that they worry about). We added a link to today’s post with lots of lead info for ya if that helps!

      xo
      s

    • Kaija says

      I agree with Emily R. I’ve done some leaded glass work and what our instructor told was that it’s completely safe as long as you don’t inhale fumes, touch it with open cuts in your hands (obvious hazard when working with glass!) or eat it. She works with lead every day and and has a blood test yearly, and has never seen any elevated levels.

      But… knowing the effects of lead exposure, I wouldn’t blame anyone for being extrasuperduper careful and taking all precautions, esp. when the little ones are in question!

      Good luck!

    • Liz says

      Just a little FYI.

      My brother while home shopping fell in love with a condo. Before putting in an offer he was presented with a legal document regarding the age of the condo and it containing lead. So, basically long story short he had to sign it stating that if he were to get sick he can’t legally come after them. As he was well aware of the lead. It also had a section about renovations, if you wished to do so, how to go about it properly because of the lead.

      It can be serious if not looked after right, or handled properly.

      Having young children and pets in the house, there are no guarantees that they won’t be licking the glass doors. My boys use to lick the mirrored closet doors, same with my cousins kids…weird I know, but hey that’s what we do when we are young….lol. That’s the time to get away with that weird stuff, could you imagine an adult doing it? We’d be considered a whack job, kids it’s cute. Then dogs, well they lick everything around the house if it’s left laying around or maybe that couch just looks good enough to taste.

      ;)

    • Emily R says

      I also had to sign that same waiver when I bought my condo in Boston. It’s just something that is standard here. If you are an adult, and you have lead paint in the house it is fine. Like I said, it’s really kids you have to worry about. And you have to get the lead IN YOUR BODY. An adult can safely remove and dispose of lead paint. Or keep it. If it’s in good condition and not chipping, and you can keep yourself from gnawing on your trim, you’ll be fine. Everyone seems to be getting lead crazy. Yes, it is dangerous if you eat it, breathe a lot in. But let’s not all go off the deep end.

  12. Lucia says

    I’ve kept the deer away by sprinkling human hair cuttings (after cutting my husband’s hair) around plants. So, after you cut John’s hair, sprinkle what you sweep up around the maple tree and see if it helps.

    Reply

    • Amber says

      When we lived in WA, people swore by adding hair clippings to their gardens to keep the deer away. Local salons would give out hair clippings by the garbage bag!

    • Krissy says

      My mom uses a homemade spray… You take a windex-size spray bottle, put 6 or 8 (I can’t remember, I think 8) beat eggs in, and fill the rest with water, then spray on the plant. The only problem is you have to reapply after rain. It works for her and they have TONS of deer around.

    • tracy says

      i’ve tried everything to keep the deer away here in connecticut and nothing works (except fencing and netting). my advice to you is to be real careful about what you plant in your yard come spring. talk to somone at a local nursery (not home depot etc) and they will be able to tell you what plants the deer most likely won’t eat. the deer ate my holly bushes last winter. can you say ouch! it’s a real bummer to spend all the money and time on plants and have the deer eat them. by the way i read every day and have never commented. just want to say i love your new house and can’t wait to see everything you are doing!

  13. Sarah says

    We’ve discovered the best thing ever for all of our “oops moments”. Turtle Wax Multi-purpose Label and Sticker Remover! It can pretty much tackle anything. We’ve taken sticker and tape residue off and it even works on paint! I spilled a good sized dollop of bright teal paint on our concrete patio that was really noticeable. After a few sprays of this stuff and rubbing it down with a brush and some water, you can’t even tell. It’s the best stuff ever. It can be found here: http://www.walmart.com/ip/16888956?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=3. Good luck! And I actually like your corner hutch door free! Can’t wait to see how you make them over! :)

    Reply

  14. Alli says

    Better safe than sorry! And very glad your tree story turned out ok, I love Maple trees!

    My brother and his wife were in Europe and went to the Waterford Crystal factory and bought a couple snowflake ornaments since it’s a family tradition of ours to pick up a christmas ornament to commemorate a trip. They had it packed away in their packs and didn’t think much of it until they got stopped going through airport security when their bags were scanned. The ornaments were leaded crystal and the security folks thought they were carrying ninja style throwing stars, ha! Thankfully my brother and sister in law got a good laugh and story out of it :)

    Reply

    • Stephanie says

      That happened to us too! My in-laws gave us these leaded crystal knife rests (or something like it). On the way back home, it gave the TSA a lot of confusion. What are we seeing on the monitors? What is that? Oh these 40 year old knife rests!

