All You Need to Know about Lead Testing Paint, Dust, and Soil in Your Home
Just when you thought that you’re safe in your own home, you realize that you can actually suffer from one of the most dreaded illnesses in the world: lead poisoning. With lead, your children can develop learning disabilities and stunted growth. Worse, you may damage your brain, which will eventually cause your death.
It’s thus very important that you can have your house be subject for testing for lead. This handy information will tell you more about it—what to do, when, and who should do it:
1. Go for lead testing if your home is built on or before 1978. What’s the significance of this year? It was around this time when the law banning lead-based paints was enacted. Thus, those manufactured after that year no longer have lead. However, before that, lead was a major component in paint. If your house, whether your own or rented, was created around that time, lead based paint testing should be done. This is especially necessary if the paint starts to flake, peel, or chip; or if you have children who can touch and even lick on your walls.
Testing for lead can be done both inside and outside the home. You can check on them in rails, chairs, tables, windowsills, shelves, and heating units. You can also conduct lead testing in mailboxes, porches, roofs, gutters, and door trims.
2. Test your soil and dust. Moreover, soil and dust must also be under testing for lead. They can also be contaminated by this substance, particularly when the paint starts to drop into the ground.
3. Buy lead test kits. One of the foremost things you can do to know if there’s high content of lead in your home is to buy test lead kits. A lot of them are cheap, easy to use, and can give you accurate results.
4. Look for a professional who can accomplish lead testing. Nevertheless, it’s not enough that you’re going to do testing for lead alone. You need to hire the help of an expert, someone who is really familiar with lead testing and is licensed to do it.
There are two of them that you can find. One is merely an inspector, whose job is to verify if there is high level of lead content. If it’s positive, it’s up to you to decide on what to do. The other is the risk assessor, and he’s someone you should search for. He performs more comprehensive lead testing. He can not only inspect the homes for lead, but he can also assess the risks involved—how high it is to cause lead poisoning within the household.
5. Talk to your landlord or seller first. It’s recommended that before you even purchase or rent the property, you must have already discussed lead poisoning hazards, especially if the house is already old. In fact, they are mandated by law to provide you with adequate information on lead poisoning through pamphlets and by disclosing lead based paint and other items in the federal form.
