Lead-Safe Resources

My name is Anthony Weaver. I’m a licensed Lead Risk Assessor based in Toledo, Ohio with the Lead Paint Detectives. I’m going to show you a real-world example of how to clean a double-hung, up-and-down, vertical window Lead-Safe. 

Although lead paint is still manufactured and utilized in commercial and industrial usage… Lead paint was banned for residential use, schools, and daycares in 1978. Properties built before 1978 have a high likelihood that lead paint was used. The older the home is, the more likely lead paint is present. A change from just cleaning… to Lead-Safe cleaning can make a huge difference as to whether a child gets lead poisoning or not.

Invisible lead dust is created from lead-painted friction surfaces rubbing together. It’s difficult to deal with lead dust because its invisible… like little microscopic spikey balls that stick to everything. By knowing this, and updating cleaning methods to Lead-Safe cleaning techniques you can protect your children, your family, and anyone you invite into your home.  

It’s very important to know… Yes… You can live Lead-Safe in a home built before 1978.

Don’t use… I repeat, don’t ever use a microfiber cloth to pick up and clean lead dust. In lab tests, dust wipe samples taken when the home was cleaned using microfiber cloths have shown that lead dust has been pushed around and they simply don’t pick it up. Don’t use microfiber cloths to pick up invisible lead dust. This is a big NO–NO. Again, this could spread lead dust all around and contaminate each and every window. 

Let’s gather our cleaning supplies. You will need:

• Plastic garbage bag

• Plenty of disposable gloves

• Paper towels

• Mild cleaner

o Dawn in water in a spray bottle works best

o Do not use bleach or disinfectants. Lab tests have shown they don’t pick up lead dust.

• Disposable wet mop heads (if necessary)

• Disposable toothbrushes (if necessary)

• High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) – a HEPA-filtered vacuum

Next, you want paper towels and a mild cleaner and there’s plenty to choose from… but after many inspections, I have found works the best is a good couple of squirts of Dawn dishwashing liquid in water. I already have 30 ounces of water in this sprayer… add a couple of squirts… shake it and if you see bubbles you’re ready to go. Dawn dishwashing liquid in water seems to pick up lead dust in the bubbles the best. Cleaners that are ineffective at cleaning lead dust are bleach, disinfectants, and some degreasers. I haven’t tested them all, but they have not been found to consistently clean up lead dust.  

Also, it’s important to remember you clean one window at a time, throw away your paper towels, and change gloves every window you clean. DO NOT reuse cleaning towels or gloves from one window to another. If the window you just cleaned contains lead dust and you reuse the same paper towels and gloves to clean the next window you will spread lead dust from window to window. 

Folding paper towels for this job will help you less and grab more lead dust. 

1. Fold the paper towel multiple times

2. Once one side is dirty, flip it to a clean side. Continue turning the paper towel inside out until each side of the folded paper towel becomes dirty.

3. Clean the bottom window frame, side frame, window trough, and window sill with different paper towels so you don’t spread any lead dust you just picked up.

Now let get’s to Lead-Safe cleaning starting by putting on a pair of disposable gloves. 

Use a HEPA-filtered vacuum to clean out any large debris and dust that might be in the window trough, the channels, underneath the window frame, and on the window sill. 

This window stop often holds a lot of dirt and does get stuck. You can use WD-40, spray it, wait 5 minutes, come back, and try to loosen it up. If it doesn’t loosen up, spray it again, and try again. If it doesn’t loosen up again, then just leave it alone and get as much dirt out of it as you can. Be very careful with the window stop. They are just made of plastic and are often very deteriorated. Don’t force it to move as it might break. In my real-world example, the window stop moved freely. I taped it up to keep it out of the way as I cleaned. 

Start from the bottom window frame, then the side channels, and then the window trough. Spray the corners really well. You notice with a hard spray the dirt in the corners starts to lift away. Also, spray the window sill because you want to clean this area as well. Let the water soak in for about 5 minutes and then spray again just before cleaning. 

You will notice that I switched from wet mop heads to paper towels. You go through so many paper towels that wet mop heads might not be cost-effective. They are great because they are thick and do pick up lead dust very well, but so do Dawn and Water and paper towels.

You have to make sure you clean the weather stripping on the bottom of the window frame and once the weather stripping is clean, start with a fresh, clean paper towel or wet mop head. Wipe the trough. Spray into the corner again and release as much of the leftover dirt as possible. Use a new towel or a wet mop pad and wipe the window trough clean once again.

You want to use a motion that picks up debris and lead dust. Wipe in one direction, and I know sometimes this is impossible, but what you want to do is avoid scrubbing hard back and forth because this could grind lead dust into the window trough or window sill. 

Lastly, spray the window sill again and wipe off the Dawn and water. I encourage spraying and wiping to clean up lead dust at least two times. 

Use a disposable toothbrush to get more dirt out of the corners.  

The goal of the job is to get the window trough and the window sill Lead-Safe clean. This way if young children put their fingers into the window trough, then their mouth, they won’t be ingesting lead dust. 

In my real-world example, I lowered the window stop and I noticed there was still dirt behind the window stop. I cleaned that out as well and finished off the window. 

After you're done with one window, take your gloves off properly by using your thumb and pulling the gloves off inside out keeping any lead dust inside the gloves. Throw away all used paper towels or wet mop pads. Put on a new pair of gloves and start the next window. 

If a window sill shows signs of wear and is deteriorated:

• Bite Marks

• Worn out stain 

• Deep fissures in the wood grain have opened up on the surface of the window sill.

o You can’t clean out invisible lead dust from these small cracks and will fail a dust wipe sampling.

These must be addressed by painting or applying at least two heavy coats of polyurethane.

This could be a big job if you have a lot of windows. I like to break down the cleaning into smaller bits. Instead of thinking… Wow, I have a lot of windows to do in one day, I will do a couple of windows one week, then a couple more the next. Eventually, you will have all your windows done. Lead-Safe cleaning of the window channels and troughs should be a normal part of your cleaning schedule. Once you have the windows all done, start from the beginning and clean a couple at a time. This takes a big job and breaks it down into much smaller bits. 

The goal of the job is to get the window trough and sill Lead-Safe clean. This way if young children put their fingers into the window trough, then into their mouth, they won’t be ingesting lead dust. 

It’s very important to remember… Yes… You can live Lead-Safe in a home built before 1978.

First things first… test your children for lead poisoning:

Call 1-800-424-LEAD or 1-800-424-5323