Testing for Lead in Peeling Paint

When I signed the lease to my apartment, I received an EPA-approved brochure about lead in paint. Mandated by federal law, the brochure is given to renters of housing built before 1978, the year lead paint was phased out for residential use, by landlords who know there is lead paint on their property.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 434,000 children have blood-lead levels "of concern" (above 10 micrograms per deciliter), almost all of them from lead-based paint in deteriorating housing.

But my apartment was in good shape. I put the brochure away. Then the bathroom started peeling. And there were cracks in the baby's room. I knew it was important to get the paint repaired, but my brochure told me that disturbing lead-based paint through scraping could send lead dust into the air, potentially damaging my child's brain. The painter arrived to repair the bathroom with no cleaning equipment. After he left I cleaned up paint chips in the bathroom by hand. The next day, I came home surprised to find that he had scraped the ceiling of the baby's room while we were out. I wheeled the stroller out the door and tried to figure out what to do next.

My local health department suggested that we stay out of the apartment until dust sampling showed no lead. They also helped me determine whether the paint company was certified to handle lead paint. (To my surprise, they were.) They contacted the building owner, which led to professional cleaning and dust sampling of the apartment. We stayed at a friend's for four days, until lab results came back clean.

Renters have little control over repair work. Federal law requires landlords to notify tenants of the presence of lead paint, but that does not guarantee that repairs will be done safely. With some advance knowledge, tenants can help keep the pressure on, and keep the lead out.

What You Can Do
Find out who is doing the work. A company certified to handle lead paint will be listed in leadlisting.com. Whether or not the company is certified, discuss preferred practices with the workers. Painters should avoid power sanding or water blasting lead paint, scrape as small an area as possible, remove or cover belongings with plastic, cover the work area with plastic, wet the area before scraping and wet the debris before sweeping. (See www.hud.gov.)

Find out what the workers will do to clean up the job. They should wet-clean and use a HEPA vacuum. Keep children and pregnant women out of the area until the job is finished and the area is clean. When a large area is being scraped (according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than 2 square feet inside the home and more than 20 square feet on an exterior surface), use professional dust sampling to confirm proper cleaning.