Lead is a chemical chameleon. It looks like calcium, behaves like calcium — and that is precisely why our body lets it in. At ETH I learned to use lead isotopes as geological clocks: the ratio of lead-206 to uranium-238 reveals the age of a rock. At Ungiftig we use lead analytics differently: we look for it in your walls, pipes, and household dust.
Where Lead Hides in Austrian Old Buildings
In the buildings we inspect — primarily from the Gründerzeit era through the 1970s — we find lead at three typical locations:
1. Lead Paints
Lead white (lead carbonate) in light coatings, red lead (orange) as rust protection on metal, lead chromate in yellow and green tones. In Viennese old buildings, Gründerzeit townhouses, and Art Nouveau buildings, these paints often sit beneath several layers of newer coatings. As long as the surface is intact: no problem. When paint flakes or you sand during a renovation: lead dust in the apartment.
2. Lead Pipes
Water pipes made of lead were installed in Austria until the early 1970s. In Vienna and in old buildings in Graz, Salzburg, and Innsbruck we still find them regularly. You can recognise them by the grey, soft material — you can score a groove with a key. In Austria, the current drinking water limit value is 10 µg/L (Drinking Water Ordinance). The EU Drinking Water Directive 2020/2184 lowers this value to 5 µg/L by 12 January 2036 — a tightening that effectively forces the replacement of all lead pipes. Lead pipes rarely meet even the current limit.
3. Lead Dust
This is the underestimated source. Lead paint that has weathered over decades produces fine dust that accumulates on windowsills, floors, and in cracks. Especially relevant in apartments with young children — they ingest household dust through hand-to-mouth contact.
Why Lead Is a Problem
Lead is a neurotoxin. It blocks calcium channels in the nervous system, disrupts signal transmission, and inhibits brain development. Children are especially affected: they absorb up to 50% of ingested lead into the bloodstream (adults: 10–15%), and their brains are still developing.
There is no safe threshold. Studies show measurable cognitive effects in children at blood lead levels as low as 2 µg/dL. For every 10 µg/dL increase, children lose on average 2–3 IQ points.
In adults: high blood pressure, kidney damage, concentration problems with chronic low-dose exposure.
How We Detect Lead
We bring our pXRF device — a portable X-ray fluorescence analyser that determines lead and other heavy metals in seconds directly on site. No laboratory shipping, no waiting. We hold the device against the wall, against the pipe, against the windowsill — and immediately know whether lead is present and at what concentration.
For drinking water, we take a water sample (stagnation sample after defined standing times). Laboratory analysis costs €19 per sample — and that covers the full heavy-metal panel, not just lead.
For dust: wipe samples from windowsills and floors, laboratory analysis for lead content.
What to Do with the Results
Lead paint found, intact: Document, factor in during the next renovation. Do not sand, flame, or strip without protective measures. Overpainting or sealing is often the simplest solution.
Lead paint flaking in living areas: Action required, especially if children are in the household. Professional removal by a specialist firm, or encapsulation (sealing with a specialist coating). In Austria, the ÖNORM standards apply.
Lead pipes: Replace. This is the only lasting solution. Until then: run water for 2 minutes in the morning, use only cold water for cooking. Lead dissolves more readily in warm, stagnant water.
Elevated lead dust: Thorough cleaning with wet wiping (not sweeping — that spreads the dust). Identify the source and remediate.
Costs
pXRF screening on site: included in the site inspection flat rate from €290. Drinking water analysis: €19 per sample (covers the full heavy-metal panel). Material sample (paint, plaster, solder joints): €49. For a typical old-building check with pXRF and 2–3 laboratory samples, total costs are €360–€500 — significantly cheaper than a lead surprise during renovation.
When You Should Get in Touch
You are buying an old apartment in Vienna? You want to renovate a Gründerzeit building? You have young children and live in a building from before 1970? You notice flaking paint on windows or radiators?
Then have it measured. With the pXRF we have a complete picture of the lead exposure in your apartment within half an hour — without opening a single wall.
Lead is not the only invisible pollutant in old buildings. Radon — a radioactive gas from the ground — can also neither be seen nor smelled and is widespread in Austria (→ Radon in Austria). And if your building was constructed before 1990, it is often worth checking for possible asbestos as well (→ Recognizing Asbestos).
15-minute initial consultation, free of charge.