One test has been used, should still be useable. Free for shipping, shipping ought to cost about 2$.

whoever PMs first I guess. :)
http://www.amitymama.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=920860
http://www.amitymama.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=920864

Just wondering if this is even worth doing.
Is lead poisoning that common now?

If you live in a newer house/neighborhood, then probably not. But I've heard that if your mini blinds are even as old as only the mid 80's, then you're at high risk for your kids. The dust that settles onto them collects the lead that is leaching out of them, then resettles all over the home.

I beleive that's the only "newer" source that I've come accross. others may know better.

Definitely if you live in an older house, even if everything is up to date, you should test. If you have a layer of leaded paint under 7 or 8 other colors (that may have been added over the years), the lead still is probably leaching through.

The last house I lived in, the landlords said that all the old paint had been stripped, and replaced. But that still doesn't clean up the wood and plaster underneath, or the carpet (that ugly stuff was at least 40 years old i think) or the very dirt outside. I had been told by our neighbor who was talking with a professional on this kind of stuff, and she recommended having her kids wash their hands everytime they came in from playing outside, because the fact that it was an old neighborhood meant that the grounds around the house, and the masonry had probably collected a lot of heavy metal deposits over the previous years.

also, if you are in a new house, but an old neighborhood, you could have lead pipes, poisoning your water.

Anyway, to sum it up: if you're in a newer neighborhood, there's probably little to no risk of it, but if your neighborhood is older than say, 30 years of so, you ought to at least consider it. If it's really old like my last one (house has been there since the 1940's and was the second house built on that lot) then you'd better just get busy and test for it and get rid of anything you find as a source.

I just don't want the kit to go to waste, and I won't be needing it (this house and neighborhood is only a few years old.)

Our condo was built in 87 and I assume the mini blinds are that old. (Something else to worry about.) What does mid eighties mean exactly? Well, I guess we start with the most used first.

There are lots of Victorians up here and other old houses, so lead is a concern in pipes and paint. Our house had only one coat of paint, original, minus a small fire (before we bought it) in the master bedroom.


Thanks, Ian


:thumbsup:

Jennifer

well, the mini blinds thing i found out about WOM, I didn't actually read it or anything, but it's still enough for me to worry about them. I thought it was like '87 honestly, but again, it wasn't from a pro, just someone who had looked into it before and read about it themselves. So my info about the mini blinds may be somewhat convoluted.

Taken mamas sorry. No one wanted it, until today while I was out. all of a sudden tons of mamas want it. Wish I had more, I hate turning people down. :(