Can Anyone Recommend A Good Digital XRF Handheld Lead Tester?

jordanski

read about them in this great book:
Essential Paint Techniques by This Old House Books
first painting book that actually impressed me with some of the writing, shows a lot of restoration work on old northeast houses.

XRF handhelds are a digital device (xray fluorescence analyzer) that when held up to a surface tell you how much lead the paint has and how deeply it is buried in the layers (badass!) without penetrating the wood or damaging the surface in any way.

There's a huge amount of leady old houses in my city, I would love to get one of these!!!!!

I bet they aren't cheap, google brought up some companies that manufactured huge industrial types and a saw a few handhelds but no retail links so far. The one in the book looks like a PDA with a green and black screen, almost like a calculator.

Somebody out there high end has got to have one of these. Can anyone recommend one and include the purchase price. This is a huge advance for those of us who tackle the old residential restoration/repaint type jobs. Those swab tests don't tell you much, and I don't know anyone who does lab testing.

thanks in advance,
jordan

Richard

Jordan- Im a swab guy myself...but then again I don't mess with lead jobs, so testing them is as far as I go in the process. If there's lead HANDIOOH. (have a nice day, I'm out of here )

You might be able to find these lead testers in local paint stores, but I doubt it. You could also try local tool or tool supply places. This might sound crazy, but I went to 6 places trying to find a moisture meter the other day, including the paint stores and no one carried them. I ended up going to a tool supply shop 40 minutes away.

My unfortunate point is when there is very little demand for products, sometimes the best bet is to order them yourself...'cause all the guys in the store are going to say is, "...I can order one for you though".

Just my thoughts...hey maybe you'll get lucky and find a place that sells exactly what you are looking for...either way, good luck with everything

__________________
Rich

jordanski

reason I want one of these is swabbing can't give you latent lead levels in the wood without doing some scraping which amazingly some clients don't want you to do on a consult.

In seattle there's lead everywhere in the city, old homes, and it's gotta be the same on the east coast, new england.

I think this is a great idea for restoration painters, good for your health, and could also be a great moneymaker as you can test everything, every peeling sill, the garage, the interior, you can take 90 readings instead of just one. Upscale couples with kids who just bought older homes are very curious about how much lead is in their house.

I'm looking for a make and model more than the outlet, I'm sure I can find it online if someone has experience with one.

If I get no hits with this one I'll contact the This Old House people and bump it when i get an answer....
jojo

theartisan

The only one I have seen is insanely expensive. $25k, but you can buy added test kits to test out side of lead. The company that I knwo that owns one uses it to do HUD assessments. it measures levels in ppb (parts per billion) and is as accurate as a liscensed laboratory. They also use it to sample soils for thing outside of lead.

phinsher

The least expensive one I've ever heard of was around $15,000. If you're interested in purchasing one, maybe talk to your local health department. They usually own one, and would likely know where to purchase it from.

jordanski

theartisan:

I looked at those online, they come with their own computer set-up, more for the EPA and industrial building type stuff. Yeah, 20k, tests for all different types of metals, superfund type application. The handheld in the This Old House book can't be more than $500 if they're recommending it for painters.

pstorey

Right now we just assume everything pre-78 has lead in it and price it accordingly or stay well away.