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Such a cute little octopus! She loved it! There’s a pic on Facebook/instagram. It was awesome to see her glowing down the street! And neighbors said the rhythm of her walking looked just like a jellyfish bouncing down the street from afar! Haha!

      xo
      s

  17. Lizzy says

    Was the lead on the glass painted? I don’t think there is harm in having leaded glass in the house unless it’s painted, chipping and small children or animals eat the chips. The leaded glass itself won’t cause harm because it doesn’t flake. I understand the nervousness though, but as a nurse who works in an inner city hospital where children do have lead poisoning, I think keeping the original leaded glass doors would be perfectly okay. Burger would have to lick and nibble the leaded glass for years before the lead caused harm.
    Also, I’m now picturing Burger licking the glass doors…

    Reply

    • Lizzy says

      Also, by saying all that- my point is that no damage has been done, but safety always comes first. I totally get the removal of the doors. Burger and sweet Clara (and baby) are the priority.

    • YoungHouseLove says

      There was black dust in the cabinets when I wiped them down when we moved in (which in my head said “wait, if that’s coming off the metal frames, I should test those because it’s clearly not staying contained). So that’s why I thought it was one of those “this could spread and get in places I don’t want it to” things instead of something like contained lead (like old lead paint that we have painted over with fresh paint to seal it in).

      xo
      s

  18. Peggy says

    The best thing I’ve heard of to deter deer is (get ready) human urine. I know, kinda gross. But if Someone will pee into a cup and you pour it out at the base of the tree, deer won’t come anywhere near it!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That’s so funny, we were just talking to a neighbor about that yesterday (regular old trick or treating conversations, haha!) and they said it didn’t work here! Maybe the deer got used to it?! Pretty hilarious.

      xo
      s

    • Lily says

      When I was trying to get pregnant with my oldest we were also trying to get rid of ground hogs under our shed. I couldn’t convince the dog to pee there, and my husband refused to pee on the shed to try to scare them away too. So, while doing ovulation and pregnancy tests, I peed in a cup, did my test, and dumped the excess near the shed.

      And no, it didn’t work. But I was willing to try anything at that point! Side note, several years later we still have ground hogs.

    • Annie says

      Yeah, when you have as many deer as you have, most tricks don’t work. You’ll probably find the same thing when you try and start a garden. Holly was about all I could grow when we had that many deer.

      I loved the look of the black frames, too bed the tape didn’t work. But, what I wanted to ask about was the stark white brick next to the yellowish cream wall. Are you going to get around to giving it a coat of the same tone that’s on the walls?

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Ah yes, the living room. It’s about 10% done, so we’re not sure where we’ll end up with the brick tone or the wall tone (either could end up changing down the line). I think next up is the dark woodwork and hopefully opening things up into the kitchen and adding built-ins down the line will help us decide on things like wall tones (we’re hoping the room will end up with a lot more light in there, which would change how everything reads anyway).

      xo
      s

  20. Jess! says

    You’re going to think this is gross, but a ‘natural’ deer repellent is dried blood. You can get it in powdered and powdered concentrate forms, and sprinkle it around the area where you want the deer to avoid.

    You can buy in it Canada, and there are approved deer repellents available in the USA, too.

    Reply

  21. Tirsa says

    Just wanted to let you know that you were featured in an article on American Lifestyle (a magazine still being sent to the previous owners of our house!) It’s called Ikea Iterations The Lack table three ways. It features five of your pictures. When I was browsing through the magazine before throwing it out, I thought, these pictures look familiar. Then I recognized your living room curtains and wall color (previous house) and then I went looking to see where it said Younghouselove. They credited you at the very end of the article and included a small pic of your book.

    Thought you’d want to know. :)

    Reply

  22. Megan says

    I understand your “better safe than sorry” approach, but those lead test kits are absurdly ineffective – even after professional lead abatement, a cheap test kit may register positive.
    Just don’t want everyone running out to get kits to check their homes and then feel completely stressed out about the results!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Megan! We’ve heard that from some people but have also heard from local lead experts who say they’re based on science and are affective (just not as full of info as a real expert in your house testing and giving more advice would be of course). We’ve had good luck with them (we also have pros test at inspections, so after buying three homes we have been able to compare these test kits to the pros, since we’ll use both just to see how it goes since tests are only a few bucks). Our experience has been that while the pros provide more info and more in depth analyses, the lead kits have offered up the same results every time. No false negatives or false positives for us so far!

