Where do you find lead in a home?

It is found in the air (briefly), soil (brought in from outside), dust (the rubbing of painted surfaces generates dust that can contain lead), and the paint (typically beneath newer coats of latex paint, that will chip off or lose adhesion from the building material substrate) of some homes or buildings built before 1978 (Lead paint was banned by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1978). It has been well-established that exposure to lead can cause serious health problems.

 What are popular times when lead paint was used?

Lead in paint was popularized during colonial times for use in interiors and exteriors of homes, due to its durability. 

 Why was lead even added to paint and stains?

Think about painting, do you want the paint or stain to dry fast, so you can add a second coat or just to put stuff back in the room?   Do you want the paint or stain to be water resistant so if you leave a window open and water hits the window well or sill it resists water damage?   Do you want the surface to be durable and wear like iron, ahem lead. How about making the surfaces washable?   All these desirable features were obtained when you added lead to paint and stain.

 What is the most common lead exposure to humans?

Lead dust is the most common way that people are exposed to lead. Inside the home, most lead dust comes from chipping and flaking paint or when paint is scraped, sanded, or disturbed during home remodeling. Chipping and peeling paint are found mostly on surfaces that rub or bump up against another surface.

Which route of exposure is the most common for lead?

Lead exposure in humans and most importantly in children occurs primarily through ingestion. On a normal day dust can be generated by rubbing of leaned coated surfaces, such as doors, windows, and floors (yes lead was used in stains and the friction on floors wears them down and generates dust). This dust can enter your body by touching it and hand-to-mouth activity.

Young children crawling on the floor and playing on the floor are exposed to the dust making it the most common route of exposure. Lead also has a sweet taste so hand to mouth activity of young children is increased due to the flavor profile.   Adults are less likely to be crawling on the floor or chewing on paint chips, but if the dust is airborne from cleaning, lead can be inhaled. If dust is on an adult's hand and hand-to-mouth action incurs lead can be ingested.   Renovation of buildings that contain lead, including component removal and replacement, sanding for painting, demolition, etc. will generate dust that can be inhaled or ingested.  

Where is lead hiding?

It can be found in dirt and dust, some things we eat, paint in old houses, and contaminated water. Even very small amounts of lead are not safe for children. Lead poisoning occurs when lead builds up in the body, often over months or years. Even small amounts of lead can cause serious health problems.

 Should I have a lead paint inspection performed?

You have to ask yourself if you know where lead is or isn't how is that information going to be used?

A lead paint inspection would tell you where lead is or isn't.  Any construction, repair, or renovation work can disturb lead paint and produce lead dust.  Lead dust inhaled or ingested has well-documented health effects in humans and children in particular.    So knowing where lead is when disturbing building materials has huge value.

How do you remove lead dust from a house?

You can use a special vacuum cleaner called a High-Efficiency Particulate Air Filter (HEPA) vacuum to clean up lead dust. The HEPA vacuum has a special filter that can pick up and hold small pieces of lead. Another option is to use a wet/dry vacuum in the wet setting to clean up the wash or rinse water.

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 What houses have lead poisoning?

Any house or apartment built before 1978 could have lead paint. Houses and apartments built before 1960 have the most lead paint. Common household repairs (like painting or fixing a door that sticks to the doorframe) can produce lead dust or paint chips. This dust and paint chips can contain lead.

Do all homes built before 1978 have lead?

In the environmental industry, you presume it is present until proven otherwise, so the answer is you presume it to be present.   That said although the paint was banned lead paint still existed and may be brought to a home built in 1979 from a home built before 1978. You may also have an heirloom piece (an old fixture of some sort from a pore 1978 home installed in your post-1978 home that has lead paint or varnish. Think doors, old windows, corner cabinets, mantels, etc..

I gutted my house, how can it still have lead?

As you scrape, drill, cut, open walls, remove trim, demolish, or perform other renovation activities, you create dust that may contain lead and may remain in the dwelling. Think about lead touching every surface (lead paint on wood, plaster, stairs, etc.), and lead stain or varnish on floors, stairs, and doors.   Now think, did you remove all these surfaces?   Did you gut the closets, and replace the stairs, including your painted basement stairs? How about painted surfaces in the basement? Basement walls, stairs, ceiling, windows, are they painted with lead paint?

The timeline below shows how popular lead paint was in the United States. Clearly, as you approach 1978 lead usage decreased.

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What is the difference between a lead-safe and a lead-free certification?

Lead-safe means you have lead paint and it is well maintained and not deteriorated, flaking, etc. The lead hazard is contained and therefore does not represent an exposure pathway to humans. Lead-free, means you have no lead paint, the property is free of lead paint, and no lead paint hazard exists.

In the United States lead paint was banned in 1978 by the Consumer Products Safety Commission.  Consumers could not buy lead paint after 1978, but commercial sites still could.   The logic is if it was banned in 1978, homes built after 1978 should be lead-free after that date, but that is not always true.   Following the same logic, homes built before 1978 have the potential to contain lead paint. 

Lead paint was moisture resistant, dried fast, and wore like well lead, so lead paint had attributes anyone painting would find desirable.

