Lead paint in a rental (wood floors, sales, home)

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by mamamea33

Thanks for the reply! I have contacted the landlord and am waiting for a response. I agree that lead paint or not, it needs to be repaired. But that is the difference between repairing it easily or having it remediated. If she hires someone to come in and scrape it down without remediation (or testing) we will leave.

Obviously the best-case scenario is that the test kit was wrong and the paint is fine.

My daughter is having a blood test done. They want to wait a few months to do one on my son. She spends more time out there but she's also older, so it would have less of an effect on her.


We received the disclosure stating there may be lead paint. She did not indicate whether any testing has been done or whether it is definitive.


Heat gun?
Obviously this will not be something we do ourselves... We are capable, but not under these circumstances.

"Remediation" usually means that they put a sheet of plastic down before scraping and vacuum up all the chips afterwards. Sometimes they attache a vacuum to the paint shaver (if that is what they use). If they use heat, they will put fans in the room, seal the door and tell you to leave while they do it. Some of them make a buig production out of it, but it is really not that big a deal. It is a simple concept. None of the paint should end up inside a child.

By the way we lived with lead paint for several years during which I removed much of the paint with scrapers, chemical strippers and heat guns before it occurred to me that it might contain lead. In a bit of a panic I took all the kids (five of them) in for testing. none of them had any measurable amount of lead and we had lead paint all over the house.

After learning that it was lead paint, I wa a little more careful, but after doing some research realized that it is not that big a deal. It is really easy to control the removed chips, dust or vapors and there really is not that much lead in the paint. A child needs to ingest quite a lot of paint for it to hurt them.


Do your kids lick the walls?

[Ultrarunner]

One of the ironies of Lead Paint is that it generally was only found in top of the line paints...

Still remember my Grandmother's white washed walls... she couldn't afford to buy the expensive stuff.

[mamamea33]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Do your kids lick the walls?

It would not surprise me.

My son licks everything, and puts everything in his mouth. He is only 1. Drops his pacifier on the floor under the window, picks it up, sticks it back in. If there were paint chips on the floor he would find them and eat them. He is that kid.

We are just going to go ahead and hire an inspector so we know for sure. The landlord is sending a painter over to sand and repaint the porch; she said he will use wet sanding and vacuum so hopefully that will help.

[Ultrarunner]

Here's a link to the Handbook for contractors, property managers and maintenance personnel from the EPA

Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule | Lead in Paint, Dust, and Soil | US EPA

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by mamamea33

It would not surprise me.

My son licks everything, and puts everything in his mouth. He is only 1. Drops his pacifier on the floor under the window, picks it up, sticks it back in. If there were paint chips on the floor he would find them and eat them. He is that kid.

We are just going to go ahead and hire an inspector so we know for sure. The landlord is sending a painter over to sand and repaint the porch; she said he will use wet sanding and vacuum so hopefully that will help.

Sounds like you and the owner are on the right track..

It is also important to keep the environment extremely clean and dust free by regularly cleaning so the opportunity for a child to even pick up a lead paint chip doesn't exist...

[Lolipopbubbles]

Originally Posted by mamamea33

We moved into a 1959 rental in November. We have two kids, ages 1 and 4. Our pediatrician mentioned lead paint as part of a routine checkup this week and suggested we check the condition of the paint throughout the house to be sure it isn't peeling or cracked. I ordered a home test kit (this one Amazon.com: 3M LC-8S20C Lead Check Swabs: Home Improvement) on Amazon and tested around the house. The inside spots all tested fine but our screened-in porch tested positive for lead. It is an old, dusty area with severely disintegrating and cracked paint.

I called the County and they said we would need to hire a certified inspector. I have some questions:
1. Any recommendations on inspectors that don't also do remediation?
2. Any BTDT concerning a rental and lead paint? What are the chances of the landlord paying for the testing/remediation?
3. What would you do? If this porch is not remediated, would you move? My kids play out there often (well, they did), chalk drawings, painting, riding bikes. It would be very frustrating to pay for that large of an area as part of our rent and not be able to use it safely.

Your children should be fine since it's only been 2 months but it's good to have the blood test done anyway, I know I would. What surprises me is that you didn't consider the paint chips could have lead in them when you moved in November 2 months ago didn't you see them? One of the first things I would look at are all the walls, banisters, window frams/sills. Because I want it all freshly painted so I won't have to worry about it after I move in. I guess not everyone is like me as I hate like heck to paint and used to refuse to rent/move in anywhere unless it was already done. I would keep the children out of there until all the paint chips are cleaned out and it's all sanded down and repainted with primer on first. You shouldn't have to pay the extra rent until you are all able to use that porch again.

[mamamea33]

I tested a few more areas inside the house and got positives. Small areas of chipped paint on the kitchen door frame, peeling paint around the doorknob to our bedroom, and a crack that runs from ceiling to floor tucked in a corner of the hallway.