      Update: Another commenter just mentioned these kits are the ones recommended by the EPA, which is why they only use this brand… and sure enough the front of the box says that! So maybe checking to be sure the kits people are using are EPA recognized makes for more accurate results?

      xo
      s

  23. lisa says

    Love the gallery wall with the tv! I’ve been wanting to do that in our house, but haven’t found the right inspiration yet. I must have missed your post about it, but just went back about 10 pages and didn’t see it?

    Reply

  24. Ginny @ Goofy Monkeys says

    Here’s my understanding about lead – it’s only dangerous if it’s ingested or inhaled. Paint with lead is an issue because it can peel/chip and kids can eat those or paint dust can be inhaled during a renovation. Leaded glass should be ok unless you think the kids will lick or chew it. Lead doesn’t leech particles into the air or anything.

    Either way – if you’re more comfortable with it out of the house, then go for it!

    Ugh – electrical tape is sorta icky like that. Are the frames gooey where the tape was stuck on? Maybe some goo-gone could help…

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yes, since we found that black dust in the cabinets when we moved in (which I believe was coming off of the lead frames) I believe it’s inhale-able, so out they went!

      xo
      s

  25. Callie says

    Great post! Too bad about that electrical tape. But I really liked the frame that you only put black tape on the corners – gave me the great idea that it would be super cool to get simple l-shaped flat brackets from the hardware store and screw them in to the corners for an industrial look!

    My biggest oops was probably when I removed some popcorn ceilings from our first house before having them tested for asbethos. I was just so excited to get rid of them that I ah, forgot, until afterward. I called around to a bunch of asbethos testing and safety centers afterward to see if there was any way to test afterward (I’d thrown away the debris and painted…). The concensus I got, fortunately, was that because I’d sprayed the popcorn heavily with water before scraping it off so there was almost no dust, we would be fine. The lovely African American lady I talked to at one testing center explained that it’s people who worked with asbethos for years who were usually the ones with resulting health problems.

    Still…I would definitely test first next time!

    Reply

    • Kate says

      Interesting.

      But… “the lovely African American lady I talked to at one testing center”. Why? Would you have mentionned she was a lovely caucausian lady? Why bring up her ethnicity, especially since the encounter was over the phone?

    • Amanda says

      I was wondering the exact same thing Kate & Emily! I’m sitting here racking my brain as to why it matters that she’s African American. I normally don’t post negative comments on others posts, but this one I couldn’t get over.

    • Libby says

      I’m wondering if her race had some significance but when writing the post was forgotten to be included. Like when telling a story you forget where it was going. Otherwise an odd inclusion to good information.

  26. Jenne says

    Definitely try sprinkling human hair around the maple tree. Either befriend a hairstylist, or perhaps a dog groomer (as I doubt Burger would shed enough to be helpful ;) )? It worked in that Dennis Quaid movie “The Rookie” for the high school baseball field :)

    Reply

  27. Kelly Seiler Vocke says

    Funny thing with the electrical tape. That shrinkage that makes it awesome for keeping the metal bits of wires extra secure is not so good for flat surfaces. Bummer about the smudging. You might try isopropyl alcohol.

    Reply

  28. Embeth says

    My neighbor was a stained glass artisan, and she was kind enough to mentor me when I was younger.

    My understanding is that the connective tracks between pieces of glass _is_ lead. (There are also techniques using metal foil, but the solder may still contain lead.)

    A person is likely to have lead exposure when working on stained glass–you are cutting things and heating them up–but I don’t think there is a lot of risk in simply owning glass with leading. (I did a quick search and could only find warnings for people making stained glass. Also, the lead isn’t chipping and creating dust–one of the primary issues with lead paint–and you aren’t touching it or eating off of it on a regular basis.) I would hate to readers get paranoid for no reason.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Sorry guys, I think people might be missing it in the post (I added a big bold update) but there was black dust in the cabinet when we moved in (which triggered the thought that it could be lead dust, and then I tested and believe that it was). If there wasn’t anything coming off of the metal I would probably just leave it (not sure though, I’m pretty paranoid) but seeing that dust = scary! My rag was black when I wiped those shelves down the first time.

      xo
      s

  29. Emma says

    I would be reluctant about selling or giving (not sure what you’re planning on doing) away anything that tested positive for lead on Craigslist. Even with the warning you mentioned. I suggest contacting your county’s hazardous waste authority and seeking some guidance on that because it might be either illegal or highly discouraged.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Emma! Someone mentioned that antique dealers might want the doors and they’d know how to deal with the lead issue, so I might contact a few local stores and see what they say! We are hearing in the comments that stained glass has lead in it (and that’s sold all the time) so I think as long as we’re cautious it’s less like hazardous waste and more like something some families might not want in their house, but that others don’t mind at all since they know how to deal with it :)

      xo
      s

    • eileen says

      I had the same thought. Why wouldn’t you dispose of them properly rather than expose a person who might not about dangers of lead poisoning?

