How to Identify and Manage Lead Paint in Your Home

When we talk about lead-based paint exposure, we're really talking about breathing in or ingesting the dust of the paint as well as paint chips – which is why young children can be easily exposed, says Edmonds.

"They can have higher exposure because children can crawl on the floor where there might be lead dust or lead paint chips. And, of course, children exhibit a lot of hand-to-mouth behavior, and they can ingest dust that way."

The process of an expert coming in to inspect your home for lead paint should not cause any damage to your walls or window sills.

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How to identify lead paint

Knowing the dangers of lead-based paint is important, but identifying it in your home is equally crucial.

There are lead-paint test kits out there, but none of our experts recommended them. "They only give a limited picture," Gonzalez says. "They can give inaccurate results and also if lead is detected, don't tell you how high the level of lead is."

All of our experts shared the same advice: If you really want to know the extent of lead-based paint in your home, leave it to the certified professionals to do a lead-based paint inspection.

These inspectors – who should have certifications issued by the state you live in or the EPA – will locate any lead-based paint in your home and inform you if those spots are cause for immediate concern, according to Faciano.

And don't worry – Gonzalez says inspections are not a "destructive process." His team uses a special handheld analyzer to check anywhere they think lead may be present.

How to get rid of lead paint

And if you do have it? Edmonds recommends a lead-based paint risk assessment – which may or may not be a combined service with your inspection.

"A risk assessor will give the owner a risk assessment report, and that will have actions that the homeowner can take to address the hazards," he says.

And chances are that will include some options.

If the lead-based paint is intact. You might want to simply paint over the existing lead-based paint. This is something you could do yourself, as long as you're not doing anything to disturb that intact paint, Edmonds says.

If the lead-based paint is peeling or chipping. This presents a more serious hazard. According to Edmonds, you should probably get a certified professional who knows how to proceed in a lead-safe way that "would minimize the spread of dust and minimize the creation of lead-based paint hazards"

Gonzalez says most scenarios would involve surface stabilization and repainting under lead-safe work practices.

"Surface stabilization and painting is temporary abatement or an interim control (generally expected to last less than 20 years) that requires a plan for ensuring the surfaces stay intact," Gonzalez explains, adding that this is generally done by "scraping under lead-safe work practices" and "priming with an encapsulant."

Full abatement, or the complete removal of lead-based paint hazards, is only done in certain cases, according to Gonzalez. "Typically you would have to remove the component with the paint on it because it's harder than it looks to remove by surface treatment (e.g., scraping, sanding or chemical methods)," he says.

Location matters

Where the pesky paint is in your home might impact your decision, too. Faciano says lead-based paint on "impact surfaces" like windows or doors is "much more likely to generate lead dust because of mere acts of opening and closing."

Additionally, older adults who don't have any young children coming to their home and don't plan to renovate or disturb any existing lead-based paint might decide to deal with the issue later down the road – especially since abatement or interim control methods can be costly.

"We'd recommend full removal of lead-based paint, but not everybody is in that situation," Faciano says. "If you have resources and there's a potential that children may start visiting or there's a potential for grandchildren on the horizon and you can take care of it, it's a great thing to do."

No matter what you decide, never remove or disturb any lead-based paint yourself. And Edmonds says it's a good idea to regularly clean floors, window sills and other surfaces so they don't collect dust or paint chips from any existing lead paint.

Do you legally have to deal with lead paint if you have it?

Faciano says you can contact your local health department or housing agency for guidance on whether or not you have any obligation to deal with lead-based paint in your home.

If you're looking for more information on protecting you or your family from lead-based paint hazards, check out the EPA's "Protect Your Family" pamphlet.