Stop before you make more dust
Older paint on windows, doors, trim, and siding may contain lead even when a later coat looks modern. If you do not know the paint is lead-free, treat the suspect pieces as a stop. Do not sand them, do not scrape them, do not grind them, and do not break painted parts into smaller bits to fit a bag. Those actions make dust, and this article will not give you steps for doing them. Hire licensed lead-paint professionals for testing and for any removal. Your job, if debris is already on the floor from a project someone else started, is to keep people out of the room, keep children and pets away, and avoid spreading the pile. Do not sweep suspect dust with a dry broom into the yard. Do not vacuum it with a household vacuum you will dump in the ordinary trash without instructions from the licensed contractor or the program.
Bag only what is already loose, then ask
Flakes and chips that have already fallen can be misted lightly so they are not airborne, gathered carefully into a heavy bag, and sealed. That is containment of existing debris, not a method for taking more paint off the wood. Label the bag so nobody opens it in the truck. Call your household hazardous waste program or the disposal site and say you have suspected lead-paint chips, already bagged, and ask where those bags are accepted. Rules differ, and a site that takes ordinary painted wood may still want actual paint chips handled as hazardous waste. Do not invent a fee or assume the trash cart is correct. If the program says a licensed hauler must move the waste, use one. Search by ZIP code or city only to find the program's name, then confirm, because listings can be out of date.
Keep the bag intact through the ride
Set the sealed bag upright in a box so it cannot tear under other cargo. Do not mix it into a load of ordinary brush or a donation of doors. Tell the scale house or the hazardous-waste attendant what you believe the bag contains. If they refuse it, take it home and keep it sealed and out of reach until the licensed path they name can take it. Do not dump the bag in a construction roll-off you rented for clean wood. Do not burn painted wood to make the volume smaller. The safe outcome is a licensed removal for anything still attached, and a program-approved destination for chips that were already loose.
Before you go
- Stop sanding, scraping, grinding, and breaking up material that might have lead paint.
- Hire licensed people for testing and removal of coatings that are still attached.
- Seal flakes that have already fallen, and ask a hazardous-waste program where the bag goes.
- Keep the sealed bag intact and out of brush, donations, and ordinary dumpsters.
Sanding a suspect window and then tossing the dust into the household trash.
Questions people ask
Can I test the paint myself?
Home test kits exist, but a licensed professional should guide testing and any removal. Do not start scraping a large area while you wait for a kit result.
Is all old paint lead paint?
Not every old layer contains lead, and newer paint can hide an older layer that does. Until you know, leave the coating alone and get licensed help.
Search Dumpmapper by ZIP code or city, then call the site before you load the truck. Hours and accepted materials change.