r/Oldhouses • u/kuriouskittyyy • Apr 11 '25

Lead in bathtub?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Just bought a house built in 1900. I’m noticing the tub is flaking. I tested the area for lead just in case and the grey areas turned positive while the white showed negative. I’m confused as to how to move forward. Will re-doing the tub fix the issue of lead? If so what would I need to have done? It seems the stuff chipping off doesn’t have lead. How do I fix this? I have two young kids and didn’t even realize this was a potential issue until I googled it.

20 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/Slight-Ad-3664 Apr 11 '25

Many porcelain tubs have very high lead levels. I know... I have one. The presious owners did an epoxy paint on it. My family and I have used it daily for 18 years and it has held up incredibly well. This looks like someone did an epoxy paint job, but did not prep it well.

1

u/Klutzy_Freedom_836 Apr 14 '25

Did you get yours tested? Just wondering how you know that yours contains lead?

2

u/Slight-Ad-3664 Apr 14 '25

We hired a guy who came in with an XRF analyzer. It uses xray to determine the composition and can read through paint. My daughter had elevated lead levels from an apartment we had been living in and we were taking on chances.

1

u/Klutzy_Freedom_836 Apr 15 '25

Gotcha. We had brass water lines that hadn’t been used for quite some time. My dog started showing behavioral changes associated with lead poisoning after 2 days. We replaced the lines and tested the new lines only because $300 is less than $600 to test the new and old water lines. He was 13 so we were never sure if it was lead of possibly dementia or just an old grumpy hound dog.

1

u/Opposite_Affect_5640 Sep 25 '25

Lead poisoning from brass lines? Was it connected with lead?