Lead Paint in Pre-1970 Brisbane Homes: What a Repaint Involves
Lead Paint in Pre-1970 Brisbane Homes: What a Repaint Involves
If your Brisbane home was built before 1970, there is a reasonable chance that at least one of the older paint layers on it contains lead, and that changes how a repaint has to be prepared. Lead is not a problem while the paint sits intact on the wall. It becomes a problem when sanding, scraping or heat turns it into dust or fumes that people breathe in or that settle in the garden. Smart Quality Painting assesses older coatings before scoping any preparation on pre-1970 homes across Brisbane's western corridor, from Oxley to Bardon. This guide explains why the date matters, how lead is identified, what safe preparation looks like, and what you should ask any painter before they start.
Why 1970 Is the Date That Matters
The year 1970 is used as a rule of thumb because Australian limits on lead in household paint were tightened in stages through the twentieth century, and the limits that applied before that date allowed far more lead than modern paint contains. Lead was a common ingredient in earlier paints because it made them cover well, dry hard and resist weather. Exterior timber, window frames, doors, verandah posts, fretwork and high-wear interior surfaces such as skirtings and kitchen joinery were the surfaces most likely to receive it.
The date is a guide rather than a guarantee in either direction. A home built in the 1950s that was fully stripped and repainted in the 1990s may have no lead-bearing layers left. A home built in 1975 may have had older stock used on it. The cautious position, and the one Smart Quality Painting takes, is that any coating on a home built before 1970 is treated as possibly containing lead until testing says otherwise. The same applies to the many timber Queenslanders and post-war brick homes across the western suburbs, from Sherwood and Corinda to Toowong and Bardon, where original paint layers are often still present under later coats.
Brisbane's housing stock makes this relevant to more homeowners than it might seem. Suburbs such as Kenmore and Chapel Hill grew mostly after 1970, but the older inner-western suburbs and the riverside pockets are full of pre-war and immediate post-war homes. Our Queenslander restoration guide covers those homes in more detail.
How Lead Paint Is Identified
Lead in paint is identified either with a chemical spot-test kit or by sending a paint sample to a laboratory, and the two methods answer different questions. A spot test tells you whether lead is present on the surface you swab. A laboratory result tells you how much lead is in the sample, which matters when deciding how the work is classified and controlled.
Spot-test kits
Swab kits change colour when they contact lead. They are quick and useful for an early indication on a few surfaces, but they have limits. They test only the layer the swab touches, so a lead-bearing coat under two later acrylic layers can be missed unless the swab is applied to a scraped-through section. They can also give false negatives on some colours and false positives on some substrates. Smart Quality Painting treats a positive swab as confirmation and a negative swab on an old home as inconclusive rather than as a clean result.
Laboratory testing
A laboratory analyses a physical chip that includes all the paint layers down to the substrate. It reports a lead concentration, which is the figure that Queensland health and workplace guidance use to decide what precautions apply. On a full exterior repaint of a pre-1970 home, or where children live in the house, a laboratory result is the sensible baseline before preparation begins. It also gives you a document to keep with the house.
Smart Quality Painting identifies the testing needed as part of the assessment, and the written scope records which surfaces were tested, what was found and what preparation method follows from that. Where a result indicates that the work needs a licensed removal specialist rather than a painter's preparation, we refer that part of the job on and scope our own work around it.
What Changes in the Preparation
When lead is present or suspected, the preparation changes from removing old paint quickly to removing it without creating dust or fumes, and every step is chosen with that in mind. The principles are the same on a verandah in Bardon and a skirting board in Toowong.
No dry sanding, no open burning
Dry power sanding of lead-bearing paint throws fine lead dust into the air and across the yard. Burning it off with an open flame or a high-heat gun produces lead fumes. Neither method is used. Preparation is done by wet sanding, wet scraping, or chemical stripping, all of which keep the lead bound in a wet slurry or in the stripper rather than in the air. Where a power tool is genuinely needed, it is a sander with a shroud and a vacuum with a fine-particle filter attached.
Containment
The work area is contained so that paint chips and slurry stay on a sheet rather than in the soil. That means heavy drop sheets sealed at the base of the wall and extended out from the house, doors and windows closed on the working side, and interior rooms sealed at the doorway with plastic when interior surfaces are being prepared. Soft furnishings, toys and food surfaces are removed from an interior work area before it starts, not covered.
Cleaning up
Paint waste from lead-bearing surfaces is collected from the sheets, bagged and disposed of as the relevant Queensland waste guidance requires rather than put in the household bin. Surfaces are wet-wiped rather than swept. A vacuum with a fine-particle filter is used for any residual dust. The area is not handed back to the household until it has been cleaned in this way.
Sealing rather than stripping
On many surfaces the safest option is not to strip at all. Sound, well-adhered lead paint that is not on a friction surface can be cleaned, lightly wet-abraded for adhesion, primed and sealed under new coats. This encapsulates the old layer. It suits walls, ceilings and trims that are intact. It does not suit surfaces that rub or are chewed, such as window sashes, door edges, cot rails and balustrade tops, where the old paint will keep wearing through. The scope should say which surfaces are being encapsulated and which are being stripped.