EPA & HUD attempted to manage the risk of lead paint and established standards and protocols for evaluating lead paint, testing lead paint, and what to do when lead paint is found.  They learned that homes have lead paint on everything and even varnishes had lead, so basically pretty much any surface could contain lead.  Testing every surface for lead paint is time-consuming and expensive, so protocols were established that had costs in mind as the target housing for lead paint testing. The target was large multi-family rental buildings, causing the owners to incur substantial costs to evaluate for the lead paint on every surface in every room.  For example, a typical 3-bedroom home could have 300 lead tests performed.

There were also protocols established when lead paint was found and a child living in the home had an elevated lead blood level.  The protocol evaluated the child and what they were exposed to at home, outside, and even where family members worked Remember, as was stated early lead was banned for consumers, not commercial uses.  This assessment of lead risk was established as a Lead Risk Assessment.

What is a Lead Risk Assessment?  

A risk assessment is an on-site investigation to determine the presence, type, severity, and location of lead-based paint hazards, including lead hazards in paint, dust, and soil. The risk assessment provides suggested ways to control them. Risk assessments can be legally performed only by certified risk assessors.

New Jersey has a lead safe law for rental units.

The lead safe law requires a lead risk assessment to be performed to obtain a Lead-Safe certification.  The NJ lead inspection does not require testing of painted surfaces as there is the presumption that lead is present.   In NJ, some towns require dust sampling to see if lead paint is being liberated even if all painted surfaces look in pristine condition.

A lead-safe certification is a one-page form developed by NJ for these inspections. There is no HUD or EPA form used even though they are the entities that established the lead evaluation process and New Jersey law relies upon their protocols for their lead safe law, Confusing right?

There is no universal and clear cut lead-safe certification or requirement to verify that lead is or is not present. The New Jersey laws assume the paint is guilty aka it has lead.

Now everyone values freedom of choice and landlords subject to New Jersey lead-safe law may want testing of painted surfaces to confirm or deny lead is present and if lead is not found to obtain a lead-free certification.  But EPA and HUD have no form or certificate that can be filled out to certify a building as lead-free. 

So what is a lead-free certification?

A lead-free certification is actually a report that is compiled after a Lead Paint Inspection is performed, saying that documents all surfaces were tested for lead and no lead was found.  The report includes all test results and calibration of testing equipment to verify the results are accurate and a floor plan of the building detailing the sampling identification results for each room.  The report is a road map of the dwelling showing where and what was tested and the test results.  The conclusions of the report would be no lead paint was found the dwelling is lead-free.

How do you get a lead-free certification?

You have to complete a lead paint inspection which must be performed by a licensed and certified Lead Paint Inspector.   A Lead-Free inspection begins with a visual inspection and a hand-drawn floor plan of the rooms in the building.   Once you have the interior of the building outlined, you go test all surfaces with an XRF Gun.   This takes hours as you are testing walls, baseboards, window sills, moldings, handrails, doors, inside of closets, stairs, ceiling you name …all fixed painted surfaces.

The lead-free certification process is exhaustive and often times the dwelling fails because even though the owner believes they gutted everything, lead paint is found in an area untouched.  If you want to know where we find lead and properties fail for lead-free, call our office.

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When lead paint is found and the lead-free certification is out the window, you pivot and perform a lead risk assessment with the intention of obtaining a Lead-Free certification. 

Lead-Based Paint Inspections in Rental Dwelling Units as per  P.L. 2021, c. 182 aka New Jersey's Lead Safe Law July 2022

What New Landlords need to Know

July 22, 2022, New Jersey’s newest lead-based paint law is now in effect and the law affects all pre 1978 rental properties. The law is being referred to as New Jersey’s Lead Safe Certification and requires rental property owners to complete a lead paint inspection. The inspection is either visual or visual and wipe sampling depending on the municipality.

What landlords need to know

The New Jersey lead law requires that the landlord of residential properties (apartments, houses, duplexes, etc.) hire a certified lead evaluation contractor to perform inspection on target properties single family, two-family and multiple rental dwellings for lead-based paint hazards every three years. The first inspection must be completed by July 22, 2026, or at tenant turnover if that occurs prior to July 22, 2026.

If your rental property has not had lead testing performed previously and you would have obtained a Lead Free certification, then you are to assume lead paint is present and have the lead paint inspection performed. In short if you don’t have paperwork stating the building has no lead paint you must perform the required inspections.

Curren Environmental offers lead based paint risk assessments and lead based paint inspections for NJ property owners.   888-301-1050

Visual Lead Safe Certification: The Curren certified lead inspector will perform a visual inspection of all interior areas of the rental unit, looking for deteriorated paint. New Jersey considers deteriorated paint to be chipping, peeling or flacking paint.   If no deteriorated paint is found the rental unit owner can receive a Lead Safe Certificate which is good for 2 years.

For example, one of the photos below would pass the lead safe inspection, the other would not.

Dust Wipe Testing for Lead Safe Certification:   The Curren certified lead inspector will perform a visual inspection of all interior areas of the rental unit AND obtain dust wipe samples for laboratory analysis.   If no lead is found by the analysis above government standards, the rental unit owner can receive a Lead Safe Certificate which is good for 2 years.

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