Drain Lead

---By the way, we save all our roofing lead scrap. About once a year I melt it down and pour it into 5 & 10 lb molds. I get around $1.00/lb selling it on Ebay. You can pack about 50-60 lbs into a medium USPS flat rate box and send it domestic for $10.70. ---I usually go for 50 lbs/ box and double box it. Also tape all corners and edges to insure safe arrival. Plan on the USPS dropping it on a corner and if it is not taped well it will crack wide open. ---I do this when the winter slow down arrives and there is not much work. I'll bet I have over 1,000 lbs to prepare. Lanny

Stephen Mea culpa. It is the paranoid idea Fl roofer threw out implying a conspiracy concerning lead poison. He needs to clarify his position. Fl Roofer please reply. I invite you to clarify if you can.

Working with tile, I've been working with lead for over 30 years. I wear gloves in Winter all the time, but rarely in Summer. The only time I handle it with gloves in Summer is ifit used lead that has a white chalky surface. And so far I know of no detrimental effects on me, (Now, what did I say my name was?)

I continue to gain faith in Wakaflex as a substitute for lead, it seems to hold up well. The drawback to it is it only comes in a narrow (12") roll.

A couple of weeks ago, we did a repair where the roofer had laid lead in a cricket. There were two small ripples in it tha,t as the wieght made it settle, developed cracks and leaked. I replaced it with SA. The old lead was chalky on the bottom, but looked like new on top. I should have no problem reusing it. There was almost 300 pounds of it ($$).

clarify my position in what way? stephen

Young children are at the highest risk for lead poisoning. It is about our children . Fl Roofer Stephen I still invite you to clarify your position. http://www.drgreene.com/azguide/lead-poisoning#ixzz15Cys2TK5 B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

In person, many of you might consider me a tree hugging nut job, LOL. however I believe concern about lead is WAAAAAAAAAAY over blown.

in the 1980's- for almost 6 years I worked as an electro plater in an industrial chrome shop. we handled lead every day- every day I moved hundreds of pounds of lead, the entire inside of the shop was covered in lead oxide dust.

every week or so, one of my chores was to melt down old lead anodes in a gas kettle, and ladle out the molten lead to make new bars and lead mats etc.- that we used to make new anodes.

as you might imagine- I had some concerns about all that lead so-on my own dime I got regular tests- my lead level scarcely budged in 5-1/2 years.

keeping in mind that I was surrounded by lead and covered with lead dust every working day--------------------- I have to wonder how many POUNDS of paint chips a kid has to eat to suffer brain damage?- maybe the kid was brain damaged BEFORE he ate the paint chips?- or maybe it's just Darwinism in action, LOL stephen

Fl Roofer Many lead flashing's are exposed. Lead pipe flashing's, Tile lead wall and transition flashing. The question was about lead flashing's and poison from lead based products. To deny that lead is poisonous well .....??? Please reference your sources for your IMO.

"That said IMO the whole lead poison thing is minimal at best. Just a move by special interest groups to wipe out the use of a very versatile and long lasting material that is/was widely used in many forms in the construction industry to be replaced by a cheaper product that will need to be replaced no doubt more than once, in a far lesser time frame. "

To say lead is not poisonous and is a target for special interest groups suggest lead poisoning is a conspiracy.

B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

Great discussion guys! I didn't make the post in defense of the tree hugging nut jobs out there. I just think its an issue that should be talked about. I consider myself a student of the roofing industry and believe we should always seek (but not necessarily find) better ways of doing things.

Fl-I enjoyed reading your comments. I thought the purpose of lead was to help with compression of the membrane plies under the drain ring. Also, most details/drawings I've seen show the lead exposed in finished drain flashing assemblies. NRCA details show the drain lead turned down & exposed, but JM shows it cut flush with the field plies & stripping plies.

Fl-If lead shot is not a concern, then why are we (at least in the areas I hunt)required to use steel shot for waterfowl?

Alba- I don't know. What ppm of lead particles really goes into our storm drains? Is it enough to be concerned?