What Smart Quality Painting Does on a Pre-1970 Home
On a pre-1970 home, Smart Quality Painting assesses the existing coatings, identifies the testing, containment or specialist referral needed, and records all of it in the written scope before any preparation is priced. The order matters because the preparation method is the largest variable in the job, and it cannot be chosen honestly without knowing what is on the wall.
That assessment covers the age of the home, the surfaces most likely to carry old lead-based coatings, the condition of those coatings, and whether the work is exterior, interior or both. It notes whether children or pregnant women live in the home, whether pets use the yard, and whether there are vegetable gardens or rainwater tanks near the walls, because those change how the site is protected.
Smart Quality Painting does not claim any lead-specific certification, and this guide does not replace the guidance published by Queensland Health and Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, which should be followed for the current requirements. What we commit to is treating the coatings on an older home as a hazard until testing shows otherwise, using wet and contained preparation methods, and referring work that needs a licensed removal contractor rather than attempting it ourselves. Our Queenslander restoration service page describes how that assessment step sits in the quoting process.
What Homeowners Should Ask Any Painter
Before any painter starts preparation on a pre-1970 home, you should ask how they will identify lead, how they will control dust, and what they will do with the waste, and you should expect the answers to appear in writing in the scope. Useful questions include:
- Have you assessed the existing paint for likely lead content, and what did you find?
- Which surfaces will be tested, and will the test be a swab or a laboratory sample?
- Will any surfaces be dry sanded, blasted or burnt off? The answer should be no.
- How will the ground and the interior be contained, and how will waste be disposed of?
- Which surfaces are being stripped and which are being sealed under new paint?
- Do we need to be out of the house, or out of particular rooms, and for how long?
- Is any part of the job being referred to a licensed lead removal specialist?
A painter who cannot answer those questions has not planned the job. A quote that lists "prep and two coats" on a Queenslander from the 1920s without mentioning lead is a quote for a job that has not been assessed. Our guide on comparing painting quotes explains how to line up the preparation section of competing quotes.
Children, Pets and the Garden
Children under six, pregnant women and pets are the most vulnerable to lead dust, and the main risks during a repaint are dust inside the house, chips in the soil and contamination of anything that ends up in a mouth. The precautions are practical rather than complicated.
Keep young children and pets away from the work area for the whole preparation stage and until the clean-up is complete. For interior work in a small home that can mean staying elsewhere during the day; the scope should say which rooms are affected on which days. Do not let children play on the drop sheets or in the strip of garden along the wall being worked on until it has been cleaned. Cover or move vegetable beds that sit against the house, and if a rainwater tank draws from the roof, disconnect the downpipe during exterior preparation so washed-off residue does not enter it.
After the job, wash hands, toys and outdoor furniture that were near the work area. If the home has a history of flaking exterior paint, the soil along the drip line of the walls may already hold lead from years of weathering, and it is worth following Queensland Health guidance on soil testing before establishing a vegetable garden there. None of this is a reason to leave old paint to flake off untouched, which is the worst outcome. A properly contained repaint reduces the risk for years afterwards.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if my Brisbane home has lead paint?
The age of the home is the first indicator: built before 1970 means older layers are likely to contain lead. Confirmation comes from a swab test on a scraped-through section or, more reliably, a laboratory test of a paint chip.
Does lead paint have to be removed before repainting?
Not always. Sound, intact lead paint on non-friction surfaces can be cleaned, primed and sealed under new coats. Surfaces that rub, flake or are chewed, such as window sashes and balustrades, usually need the old paint stripped with wet or chemical methods.
Can I sand old paint myself before the painter arrives?
No. Dry sanding lead-bearing paint spreads fine dust through the house and garden. Leave all preparation on a pre-1970 home to whoever is doing the work with containment in place, and do not use a heat gun or open flame.
Is a painter allowed to work on lead paint in Queensland?
Painters prepare and encapsulate lead-bearing surfaces routinely using wet methods and containment. Larger-scale removal can fall under separate requirements, and Smart Quality Painting refers that work to licensed specialists rather than doing it ourselves. Follow current Workplace Health and Safety Queensland guidance for what applies.
Do we need to move out during the repaint?
Often not for exterior work, provided windows on the working side stay closed and children and pets are kept away from the containment area. For interior preparation in occupied rooms, expect to vacate those rooms until they are cleaned, and the scope should set that out day by day.
Next steps with Smart Quality Painting
If you own a pre-1970 home in Sherwood, Toowong, Bardon or anywhere across Brisbane's western corridor, from Oxley to Bardon, Smart Quality Painting will assess the existing coatings and give you a written scope that records the testing, containment and preparation method before the job is priced. We respond to every enquiry within one business day.
