If your home was built in 1978 or before, there is a chance your home contains lead paint. The percentage increases along with the age of the house, but a quick lead test is simple to do yourself. We always recommend testing your home before beginning your DIY home renovation if it was built before 1978.
Our favorite lead checking test is the 3M Lead Check because it is the most widely available test certified by the EPA. We usually pick ours up at Home Depot and Amazon, but your favorite larger hardware store most likely will have one.
Let's dive in ...
How to test for lead using a 3M Lead Check instant test.
Step One: Opening The Test
Open the test and find a lead-check swab and a test confirmation card. The test swab comprises an outer sleeve and an inner clear plastic tube with two vials inside the tube. The outer sleeve is made of cardboard, and you can slide it off of the inner plastic tube to see two parts, one liquid, and one powder, that make up the test.
Step Two: Activating The Test
To activate the test, you first need to break the inner vials that separate the two components. Breaking the inner vials is pretty simple but will require some finger strength:
Slide the cardboard sleeve back over the tube and locate the two areas labeled "Crush A" and "Crush B" on the left and right of the sleeve.
Squeeze the cardboard sleeve where it says "Crush A" and then "Crush B." You will feel and or hear the plastic breaking. If you are unsure if you have broken the two vials, you can take off the sleeve and look and then put the sleeve back on.
You need to shake the tube to mix the two components with the cotton swab pointing down.
Squeeze the tube. You will see the liquid work into the cotton. You have now prepped the test.
Step Three: Testing The Test
Next, you will need to test the test using the test confirmation card. You will see a black circle around a white paint chip that contains a small amount of lead on the card. It is very important that you do not touch the swab to the lead card. If you do this, it will contaminate the swab and void the test.
How to test your test: hold the cotton swab above the test card and squeeze a drop of
the liquid into the circle. The drop should turn red, which is the indicator that lead is
present and the test is good.
Step Four: Prepping The Surface
To test for lead, you have to test through all of the layers of paint on your surface. To do this, you will need to take a box cutter and make a small cut into your painted surface. The cut needs to go through all of the layers of paint on your surface.
Step Five: Testing
The last step is to take the prepared lead check swab and rub it directly into the cut you made on your surface. Light pressure and a few swipes will help ensure you get deep enough.
Step Six: Reading The Test
Now, just see if the swab turns red to indicate lead. Otherwise, the test will be yellow or orange. Note: the red color will be a deep, dark red.
And that's it!
If your paint contains lead, please read up on safe removal and disposal practices on the EPA website here.