Are there alternatives out there? Soft Copper? Terne coated Stainless? What about an asphaltic sheet?

---We use lead flashings on pipes fairly often. The lead leaches into the roofing preventing moss from growing below the flashing. I usually handle with gloves although I am not paranoid about lead. I used to make lead fish weights casting the lead in molds. ---Lead water pipes were common many years ago here. I have melted down lead pipes taken from homes that were replumbed. When I was a kid we used to get it and sell it to the metal buyers along with copper wire. ---Much of the early drinking cups were made of pewter in England and America. Pewter then contained lead. It has been shown to be poisonous and today's pewter is made of a blend without lead. ---While lead is poisonous most of the lead over-reaction regulations are way beyond reason. The same is true of asbestos. The tiny bit in a popcorn ceiling is not worth a huge fine, men in moon suits, $20,000 to remove and etc. Tobacco has killed about a million times more people than asbestos and lead together. ---In removing old lead flashings we are very careful not to unhale the white flaking dust inside the flashing. Common sense and common simple protective measures are enough. Lanny

If I recall correctly, lead pipes were employed thruout Rome dating back 2000 years, and they may still be in use. I definitely remember, lead used on the many statutes on St. Peters Church, to repair areas that had been disintergrated by the acid of the pigeon droppings. I kinda recollect that Pb (lead) is chemically inert, just not sure.

I should have added in my post that the primary purpose albeit argueably, of the bib is to prevent water making entry UNDER the membrane should the drain back up. This is acheived by laying it in a bed of roof cement upon installation. I repeat for those who have trouble with comprehension of the written word (you know who you are) water WILL NOT make contact with the lead if it is installed correctly as the fully adhered membrane will cover the bib itself and the bib is also primed with asphalt primer first so there is already a barrier in place. That said IMO the whole lead poison thing is minimal at best. Just a move by special interest groups to wipe out the use of a very versatile and long lasting material that is/was widely used in many forms in the construction industry to be replaced by a cheaper product that will need to be replaced no doubt more than once, in a far lesser time frame. Re Danny Kaye- The Man In The White Suit. Us anglers and shooters spend many dollars on lead based products. Watcha gonna do, ban lead bullets so you don't die of lead poisoning should you survive the headshot?

I have to agree that lead is a problem, BUT, everyone one of us here grew up with lead paint in our homes. I can remember moving in to the finished attic to have a bedroom to myself and the paint on the dormer ceiling was flaking off. I know it was the original paint from when the house was built in the 1920's because it was the only layer of paint against the sheetrock. I am sure there was lead based paint on our cribs that we gnawed on while waiting for our parents to come get us and all those toys we played with (remember the wooden alphabet blocks?) that we had a tendency to put in our mouth.

We lived through that and it does not seem to have affected many of us in a negative manner (notice I said many and not all). Sometimes I think that the powers that be look for things to panic the public. I see no harm in regulating products that are processed now to comply with lead standards but I think we need to be a bit realistic and quit worrying about things that have been around for eons that have had little impact on society.

I know that there are children who have sustained medical problems from lead paint ingestion but how many do you know personally? I know of none and have not heard any friends of friends of friends of cousins of friends who have, and I do not live in a bubble.

Just my 2 cents.

Lead in water supplies is a real problem. The degree to which water picks up lead varies quite a bit, and depends on the amount of actual lead surface to which the water is being exposed and the contact time of water to lead. So water that sits in a lead flashed roofing system and contacts the lead has a pretty high lead content while water in a lead flashed roofing system that drains usually has a very low lead content. Now if you take every roof system in the USA draining or not............. Whoa. Lead in the environment is a health hazard, particularly to children. Lead levels in children have dropped. B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

That's an interesting question.I never thought of it that way.The question is how much lead is washed off when it rains?

A drain lead is an integral component in a roof drain. Water should not contact the lead by design as the bib is there as a back up ONLY if the roof membrane fails. Contact the obama administration with your concerns and they will surely introduce legislation to ban lead from being used in any way shape or form on our dying planet, but clearly we need looking after.