I have a concrete building on the property that is over 100 years old. We are going to be tearing it down soon and was wondering if it would be okay to use the cinder blocks in my one acre pond or possibly crush the concrete up and use in the pond. It looks like it was painted long ago as well. There is also old brick I could use.

Here's the picture of the building
https://imgur.com/a/Q4johmu

I probably wouldn't put anything with old paint in my pond since it likely contains lead. Aside from that, cinder block and concrete should make for good structure if you have any that isn't painted.

Yea the paint had me kind of iffy.. also not sure if concrete was made different back then or if it mattered.. I will likely take a sledgehammer and crush the concrete and try throwing out any painted pieces.

Enjoy!

What we probably wouldn't want to do for a living, we will do for our ponds.

Very true.. probably don't want to do that either if its lead paint. Man that would have made excellent cover. O well

You could try taking a pressure washer to it and see if it might come off easily. Probably more trouble than it's worth but just a thought.

I think I would be more concerned with breathing lead dust from sledgehammering the blocks than lead dissolving out of the paint in the water.

Test the paint for lead...if your lucky you can use it in the pond. Lead can leach out into the water, and it would be good to know what your dealing with for demo. There are 15$ test kits at most hardware and/or paint stores.

You might have to figure out how to test each paint layer so, do you homework as I have never done this myself.

That's how you get a 2 mouthed fish. You maybe can get yourself a 3 eyed one. I wouldn't recommend swimming in it or eating fish from it.

You could pulverize a few sample pieces and soak them in water and do a water test. Just a thought

Thanks for the input.. definitely want to avoid getting any lead dust in the area. I'm thinking about maybe spraying something over the lead paint to seal it in but I would need something safe to go in the pond. I'll do some more research today. If anybody else knows a safe way to salvage the project I'm all ears. Otherwise it'll be going straight to a sink hole.