Hopefully it’s ok to ask for this advice here…
Can anybody recommend a lead paint inspector in the Boston area? I’d like to know what–if any–areas in my condo have lead paint. I’m a little leery of hiring an inspector who finds lead and, oh, here’s a friend who can remove it. It would be great if someone had personal experience with an inspection.
I have bought a home test kit (and will try it out later) but they are fairly unreliable and lead paint is probably something you want to be pretty clear about.
Really?
Why do you think so? Is the paint peeling? Do you plan on doing any major remodeling?
Do you plan to have a infant or toddler crawling around and frequently putting their hands and objects into their mouths?
When was your condo built? 1980 or later, and you can pretty much assume there’s no lead-based paint.
The condo was originally built in 1904 as an apartment and converted in the early 70’s. So it’s not unreasonable to think there might be some lead paint even if it’s unlikely. We did some light sanding of woodwork in the last few days and my wife has become very concerned that we’ve disturbed some lead paint. She is mildly OCD–made worse by the stress of the pandemic–and while she understands that it’s unlikely that we have lead paint she’s having a hard time getting past it. It doesn’t help that web pages seem to focus on worst-case scenarios, including the EPA.
We might have to deal with the OCD in the long term but for now I want to get an inspection so she can sleep at night.
(Note: she’s not worried about herself. There are young children in our building and she’s mortified that we’ve potentially put them in danger.)
I was worried about asbestos and took a few samples into a testing place. I had a fake name and address just in case. All they wanted was an email address so I was good to go. My suggestion would be to take a sample to them.
**I would never knowingly harm someone or pass off a known danger. For possible legal reasons it seemed dumb to have a paper trail.
Why do you think it’s unlikely? I was told you should just assume older houses have it.
1904?
Then it’s 100% likely you have lead paint.
Why even bother testing?