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

Here's a link to the Handbook for contractors, property managers and maintenance personnel from the EPA

Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule | Lead in Paint, Dust, and Soil | US EPA

Thank you.

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

Sounds like you and the owner are on the right track..

It is also important to keep the environment extremely clean and dust free by regularly cleaning so the opportunity for a child to even pick up a lead paint chip doesn't exist...

I feel like I am a good housekeeper. At least compared to many of my friends. But this house is dusty. Between the food the kids drop, the two cats and just miscellaneous dust and debris, I am sweeping or Swiffering daily when I can. When I see a little spec or chip of paint I wipe it up immediately, but is that enough?

Originally Posted by Lolipopbubbles

Your children should be fine since it's only been 2 months but it's good to have the blood test done anyway, I know I would. What surprises me is that you didn't consider the paint chips could have lead in them when you moved in November 2 months ago didn't you see them? One of the first things I would look at are all the walls, banisters, window frams/sills. Because I want it all freshly painted so I won't have to worry about it after I move in. I guess not everyone is like me as I hate like heck to paint and used to refuse to rent/move in anywhere unless it was already done. I would keep the children out of there until all the paint chips are cleaned out and it's all sanded down and repainted with primer on first. You shouldn't have to pay the extra rent until you are all able to use that porch again.

I love to paint. So if I see a bad paint job I ask if we can choose our colors. But in this case, we were very excited to be moving in to this house. We were gaining 400 SF, a third bedroom, a garage and a yard our kids could play in. When we did the walk-through we noticed it was a little more run-down than we had remembered. The previous tenant barely cleaned when she moved out, for example. But the movers were coming the next morning. We didn't see peeling paint; it wasn't obvious. The paint on the porch looked dirty; it wasn't until we started wiping the dirt down that we noticed the paint was flaking off too. Yes, we should have made the connection between the condition of the paint and the potential for lead. I am mad at myself that I didn't.

I do like this house. I would love to be able to fix it up and stay here for a couple of years. But I can't put my kids at risk. I really wish someone could just come over, see what I am seeing, and tell us if it's safe or not.

[Ultrarunner]

Like others have said... establishing a baseline via blood test should give you peace of mind.

Interesting to note...

There are exceptions... even to homes with lead paint.

As stated...

1978 and later construction

Home or components declared lead free

Housing for elderly or disabled

Studios, Dorms, etc...

Minor Repairs 6 square feet or less inside and up to 20 square feet exterior...

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by Lolipopbubbles

Your children should be fine since it's only been 2 months but it's good to have the blood test done anyway, I know I would. What surprises me is that you didn't consider the paint chips could have lead in them when you moved in November 2 months ago didn't you see them? One of the first things I would look at are all the walls, banisters, window frams/sills. Because I want it all freshly painted so I won't have to worry about it after I move in. I guess not everyone is like me as I hate like heck to paint and used to refuse to rent/move in anywhere unless it was already done. I would keep the children out of there until all the paint chips are cleaned out and it's all sanded down and repainted with primer on first. You shouldn't have to pay the extra rent until you are all able to use that porch again.

Ignore this idiocy. It is not your fault. Very few parents would have thought about lead paint at all. It is very uncommon even in older places most lead has been removed and not that much interior paint was lead based. It also takes a lot of expposure to ingest a significant amount of lead. I do not understand these people with self esteem problems who feel like they have to come on here and attack everyone in order to try to make themselves feel better.

Lolipopbubbles, go get counseling. Attacking and attempting to belittle other people is not going to make you feel better nor resolve your problems with self esteem. It does nto make you a better person nor a better parent to try to put others down. You need professional help.

[dallasdean]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

"Remediation" usually means that they put a sheet of plastic down before scraping and vacuum up all the chips afterwards. Sometimes they attache a vacuum to the paint shaver (if that is what they use). If they use heat, they will put fans in the room, seal the door and tell you to leave while they do it. Some of them make a buig production out of it, but it is really not that big a deal. It is a simple concept. None of the paint should end up inside a child.

By the way we lived with lead paint for several years during which I removed much of the paint with scrapers, chemical strippers and heat guns before it occurred to me that it might contain lead. In a bit of a panic I took all the kids (five of them) in for testing. none of them had any measurable amount of lead and we had lead paint all over the house.

After learning that it was lead paint, I wa a little more careful, but after doing some research realized that it is not that big a deal. It is really easy to control the removed chips, dust or vapors and there really is not that much lead in the paint. A child needs to ingest quite a lot of paint for it to hurt them.


Do your kids lick the walls?

I disagree with basically everything written above. I specialize in lead based paint, lead hazards and finding out where children are being lead poisoned. If you do any research at all, you can't help to come away with a concern.

OP, I'm not saying to panic, but also think you have the right to be concerned. I also think as a parent, there is no blame to you. You are doing a perfect job as a parent in this particular concern.