dealing with potential lead paint?

KMK,

The rules basically state that if you have lead paint and are doing renovations there are certain procedures that the contractor must abide by. Lead paint by itself is not dangerous. It gets dangerous when it is disturbed. The important thing is for the contractor to make sure that he cleans up properly. All contractors need to be certified on the removal and safety of lead paint procedures. Make sure you hire one that is certified.

thanks so much. Does this add significantly to the cost? i need to gut kitchen and remodel 2 small bathrooms. and there are coats upon coats of paint (including painted in light switches that won't move), so i was hoping to have all of that stripped of the walls and re-done.

Thanks so much

How old do you think the paint is? If it's post 1978 it doesn't have lead. Generally speaking the dangers of lead paint are exaggerated by the lawyers who have made millions from the litigation. Only recently have we discovered that toys from China are probably the biggest culprit in high lead levels in children.

If your kids are over 10 years old then I'd say don't worry about it at all. If they are younger, then simply make sure everything (walls and floors) is wiped down after renovations (and by wiped down I mean with damp towels or wet wipes -essentially you need to wipe up all of the dust so you need a wet towel to do it).

Chipped and pealing paint is the biggest risk to kids and if you're renovating then you shouldn't have any worries about that.

Note that the proven cases of lead poising (from all sources) in NYC are down significantly in the last 5 years.

Lead paint tastes sweet.

i moved into a freshly bought pre-war coop years ago, with a <1yo baby, only to discover day 2 there that the chipping paint throughout the place was lead-riddled--left immediately, forced to redo all the walls/paint in the apt (had hoped to put off due $$ stretch at the time)--procedure was to completely rip anything loose (down the the gyp-block and mortar in many spots), replaster, skimcoat, and encapsulate with a bullet-proof primer--after a couple a serious cleanups, the apt tested completely negative for lead--redid wiring, with chanelling of new elec, cable, cat5, etc--if one is ripping walls it behooves to do so

pre 1977 always has lead paint in the many layers on walls--and i take very seriously the lead issue, esp for children, but for all ages, too--otoh tho, if you elimante loose paint, encapsulate and clean thoroughly, the problem isn't