    • YoungHouseLove says

      You have my word that I’ll give them to an expert like an antiques dealer who knows all about lead and how to deal with it! It’s certainly easier for us to bring them to the hazardous materials area of our recylcing center and drop them off, I just think someone might do something awesome with them (while taking the necessary precautions) so that’s my hesitation for junking them off the bat.

      xo
      s

  30. haverwench says

    Call me crazy, but I kind of like the way the black smudges look on the white frame. Sorta shabby chic. So if you can’t get them off, maybe you should just add some more all around the entire frame and see how that grabs you.

    Reply

  31. Marianne in Mo. says

    I’ve had luck getting price stickers off with just plain old vegetable oil. Not sure it will work on electrical tape residue, but worth a try. Love the mix of black and white. You have good intuition to suspect lead after having tested your pain already. I would have probably not thought of the built ins mullions. God job, Mom!

    Reply

  32. Vidya @ Whats Ur Home Story says

    OMG, that lead paint is scary. I freak out at things like that. So glad you caught it. More than an Oops moment I had the biggest project fail ever recently when I tried to create a chandelier with vintage lace. Anyways, I’m not about to give up easily, will give it another try soon.

    http://whatsurhomestory.com/diy-chandelier-project-fail/

    And a big thanks for sharing these oops moments. At least that way we won’t repeat them. :) On a side note, have you wall papered before? I’m planning to tackle my first wallpaper project next weekend and I’m getting all worked up. I know I’ve read up on it all over the net but there’s no great confidence booster than a tutorial from you guys.

    Reply

  33. Aubrey says

    Lead is such a confusing topic for me. I need to read up on it more. Our house was built in 1947 and I have’nt tested anything. Besides painted walls and trim, what other things should be tested for lead? We’ve re-drywalled the entire living room ceiling and repainted all the walls, ceiling and trim in there. So I think that would be fine? We also gutted the entire bathroom so everything in there is completely new. The kitchen and office have been repainted as well. Any suggestions on anything else to test?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I would just have the pros in for a test. We like to do that during inspection since we expect things will come up in old houses (our first and second houses had it but this one is newer so it didn’t) but they’ll pinpoint what areas you should seal in or remediate, etc. In our experience the pros are very nice and not alarmist about it, but very helpful about saying things like “don’t do anything about this because it’s fine, but this one window, I would fix”

      xo
      s

    • Erica says

      Our neighborhood is full of mid-nineteenth century rowhouses, so lots of experience with lead. Having a professional evaluation is a good idea if you’re worried. All of the pediatricians around here also recommend testing blood lead levels in kids under 5 (as part of a routine physical), which I think is also good for peace of mind.

      Based on our experiences and those of our neighbors, lead in the paint on walls is almost a given in an old home, but rarely a problem (unless you’re renovating) as it’s easily sealed in under newer coats of paint. Lead in the paint on windows and their trim is a bigger deal, since opening and closing the window will scrape the paint, making it much harder to truly seal the lead in.

      Another big source of lead is the plumbing (and not just in older homes – even brand new homes can have lead in the solder b/w copper pipes, which is most dangerous for the first 5 years until mineral deposits build up and seal the lead in). If you’re worried about lead in your tap water, take the precaution of always running the tap for 1-2 minutes before using water for drinking or cooking (cold tap water ONLY – hot can have higher lead levels). Or install a filter approved for lead by an independent testing org (NSF International is a good one to look for).

      Our neighborhood also has a lot of issues with soil contamination including from lead, so anything we grow to eat is in a container with new soil and we don’t let our dog (or any kids) dig in the decorative planting beds (we wouldn’t anyway!). (Playing on the grass is perfectly safe).

    • aubrey says

      Thanks! We never had an actual inspection when we bought the house. It was foreclosed and we just decided to go for it. Dangerous? Maybe.

