Lead Paint

[Anonymous]

We are about to move into a house with lead paint, built in the early 20th century. I assume the lead paint was everywhere. The property management company has done what we perceive to be a conscientious remediation of the entire property, which has included a thorough and time-consuming painting of just about every single surface. I guess the painters tested as they went (and are lead certified) and found contamination on the inside and immediate outside of the house, which was fairly extensive (hence the long time they took to paint over everything). The previous tenants lived there for 5+ years, so I would imagine they didn't clean up a lot and it had a lot of wear and tear. There is an inspection is about to occur, which we assume may require a few rounds of touching up but we anticipate it'll go through fine. They insist that if we see cracks or chips anything to call them immediately and they'll repair it.

I have never lived in a house with lead paint before.

How do you hang pictures?
Is opening and closing windows really a bad thing to do?
We have kids but older than 5 who don't chew things. Tell me you did this and it was ok?
Can you container garden, at least?
Must we be very serious about being a shoes-off home?

I suppose I want to hear stories from people who've lived this before, and I assume that there are many of you in the DC area. Or if you had a bad experience, tell me your concerns please!

[Anonymous]

Can you replace the windows?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you replace the windows?

No, we are tenants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are about to move into a house with lead paint, built in the early 20th century. I assume the lead paint was everywhere. The property management company has done what we perceive to be a conscientious remediation of the entire property, which has included a thorough and time-consuming painting of just about every single surface. I guess the painters tested as they went (and are lead certified) and found contamination on the inside and immediate outside of the house, which was fairly extensive (hence the long time they took to paint over everything). The previous tenants lived there for 5+ years, so I would imagine they didn't clean up a lot and it had a lot of wear and tear. There is an inspection is about to occur, which we assume may require a few rounds of touching up but we anticipate it'll go through fine. They insist that if we see cracks or chips anything to call them immediately and they'll repair it.

I have never lived in a house with lead paint before.

How do you hang pictures?
Is opening and closing windows really a bad thing to do?
We have kids but older than 5 who don't chew things. Tell me you did this and it was ok?
Can you container garden, at least?
Must we be very serious about being a shoes-off home?

I suppose I want to hear stories from people who've lived this before, and I assume that there are many of you in the DC area. Or if you had a bad experience, tell me your concerns please!

It will be fine- the main issues are leaded surfaces that rub (doors and windows). If there is lead in the doors and windows, I would take a wet rag to the sills and the floor around the doors on a regular basis. Set a bench out if your kids tend to sit by the door to put on shoes.

Your kids are past crawling age (and chewing, constant hand to mouth, etc). They are also past the age where lead + iron deficiency + brain development takes the biggest toll. Babies and young toddlers are behaviorally and developmentally the most susceptible to lead poisoning.

Suggest a shoeless house (I would do this anyway) and a good hand washing regimen.

If you're truly worried- I would suggest a lead free rental. A home that you don't own is not worth the worry if you would tend to be worried about lead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are about to move into a house with lead paint, built in the early 20th century. I assume the lead paint was everywhere. The property management company has done what we perceive to be a conscientious remediation of the entire property, which has included a thorough and time-consuming painting of just about every single surface. I guess the painters tested as they went (and are lead certified) and found contamination on the inside and immediate outside of the house, which was fairly extensive (hence the long time they took to paint over everything). The previous tenants lived there for 5+ years, so I would imagine they didn't clean up a lot and it had a lot of wear and tear. There is an inspection is about to occur, which we assume may require a few rounds of touching up but we anticipate it'll go through fine. They insist that if we see cracks or chips anything to call them immediately and they'll repair it.

I have never lived in a house with lead paint before.

How do you hang pictures?
Is opening and closing windows really a bad thing to do?
We have kids but older than 5 who don't chew things. Tell me you did this and it was ok?
Can you container garden, at least?
Must we be very serious about being a shoes-off home?

I suppose I want to hear stories from people who've lived this before, and I assume that there are many of you in the DC area. Or if you had a bad experience, tell me your concerns please!

It will be fine- the main issues are leaded surfaces that rub (doors and windows). If there is lead in the doors and windows, I would take a wet rag to the sills and the floor around the doors on a regular basis. Set a bench out if your kids tend to sit by the door to put on shoes.

Your kids are past crawling age (and chewing, constant hand to mouth, etc). They are also past the age where lead + iron deficiency + brain development takes the biggest toll. Babies and young toddlers are behaviorally and developmentally the most susceptible to lead poisoning.

Suggest a shoeless house (I would do this anyway) and a good hand washing regimen.

If you're truly worried- I would suggest a lead free rental. A home that you don't own is not worth the worry if you would tend to be worried about lead.

