Lead Based Paint

Even though lead-based paint was found to be harmful to our health and made illegal in 1978, it was only made illegal to sell and not to use. Therefore many contractors and painters stockpiled the paint due to the particularly strong luster it has- a poor reason if you ask us. It is more common than you think to find lead-based paint inside of relatively newly built homes, which makes potential homeowners responsible for hiring professional home inspection services to carry out a proper investigation into the presence of lead-based paint.
 
Health Hazards of Lead
Elevated levels of lead in the human body can be responsible for a host of symptoms that may not be so obvious at first, from seizures to death- particularly in children. It is incumbent upon parents to protect their families from this hazardous material that can be difficult to spot for most people. Lead-based paint can cause kidney damage, brain and nervous system damage, behavioral problems, hyperactivity, hearing issues, headaches, and the list goes on. It is understandable how this could be blamed on other things until the culprit is found, but sometimes it is much too late after the lead has permeated the body.
 
Signs of lead-based paint
The expert home inspectors at Marietta Home Inspections are trained in looking out for the signs of lead-based paint, obvious or not. The most visible que of old lead-based paint is “alligatoring”, or the scaling that occurs when the paint deteriorates into a scale-like pattern. Most of the time, though, contractors opt to simply cover up the paint with layers of new paint. If that is the case we will bring in special x-ray technology to check for underlying layers of lead paint that other inspectors may miss.
 
Lead abatement
It can be an expensive process to remove lead-based paint from a home and you shouldn’t have to foot that bill when buying, or be forced to negotiate unfavorable prices when selling. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, lead abatement services can cost about 10 dollars a square foot, averaging out to about 10,000 dollars for the average-sized home. These costs can quickly add up when it comes to large and older homes, so make sure that your home inspection service includes a detailed lead-based paint inspection so that you are not surprised by this potentially hazardous problem.
 
Which homes to look for lead paint in
Lead-based paint was made illegal to produce in 1978, so many of these older homes are absolutely rife with the stuff. If you are looking to potentially buying one of these older homes you should be looking for signs of lead-based paint cover up by checking window sills, corners of baseboards and various other spots that painters tend to miss when covering up the old lead-based paint. If you have young children these areas can be extremely dangerous as they crawl around breathing in the lead dust that crumbles off of these exposed areas.