Lead Based Paint and Rocket Stoves

Howdy y'all,

I'm new to this particular forum, and have been researching rocket stoves for a month or two, and have a few questions regarding lead based paint and rocket stoves.

I am remodeling an old house, and much of the wood I'm tearing off has lead based paint in it, undoubtedly. Can I safely burn wood with lead based paint on it in a rocket stove? My thought is that the particles in the paint (including the lead) would be consumed in the heat. Anyone have any thoughts on this?


Also in line with the remodeling motif, I'm tearing out plaster and lathe like a boss, and wondered if I could use the plaster material in constructing a rocket stove. This would be used for the packing material around the exhaust piping. Is there any danger if this plaster were to have lead based paints on it?

Thanks in advance for any advice or direction toward educational materials related to this topic.

Cheers,

Lead will not be consumed. It may be vaporized and spread about the neighborhood. Any that remains in the ash, will contaminate the soil if it is put to use there.

Not a good idea.

Get a full face asbestos mask. Renovation commonly exposes you to many dangerous substances. If you can't afford a top quality mask, you can't afford to renovate.

Dale Hodgins wrote:Lead will not be consumed. It may be vaporized and spread about the neighborhood. Any that remains in the ash, will contaminate the soil if it is put to use there.

Not a good idea.

Thanks Dale!

Any thoughts about using the plaster with possible lead based paint on it in the construction of the rocket stove itself, as opposed to burning it?

I edited while you posted.

Have the plaster tested for asbestos. If it's clean and doesn't contain too much hair or other organic materials, it may be suitable.

Lead isn't a problem when it's encased. If being reused, it should be covered with clean material.

Excellent! Very helpful!

Lead can be a problem if it gets hot enough to offgas, so don't use any suspect plaster in the hot parts. Anywhere you can use galvanized ductwork is cool enough.

Adam J. : What Dale Said ! !!!

You owe it to yourself to do some on-line research on this topic !

Every dirty trick in the book that the Big Tobacco Industrial Complex used to promote/prolong their'' reign of terror'' was used by the Lead Lobby
(often 1st )In an effort to obfuscate the facts and deny there was a problem !

Every Pediatric Doctor worth his salt, will ask the age of the house his patents are living in, and automatically call for lead level specific blood draws
on all children potentially exposed to lead paint (finally banned at federal level In 1978 -9 )

As a Grandparent who saw his then baby grand children Receive frequent blood draws all their growing years- ( All started with high lead levels and
tapered to permissible levels ) I now respect the dangers involved !

A further note of caution ! Many banks today are requiring a home inspection looking for asbestos and lead levels (and others ) in soils at or near the
drip-edge of houses and will denis loans to prospective buyers where the levels are too high !*

This could make it impossible for a third party to secure a bank loan to buy your property in 30 years !

Multi generational 'home improvements' that involved scraping old paint off of the exterior of houses and allowing the old paint chips to fall to the ground,
uncollected !could place you in the position of paying to have ALL of the top soil to several inches of depth removed by an '' $ Approved $$$ Contractor $ "
who will truck it to a site $ approved for receiving and Burying the soil $ - possibly a couple of states away !

And this is just dealing with the laws on the books as they are today !

As Dale said, there are several ways of encapsulating the lead inlace that will make it possible to rehabilitate your housing into something safe for yourself
and your family ! It starts of with getting educated about your problems !

One other further test I would recommend after your plaster is tested for the " A" word, You can try burning a large handful of he old lath pieces !

Often the plaster was made using urine as a 'Mordant' here used as a binder, but the root of the word taken to mean bitting or stinging the nose !-
Again Encapsulating other older materials is often the best way to go !

Hope this is timely, and not truly representative of your situation ! Big AL !


* Other places too, like crawlspaces, and exposed heating cooling pipes, definitely have tested any plaster or stucco over metal type lath ! A.L.

What AL said. When It comes to protecting the lungs, it's important to guard against inhaling dust of all types. Fiberglass, paint dust and wood dust are all bad. Mold is bad. Rat and bat shit can kill you. Crawl spaces are often filled with horrible things.