Once You’ve Covered The Lead
First, don’t get overly concerned about lead paint until you know for sure that it’s a problem. You may not have any; you may have only a square or two; or you may have a house lined with lead-based paint. To find out, hire a professional inspector to come survey your home and determine where, if at all, your areas of concern are. If he pinpoints one, two or ten, you can move on from there.
Your initial response to finding lead-based paint will probably be to remove it. But doing that can release the lead toxins into the air, causing lead poisoning and contradicting the very point of removal. Therefore, you want to find a way to cover or block the lead paint. If it’s an object, such as a banister, you can get rid of the entire thing and put in a new one. If it’s a wall, and the paint is in good condition, you can cover the area with wallpaper, paneling, plaster or drywall. Just don’t overlap with additional paint. That will unnecessarily thicken your walls and do nothing for the problem at hand.
Once you’ve covered the lead, you can relax. You’ve done the hard part, and barring a move, you’ll never have to worry about it again. Any paint you purchase today or tomorrow or fifty years down the line will have no lead in it. It will be safe and toxin free. Of course, you still won’t want your children to eat it, but if they do, you won’t have to worry that they’ve just poisoned themselves with lead. You can focus on other concerns, instead.
Posted under California Real Estate Brokers License