If you own an older home in New Haven, Branford, Milford, Orange, or other surrounding areas, you must be wondering if you should be concerned about lead paint. Lead-based paint (also often called lead paint) contains large amounts of this toxic substance, and unfortunately, many homes, especially older ones, have lead-based paint. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notes that lead from paint is one of the main causes of lead poisoning. Homes or apartments built before 1978 may contain lead paint.

You probably already have an idea that lead paint or any substance that contains significant amounts of lead can cause health complications. This includes damage to the brain and other vital organs, as well as cause behavioral problems, seizures, learning disabilities, and even death. That’s how worried you should be. Pregnant women and children are particularly at risk, but people of any age can experience health complications following lead exposure.

How To Protect Yourself and Your Family 

Even if you suspect your home to contain lead-based paint, you may not be immediately at risk, as long as the paint on your wall isn’t deteriorating and is in good shape. Generally, household dust can contain lead from paint on the wall –to minimize exposure, you need to diligently vacuum and dust your indoors and maintain the paint in high-traffic areas such as hallways, windows and window sills, doors and door frames, and stairs.

What To Do If You Suspect Your Paint Contains Lead

Check paint surfaces regularly for peeling or chipping, and if you see dust and chips, wipe clean with damp paper towels or mop often. You can also carpet the stairways and install window wells or window track liners to minimize exposure. Paint stabilization can also be done to minimize the risk of lead exposure –this is essentially a way to temporarily fix loose paint by creating a smooth surface that generates less lead dust. As earlier mentioned, lead paint poses a higher risk when it’s deteriorating –chipping, chalking, peeling, cracking, flaking, etc. This also means that if you’re planning to disturb the pain in any way –perhaps planning a major renovation, a minor repair or a new paint job, you need to be extremely cautious as these activities usually create toxic lead dust.

If you have children in your home, you need to carefully watch them and make sure they’re not chewing any lead paint-covered surfaces, or touching walls and putting their hands in their mouths. Perhaps the safest option, if you have children living or regularly visiting your home, is to hire an EPA Lead-certified professional painter to treat any lead-paint surfaces.

The Bottom Line

As you can see, lead-based paint causes valid health concerns that should worry any homeowner who has an older home built before 1978. If you’re taking bids from contractors for a home renovation, you should ask them about lead paint tests. However, not all contractors are certified to deal with lead paint, and so you should always be sure to work with EPA-certified painting contractors like New Haven Painters LLC if you have lead paint in your home. At New Haven Painters, we are EPA Lead Certified, including our entire team. Our residential painting services are currently available in New Haven, Branford, Milford, Orange, North Haven, West Haven, East Haven, and the surrounding areas. To get started, simply book a free estimate below or call us (203) 606-2346 if you have any questions.

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