How can I safeguard old children's toys from lead paint?
by
Don4523170
+5
Have wooden toys from my childhood, middle 50's to 60's. In good shape,but would like my granddaughter to be able to play with them when she visits. Am on a very limited income and finding /paying for professional stripper may be out of my ability. Is there anything on the market to safely encapsulate the current paint in case there is lead in the paint?
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No! While "encasement" is a valid means of dealing with lead based paints, I would NOT recommend such a thing for something that is as high traffic as painted toys. Every time you/she touches them, this will put wear on the finish, and you/she will wear through the finish, which will expose you/her to the lead paint. You can purchase a lead test kit at Home Depot, Lowes, and Menards to check for lead. If it is lead, what I would do is strip the toys, then repaint them with non-lead based paint.
I agree with William it's not worth taking the risk. But it's way easier to strip and repaint a toy than you would think. And it's a beautiful idea that you want to let your grand daughter play with older family toys.
Let us know what you decide to do? If you get it tested and need to strip off the paint we'd be happy to give you advice on how to do it the cheapest and easiest way possible.
I'm thinking these are now great show-pieces to be put on a reasonably high shelf.
The Dollar Stores have alot of odd-ball toys the kids would love.
Garage sales are frequently overstocked with kids toys and kids stuff.
Best of luck !
Actually I everyone is correct! I had several toys (in excellent condition) from 1955 and I was going to give them to my grandson. I checked with my County Health Department and they told me to get rid of the toys as there is no REALLY GOOD way to do an abatement on the lead in toys. Better safe than sorry.
Good luck!
I would clean them up and put them on EBAY. There is a good market for toys from the 50's. Take the money you make on the old toys and pick up some new ones. By the way, if you wanted to hold on to them and were going to allow your grandchildren to play with them they would have ruined them. This way they generate some cash to buy safe toys.