Painting an Older Home: Lead Paint in Bendigo

The Australian Government's Lead Alert guide says homes built before 1970 are most at risk of paint containing lead, but homes built more recently may also have it. It says paints containing as much as 50 per cent lead were used on the inside and outside of homes built before 1950.

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What painting an older home and lead paint in Bendigo actually involves

The guide is a 2016 booklet, the fifth edition, and it is guidance rather than law; it is not specific to Victoria. It does not say that any given house has lead paint. What it says is what to do if surfaces with paint containing lead have to be disturbed: it is recommended that a contractor with lead paint management training do the job.

What it says not to do

The guide says not to remove paint by dry abrasive blast cleaning or dry mechanical sanding. It also says not to work outdoors on a windy or wet day, as dust can be blown or washed off plastic sheets.

Layers of flaking paint on an old timber window sill in raking light — painting an older home and lead paint, Bendigo. Illustrative example.

Before anyone sands or scrapes

In Bendigo much of the older housing is gold-era timber, and the City's guidelines for heritage houses say to avoid sandblasting and disc sanding too, for a different reason: damage to the building material. The two sources agree on the method, so ask the provider how loose paint will come off and what goes on the ground to catch it. The waste page covers where wash water goes.

Ask whether the paint has been tested before anyone sands or scrapes, and how dust and waste will be handled. The rules check on the costs page lists the guide's lines with the date they were read.

A half-face respirator and a pair of gloves resting on a window sill — painting an older home and lead paint, Bendigo. Illustrative example.

Home painting costs and rules check