• The most common source of lead poisoning in young children is the result of lead dust in the area they play and live.  Small children have a lot of hand-to-mouth activity as they play on the floor with toys or anything they come across.  If lead-based paint has deteriorated and broken down into dust, it usually ends up on the horizontal surfaces (floors & window sills).  Small children spend much more time on the floor than adults do and small children are also more susceptible to the longterm negative effects of lead poisoning.

There are the possible health concerns mentioned above but there can also be economic considerations if your pre-1978 house has LBP.  Any contractor who works on pre-1978 housing will need to comply with the EPA's "Renovation, Repair and Painting" (RRP) guideline.  If the contractor has to perform the work using lead safe work practices, his costs and your costs will be higher.  We advise our potential clients to have a LBP inspection performed on the house they are considering purchasing before they go to closing.  They will have more information to base their final decision on and have a clearer picture of potential repair costs.

Almost anyone with enough money can purchase the equipment we use for our inspections.  However, if they are using it on pre-1978 housing for the purpose of performing a qualified inspection, they must have attended an approved training course, passed a written exam and be licensed by the Colorado Department of Health and Environment (CDPHE) as a LBP inspector.  They must also be working for a firm also licensed by CDPHE.  If they have done this, they should be able to provide their licensing credentials issued by CDPHE.

In regards to the test kits sold at the hardware store, certain manufacturer's kits are allowed for testing components that will be modified by contractors working in a pre-1978 house.  Home owners can also use them to determine if lead is present on components.  We take XRF readings on approximately 150 components in a typical 1500 SF home when we perform an inspection.  Using this many test kits to perform a comparable inspection isn't cost effective. Test kits have been known to produce false positive and/or negative results along with improper use of the kit. We have performed xrf testing after test kits have been used to determine there was lead-based paint at the property. Based upon our testing, instances were found that no lead-bsed paint was present therefore negating possible RRP requirements.

Our XRF equipment can detect lead through up to 50 layers of paint according to the manufacturer.  If there is LBP there under all that paint, we should be able to detect it.

In general terms, it is better to leave LBP in good condition alone versus trying to remove it.  Sanding or scraping LBP to remove it generates a lot of dust which creates a major health hazard.  We advise our clients to periodocally check the known LBP surfaces to determine if they are still intact without deterioration.  Take steps to keep the surface in good condition to prevent the LBP from posing a health hazard.  On some LBP components such as wood windows, consideration might be given to upgrading to a more energy efficient model and alleviating the LBP concern at the same time.