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are about to move into a house with lead paint, built in the early 20th century. I assume the lead paint was everywhere. The property management company has done what we perceive to be a conscientious remediation of the entire property, which has included a thorough and time-consuming painting of just about every single surface. I guess the painters tested as they went (and are lead certified) and found contamination on the inside and immediate outside of the house, which was fairly extensive (hence the long time they took to paint over everything). The previous tenants lived there for 5+ years, so I would imagine they didn't clean up a lot and it had a lot of wear and tear. There is an inspection is about to occur, which we assume may require a few rounds of touching up but we anticipate it'll go through fine. They insist that if we see cracks or chips anything to call them immediately and they'll repair it.

I have never lived in a house with lead paint before.

How do you hang pictures?
Is opening and closing windows really a bad thing to do?
We have kids but older than 5 who don't chew things. Tell me you did this and it was ok?
Can you container garden, at least?
Must we be very serious about being a shoes-off home?

I suppose I want to hear stories from people who've lived this before, and I assume that there are many of you in the DC area. Or if you had a bad experience, tell me your concerns please!

It will be fine- the main issues are leaded surfaces that rub (doors and windows). If there is lead in the doors and windows, I would take a wet rag to the sills and the floor around the doors on a regular basis. Set a bench out if your kids tend to sit by the door to put on shoes.

Your kids are past crawling age (and chewing, constant hand to mouth, etc). They are also past the age where lead + iron deficiency + brain development takes the biggest toll. Babies and young toddlers are behaviorally and developmentally the most susceptible to lead poisoning.

Suggest a shoeless house (I would do this anyway) and a good hand washing regimen.

If you're truly worried- I would suggest a lead free rental. A home that you don't own is not worth the worry if you would tend to be worried about lead.

OP - this is all very good advice. If you have any sanding to do, just take proper precautions.

If it helps, though, we bought an old home that we renovated and I had a minor, irrational freak out over leadpaint and my 2 year old because we had to move in before all the renovations were done. So my doctor told me I was over reacting but had her tested anyway - and she was perfectly fine. This is really only an issue when paint is cracking or loose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are about to move into a house with lead paint, built in the early 20th century. I assume the lead paint was everywhere. The property management company has done what we perceive to be a conscientious remediation of the entire property, which has included a thorough and time-consuming painting of just about every single surface. I guess the painters tested as they went (and are lead certified) and found contamination on the inside and immediate outside of the house, which was fairly extensive (hence the long time they took to paint over everything). The previous tenants lived there for 5+ years, so I would imagine they didn't clean up a lot and it had a lot of wear and tear. There is an inspection is about to occur, which we assume may require a few rounds of touching up but we anticipate it'll go through fine. They insist that if we see cracks or chips anything to call them immediately and they'll repair it.

I have never lived in a house with lead paint before.

How do you hang pictures?
Is opening and closing windows really a bad thing to do?
We have kids but older than 5 who don't chew things. Tell me you did this and it was ok?
Can you container garden, at least?
Must we be very serious about being a shoes-off home?

I suppose I want to hear stories from people who've lived this before, and I assume that there are many of you in the DC area. Or if you had a bad experience, tell me your concerns please!

It will be fine- the main issues are leaded surfaces that rub (doors and windows). If there is lead in the doors and windows, I would take a wet rag to the sills and the floor around the doors on a regular basis. Set a bench out if your kids tend to sit by the door to put on shoes.

Your kids are past crawling age (and chewing, constant hand to mouth, etc). They are also past the age where lead + iron deficiency + brain development takes the biggest toll. Babies and young toddlers are behaviorally and developmentally the most susceptible to lead poisoning.

Suggest a shoeless house (I would do this anyway) and a good hand washing regimen.

If you're truly worried- I would suggest a lead free rental. A home that you don't own is not worth the worry if you would tend to be worried about lead.

OP - this is all very good advice. If you have any sanding to do, just take proper precautions.

If it helps, though, we bought an old home that we renovated and I had a minor, irrational freak out over leadpaint and my 2 year old because we had to move in before all the renovations were done. So my doctor told me I was over reacting but had her tested anyway - and she was perfectly fine. This is really only an issue when paint is cracking or loose.

Don't do any sanding, OP! You shouldn't because you're renters, but it's a very easy way to get lead dust through entire house.

[Anonymous]

The minuscule amount of lead that may possibly released from a nail hole is nothing to worry about. Windows & doorways (where friction happens) are more likely to cause issues. Have your kid lead tested regularly until age 3 or so. But really. It should be fine.

[Anonymous]

Typically the walls don't have lead paint - just the baseboards, windows, doors. We have lead paint everywhere but it is well painted over and we never open windows. Our son has always been zero on the lead tests.