  34. Tanja says

    The goo from the black electrical tape (or any adhesive, oil or sticky matter) will come off no problem with Motsenbocker’s Lift Off No. 2. Works WAAY better than Goo Gone. You can find it in the paint departments at the Big Orange & Big Blue home centers :)

    Reply

  35. Isabel says

    Ah the deer, I have a love/hate relationship with them. I have taken care to buy plants that are deer resistant but ultimately a deer will eat anything if they’re hungry enough, which usually happens in the fall. It seems they def don’t like fragrant plants – butterfly bush, geraniums, peonies, etc. Mine were bold enough to go for the caladiums by the front door but apparently didn’t like them very much. Your maple should be fine the rest of the season though so you may want to experiment with removing the netting in the spring and then adding it back in the fall. Whatever you do though, don’t plant hostas where they can get them, it’s like salad to them.

    Reply

  37. Ally says

    Thanks for posting about hazards of lead exposure.

    We use the same kits in our office (legal aid office that represents tenants in unhealthy housing) because 3M is one of the few brands approved by the EPA. The dangers of lead exposure, particularly for children, just cannot be overstated (developmental delay, behavioral issues, seizure, coma, etc).

    Other common sources of lead include vinyl mini-blinds produced before 1997 and soil contamination (though this is more for urbanites living near highways).

    Even if kids are not actively eating paint chips (and let’s hope not!), the dust can settle on everything in the house (sometimes in too thin of a layer to really notice), which can be tracked to other places on pet paws. This is definitely a “better safe than sorry” situation.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Ally! So good to know these are the ones that the EPA approves since they’re the only ones I have seen at Home Depot (now that I look at the label, it’s right on there! haha!).

      xo
      s

  38. Laura says

    Have you tried WD40 to remove the leftover tape from the picture frame? I had an issue with a very glued-on sticker to a frame I had, and it worked very well. (I think I tried Goo Gone first with no luck)

    PS, Semi-new reader, love the blog!

    Reply

  39. Emilie says

    I am obsessed with lead paint. When we purchased our 1923 home, we had the State come out and do a lead inspection. Took them hours. The went through ALL the layers of paint on every single surface in the house. The report was hundreds of pages long. As we renovated from top to bottom, we checked off the pages as we remdiated the lead. On the advice of the lead inspector, we ended up working with a carpeter to copy much of the woodwork so we could start fresh. It killed me to remove some of it, but the cost to remediate properly was more than replacing it While I know our lead windows are lead (duh), I never thought about them flaking. I’ll pay more attention for black dust!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I am starting to think there was something wrong with ours since no one else seems to notice the black dust thing (and my rag was seriously midnight black and chalky from it) so I have a theory that perhaps the humidity in the cabinets was causing it to flake and degrade or it just wasn’t formulated correctly so it was emitting those black powdery metal-like dust particles whereas other leaded items (like stained glass or old lead windows) don’t have that issue. So weird!

      xo
      s

  40. Lisa says

    I had leaded glass windows in a former house (built in 1926) and I was told by numerous handy men and realtors that they are worth a small fortune. You likely will be able to sell yours as I don’t believe leaded glass poses much of a threat to anyone.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Lisa! Do you notice black silvery dust around yours? I have never seen anything like it, but wiping down the inside of those cabinets left my rag BLACK! I was like “this is weird, something is going on here.” I think if you had that dust you wouldn’t like yours as much though, so I wonder if ours were degrading in some way (or the humidity in the cabinets was making them flake off or something?).

      xo
      s

    • Koliti says

      Hey Sherry! I understand that when you wiped down the SHELVES of the cabinet – your rag was black. Could it be that black dust was MOLD? Which can be dangerous in and of itself. Which would make the leaded glass a separate issue? I quite understand wanting to get items out of Clara’s reach. And the cabinets look fine without doors – WIN-WIN :)

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks for the thought Koliti! I’m so glad it wasn’t mold (whew!), it was just a metallic powdery substance that was chalky and dry (it didn’t stick to the cabinets or need any type of scrubbing, it was very light and dust-like and the cabinets were completely clean under it – no spores or anything that needed rubbing or bleaching). There also wasn’t any moldy odor or anything, just dust everywhere and sort of a metallic smell. It was literally like a fine black powder – sort of like a charcoal pen from art school – covering each shelf in a thin layer.

      xo
      s

    • Koliti says

      Truly a weird scenario! Glad you’ve taken care of it. Now you can “breathe” a sigh of relief!

