Can lead-blocking paint affect WiFi and CellPhone signal?

[skuba]

Hi,

About a year ago I created a thread about weak WiFI signal in my house bedrooms. I mentioned that my house being from 1940 likely head lead paint in them.

Some opinions were provided and I tried a few things but nothing worked to increase signal in the bedrooms. This week as I laid in bed I thought, what if it's not the lead paint affecting signal, but actually the lead-encapsulating paint I asked the painters to use before the actual decorative paint?

This is the material used:
http://www.dumondchemicals.com/pro-lead-stop-mastic-and-encapsulation-products.html

I have also noticed that my cellphone service seems weaker in the bedrooms.

Do you guys have any thoughts? Or do you think it's the actual router that is not strong enough?

Thanks so much

previous thread reference: http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=12396

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
Encapsulating paint is kinda sealant. Lead is still on the wall.

 

[azazel1024]

Honestly the level of lead combined with thickness isn't going to impact it nearly as much as the plaster and lathe walls will (I assume that is what you've got and not older drywall).

I have no figures at all, but I'd take a wild guess and say as thick as paint typically is, lead based paint probably isn't going to attenuate more than 1-2dB compared to oil or latex based paint.

By comparison, something like aluminum siding, which is MASSIVELY thicker in comparison (unless you've got a couple of dozen coats of paint going on) will attenuate on the order of 10-15dB.

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
We have no idea how many times lead containing paint was applied. Old houses usually have
layers of paint or wall papers. I know real remedy is removing the paint. Little children are more at risk to lead.

 

[htismaqe]

If your house has lead paint on the walls, that suggests that the walls have never been torn down and replaced.

If it was built in 1940, there's a good chance the walls are plaster and lath, since that was fairly common until the 1950's.

I would think that would contribute more than any paint would.

 

[azazel1024]

If your house has lead paint on the walls, that suggests that the walls have never been torn down and replaced.

If it was built in 1940, there's a good chance the walls are plaster and lath, since that was fairly common until the 1950's.

I would think that would contribute more than any paint would.

It would. At any rate, as for how many layers, obviously we have no idea. Based on my previous experience though, it isn't all that bad usually. I've seen as thick as about 3/64" of an inch of paint as a typical "bad" setup, but that has generally been on homes dating more to the early 1900's, not from the 1940s. Typical seems to be a repainting about once every 10-12 years. Obviously sometimes less and sometimes more. Most likely only 1-3 layers are going to be lead based with later layers being oil/latex based.

The paint isn't solid lead, it is a tiny fraction of it lead used to enhance the color/brilliance. You aren't talking about layers of lead foil, but particles of lead suspended in the matrix of the paint. In the end it is really going to impact wifi all that much. More than nothing, but the same could be said of anything. I'd be concerned a lot more about chicken wire and plaster (or even plaster and lathe, but chicken wire and lathe is the worst other than maybe concrete and rebar).

 

[skuba]

Hi and thanks for all the feedback. Yes the walls are plaster and lath (with no metal on that I have noticed).

Don't know how many times lead paint might have been applied, but it's also an assumption that there is lead paint because of age of the house. Just to be extra conservative, I had the painters use the lead-encapsulant material in the bedrooms as I have a very young daughter. I am happy that I had her tested for lead in the blood at 1 yr and there were no traces of it!

So is my best bet to improve WiFi in the back of the house (bedrooms) to just put another router connected via ethernet port to main router and make it act as a repeater?

Should I get a second ASUS RT-N66U? It's pricy.

I tested this once with an older router and noticed that the devices would not automatically switch from main router to repeater. It would just keep accessing the crappy main router signal, although there is a stronger signal a couple of feet away. Is it better to have the repeater with a different wifi name and force the device to access it?

Thanks

 

[sfx2000]

If your house has lead paint on the walls, that suggests that the walls have never been torn down and replaced.

If it was built in 1940, there's a good chance the walls are plaster and lath, since that was fairly common until the 1950's.

I would think that would contribute more than any paint would.

Agreed - I took at look at the MSDS, nothing serious there...

http://www.dumondchemicals.com/pdf/MSDS/Lead_Stop.pdf

Best thing if possible - have the paint analyzed and checked for lead - it may have been remediated some time in the past - if not, rather than cover it up, it should be removed - not good for kids and pets, and to be honest, for anyone living in the house.

 

[RogerSC]

Agreed - I took at look at the MSDS, nothing serious there...

http://www.dumondchemicals.com/pdf/MSDS/Lead_Stop.pdf

Best thing if possible - have the paint analyzed and checked for lead - it may have been remediated some time in the past - if not, rather than cover it up, it should be removed - not good for kids and pets, and to be honest, for anyone living in the house.

Be careful removing lead paint...I'd have someone else do it, especially if you have young children, unless you know exactly what you're doing *smile*.

 

[azazel1024]

More or less a pro job for remediation, not a homeowner job.

On the topic of what to do, yes I'd attach another router set in access point mode to the main router.

As for roaming to that second router, did you configure it so that both routers were using the same SSID? If they had different SSIDs then devices will NOT roam to the other router unless they lose their wifi connection entirely (seperate SSIDs are treated as seperate networks by the clients).

 

[stevech]

I'll agree that lead-based paint is probably not RF-significant.
But lath and plaster walls are much more lossy than drywall.