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It is worth mentioning that it’s straightforward to get paint tested for lead content too. Here in an older part of the US there are many companies that do test

It is worth mentioning that it’s straightforward to get paint tested for lead content too. Here in an older part of the US there are many companies that do testing. It costs a couple hundred dollars for a typical single family house and you can see the results immediately. Anyone in a house in the US built before the late 1970’s or so that has children should consider it.

anyfoo 4y ago
Thanks, we will do that. My wife thinks it's unlikely since we have no flaking paint anywhere, the windows are fairly new etc., but I think it's worth the peace of mind.
- bcrosby95 4y ago
  Focus on the wear spots, like door jams and window sills. Lead paint is fine as long as you keep it in good condition, but its hard to keep it in good condition if parts are rubbing against eachother. Also, the standard for contractors is to assume your paint has lead in it if the house was built before the late '70s. Even testing a whole house for lead paint is extremely expensive, and there's no central registry of lead results, so you're gonna have to test over, and over, and over. For water, just to add some extra safety, we installed a reverse osmosis water filter system for our refrigerator hookup, and removed the standard refrigerator one.
  - anyfoo 4y ago
    Oh geez. What does that mean in practice? If we see no flaking paint anywhere, are we safe? I am not sure about the basement. Is pulverized lead paint in the air a concern?
    - bcrosby95 4y ago
      Condition and rubbing is the problem. If you have no rubbing or condition problems then you should be OK. If you're concerned about tracking it in from outside, or improper renovation, you can apply the tests to dust too, which is where any pulverized lead in the air would come from.
    - daydream 4y ago
      Get a company to come out and do lead testing. They will give you the results, recommend abatement contractors, and maybe give you some tips and recommendations. Where I live the people that do the testing are required to be different from the people doing abatement. (And once the abatement is done you can get the people that did the testing to come back out again and officially verify that the housing unit meets lead safe standards.) But US states differ in some of the details here.
  - daydream 4y ago
    Testing a whole house for lead paint isn’t expensive. Testing is done with handheld analyzers that give results in seconds, a whole house takes maybe a couple hours. And some states do indeed have a central registry of lead results. Mine does. I went online and easily found test results from the 1990’s for places I’ve lived.
deleted 4y ago
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anyfoo 4y ago

Thanks, we will do that. My wife thinks it's unlikely since we have no flaking paint anywhere, the windows are fairly new etc., but I think it's worth the peace of mind.

bcrosby95 4y ago
Focus on the wear spots, like door jams and window sills. Lead paint is fine as long as you keep it in good condition, but its hard to keep it in good condition if parts are rubbing against eachother. Also, the standard for contractors is to assume your paint has lead in it if the house was built before the late '70s. Even testing a whole house for lead paint is extremely expensive, and there's no central registry of lead results, so you're gonna have to test over, and over, and over. For water, just to add some extra safety, we installed a reverse osmosis water filter system for our refrigerator hookup, and removed the standard refrigerator one.
- anyfoo 4y ago
  Oh geez. What does that mean in practice? If we see no flaking paint anywhere, are we safe? I am not sure about the basement. Is pulverized lead paint in the air a concern?
  - bcrosby95 4y ago
    Condition and rubbing is the problem. If you have no rubbing or condition problems then you should be OK. If you're concerned about tracking it in from outside, or improper renovation, you can apply the tests to dust too, which is where any pulverized lead in the air would come from.
  - daydream 4y ago
    Get a company to come out and do lead testing. They will give you the results, recommend abatement contractors, and maybe give you some tips and recommendations. Where I live the people that do the testing are required to be different from the people doing abatement. (And once the abatement is done you can get the people that did the testing to come back out again and officially verify that the housing unit meets lead safe standards.) But US states differ in some of the details here.
- daydream 4y ago
  Testing a whole house for lead paint isn’t expensive. Testing is done with handheld analyzers that give results in seconds, a whole house takes maybe a couple hours. And some states do indeed have a central registry of lead results. Mine does. I went online and easily found test results from the 1990’s for places I’ve lived.

deleted 4y ago

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