Young children in an older house: how to tell if lead paint is a risk and how to test

What parents should know first

If your home was built before 1978, it may contain lead-based paint, and you cannot tell by looking. The warning signs are paint that is chipping, peeling or cracking, and surfaces that rub together, such as windows and doors, where friction grinds paint into dust. With young children in the house, the most useful test is usually a lead risk assessment by a certified professional, because it checks not only the paint but whether lead is showing up in dust, soil and water where a child can actually swallow it.

I test homes and small commercial buildings for lead-based paint, and I treat this kind of call differently from a routine pre-renovation test. When a family has a baby or a toddler, the question is not just where the lead paint is. It is whether the child is being exposed right now, and what to change first. If you are worried about your child's exposure, talk to your pediatrician about a blood lead test as well; testing the house and testing the child answer different questions.

Why 1978 is the year that matters

The EPA notes that a home built before 1978 is more likely to have lead-based paint, because that is the year the federal government banned the sale of lead-based paint for homes and childcare facilities. Houses built well before then, and especially those with original windows, trim and doors, are the ones most likely to have it somewhere, often under several newer coats.

The CDC says no safe blood lead level in children has been identified, and it explains that children younger than six are more exposed because of their hand-to-mouth behavior: toys, fingers and dirt go into mouths. That is why the combination of an older house and a crawling or teething child is the situation I take most seriously.

The good news is that intact lead paint in good condition is usually not the immediate problem. The hazard comes when paint deteriorates or is disturbed, and both of those are things you can find and control once you know where the lead is.

Where lead tends to hide in a family home

The EPA points to surfaces subject to constant friction, like doors and window sills, as places where worn lead paint produces chips and dust. It also notes that yards and playgrounds can become contaminated when exterior paint flakes into the soil, and that lead in soil gets tracked indoors on shoes. Drinking water is a separate route: the most common sources there are lead pipes, fittings, faucets and fixtures, and lead in water cannot be seen, tasted or smelled.

Most families think only about walls. In my experience, the surfaces that matter most for a small child are the low, worn ones: the sill a toddler pulls up on, the floor under a window that opens every day, the porch steps and the patch of bare dirt by the back door.

• Window sills and window wells, where sashes rub and dust collects
• Door jambs, door edges and stair railings that hands and feet wear down
• Porches, exterior trim and the soil along the foundation
• Painted furniture, cribs, shelves and older hardware brought into a nursery
• Dust on floors near any of these surfaces, where a crawling child spends the day
• Older plumbing fixtures and service lines that feed drinking water

The curtain rod I still think about

One case I worked on involved a little girl who had been lead poisoned. The source turned out to be lead paint on a curtain rod where her baby clothes were hung. Every time her clothes were moved along the rod, old paint chipped off, the dust settled on the clothes, and it ended up in the child's mouth.

A curtain rod is not a place most people would think to check. That is why, in a home with a young child, I look beyond walls and window trim to everything painted that the family touches every day, and why I recommend both an inspection and a risk assessment before any work disturbs painted surfaces. Dust shows you where lead is actually moving through the house, even when the source is something small.

Lead inspection or risk assessment: which one fits your family

The Texas Department of State Health Services describes a lead-based paint inspection as a surface-by-surface investigation, and a risk assessment as work to determine the existence, nature, severity and location of lead-based paint hazards, with a written report that includes options for reducing them. Both must be done by certified professionals in housing built before 1978.

An inspection is the right tool when you are about to renovate, because it tells the contractor which surfaces contain lead before they disturb them. A risk assessment is the right tool when you are worried about exposure today. On my lead risk assessments I test lead in water, dust and soil in addition to paint, so you see whether lead is reaching your child and from where. Many families with small children end up wanting both answers.

Sensible steps while you wait for results

You do not need to panic or move out while you arrange testing, but a few habits reduce exposure in the meantime. The main idea is to keep dust down and keep it away from hands and mouths, and to avoid creating new dust by disturbing old paint yourself.

Over-the-counter test swabs can be tempting here. I explain what they can and cannot tell you in my guide to home test kits for mold, lead and asbestos; for a family with a young child, I would not rely on a negative swab result alone.

• Wet-wipe window sills and floors near windows and doors instead of dry dusting or sweeping
• Wash children's hands, toys and pacifiers often, especially after playing on the floor or outside
• Keep cribs and play areas away from chipping or peeling paint
• Take shoes off at the door to keep yard soil from being tracked in
• Do not sand, scrape or dry-brush painted surfaces until you know what is in them

Before anyone sands, scrapes or replaces old windows

The EPA warns that renovation or repair work on painted surfaces in older buildings may create large amounts of lead dust, and that even small projects can pose risks. Under the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, anyone paid to perform work that disturbs painted surfaces in homes built before 1978 must be certified and use lead-safe work practices. The rule generally does not apply to homeowners working on their own home, but the dust a homeowner makes is just as harmful.

That is why I recommend testing before any project that disturbs paint: window replacement, trim work, sanding for a repaint, opening walls. Exterior work counts too; peeling outside paint on an older house can be a lead question as well as a maintenance question, as this guide to peeling exterior paint explains. My guide to asbestos and lead testing before a remodel walks through the sequence.

What a lead visit with me looks like

I start by asking about the house and the family: the year it was built if you know it, which rooms the children use most, any recent work, and what prompted the call. Then I walk the house with you and test painted surfaces, paying particular attention to windows, doors, stairs, porches and anything painted in the nursery or playroom.

For a risk assessment, I also collect dust samples from floors and sills, soil samples from bare areas around the house and play areas, and water samples. I explain what I am doing as I go and what I am seeing, and I give practical advice on reducing exposure before the written results arrive. The report then shows where lead was found, where it is a hazard and what the options are for controlling it.

What happens after the report depends on what it shows. Sometimes the answer is housekeeping and a few repairs to stop paint wearing on a window. Sometimes it is abatement, which in Texas is done by certified lead professionals, and DSHS notes that abatement projects typically include a certified lead inspector or risk assessor doing clearance testing at the end, with clearance samples sent to an EPA-recognized laboratory. That final check is what tells you the house is safe for the children to move back into the work area, not the fact that the crew has packed up.

Renting, buying or selling an older house

When you buy or rent a house built before 1978, federal rules require the seller or landlord to disclose any lead-based paint they know about, and buyers get an opportunity to arrange a paint inspection or risk assessment before they are committed. If you are buying an older home in Dallas with young children, that window is worth using, and so is the option period in a Texas purchase contract. I cover both in my guide to environmental testing before buying an older Dallas home.

Getting answers for your family

If you have a young child in a house built before 1978, or you are not sure when the house was built and you see chipping paint, testing is a reasonable step rather than an overreaction. I inspect across Dallas–Fort Worth, Northeast and East Texas and Louisiana, and the person you talk to is the person who comes to the house.

Tell me when the house was built if you know it, how old your children are, what condition the paint is in and whether any work is planned. I will tell you whether an inspection, a risk assessment or both make sense, what it will cost and when I can be there.

Questions people ask me