  41. kbb says

    you know lead is only bad for you if you ingest it right. I don’t think your kid or your dog are going to lick the doors.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It’s also dangerous when it’s aerated/in dust form since it can be inhaled (the main two ways to get lead poisoning are ingesting it or inhaling it) which worried me since we had that weird black dust all over the inside of the cabinets that could be inhaled. I also would like to store serving dishes in those cabinets, so lead dust swirling around in there could lead to accidentally ingesting it, which didn’t sound worth the risk.

      xo
      s

      P.S. Burger is totally a floor licker. Haha! Especially if someone (like Clara or one of her cousins) were to drop food in there.

  42. Monica M. says

    Hi Sherry:

    You mentioned that John wiped down the walls and shelves with “TSP” after removing the leaded cabinet doors. What is TSP? I have a 19 month old and a little one due in March and am also suspicious of lead in our home which was built in 1942. (Sorry if you’ve already answered this question above in the comments, I’m going to scroll through them now.)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It’s just sold at the hardware store and recommended for wiping up what potentially could be lead dust and flakes since it wets them down so they don’t kick up into the air and get inhaled. We’ve had a little container of it since our first house, and it’s nice to have around just in case! You can just grab a bottle at Home Depot!

      xo
      s

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I thought you were joking. Holy cow that’s crazy! I hope the brand we buy is lead free! Why the heck would they even be allowed to make that with lead anymore?!!

      xo
      s

    • tracy says

      i think it is also in the cords of christmas lights. if you read those little silver tabs aon the ends of the lights it says so. yikes!

  44. Laura says

    My oops in my house was our first electric bill; and noticing that all the windows were barely hanging on to the walls with some so bad we could see outside through the caulking!

    Thankfully, the weather is holding up this month where we don’t need the heat nor AC on so I have a few weeks to re-caulk all the windows before the cold hits.

    Since it’s a rental, we can’t change out the windows (which this house desperately needs) so we’ll have to made due with caulking and heavy drapes.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      In ours it’s near the paint aisle. It tends to move around like the radon kits do though, so I’d just ask the person at the paint counter to see what they say.

      xo
      s

  46. Peggy Mckee says

    Since the lead is not in the glass, but in the dividers, how about getting a skilled carpenter to make new wood dividers.

    I’m guessing that would cost less than making new doors. Unless you are very skilled, hanging new doors so that they work is very hard.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I think we actually like them with the doors off more than hiring someone to retrofit them, but that’s a great option for someone who wants to keep old glass doors with the same issue!

      xo
      s

  47. Barbi says

    No oops moments here, but I also had a lead scare. I am expecting twins this coming April and came to work one day and there were signs all over saying dont drink the water or use the ice machine. I asked what was up and my boss just laughed saying oh ya, the water tested high for Lead. I freaked out, naturally. It never dawned on anyone that a pregnant woman would be extra concerned. Next thing I know the phones are off the hook and messages flying all around, the official reports are being expedited, and I am being given company time to get to my doctor for blood testing. Fortunately everything came back A-OK. It was actually kind of comical how everyone jumped into action when all I did was utter the phrase, “lawyer up” lol

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh my gosh, that’s so scary Barbi! I’m SO glad your tests came back ok. What a terrifying thing to go through! I bet waiting for them was torture. Every year when Clara gets her lead tested at the doctor I hold my breath and totally breath the LONGEST sigh of relief when the results come back fine.

      xo
      s

  48. Shannon says

    Thank you for mentioning the dust factor when it comes to lead! Typically, you only hear about ingesting paint chips and not about the dust exposure. In our area, kids can get a blood test to test for lead if they live or frequently visit a location built before 1976.

    It’s especially important in eating areas!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Shannon! I was thinking that about the location being especially bad too (Burger would lick the floor if food is dropped in there, we’d want to store serving items in those cabinets, etc).

      xo
      s

  49. Mikal says

    Heads-up with the fencing material. I used something very similar on my plants in my garden (to keep out birds). My plants grew through the mesh fence and when it was time to remove the material it was impossible. I had to cut it up in a zillion pieces (around each plant) to get it off. Since your sweet tree is a baby, maybe keep an eye on it for new growth that might grow through and be aware that you may have to cut the fence up to free it when the times comes for removal.

    Reply

  50. Katherine says

    So glad you talked about lead–it’s a problem people don’t know how to handle. (Though not glad you had it!)

    Not to make you more paranoid, but lead can also be in the soil–but not where it looks like you live. It tends to be in older industrial areas of cities or areas near long-standing highways (from leaded gasoline) and it’s much harder to remedy.

    Reply

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