This Month's
Real Estate Related Articles
Old Paint and Real Estate: How Does it Affect You?
Even though paint made with lead in it has been outlawed for decades,
it is still a real issue for both homeowners and real estate professionals.
Lead had been used as a paint additive for nearly 125 years before it
was associated with health problems around 1978. That year, it was determined
that lead was prohibited from being put in paint as an additive. Then,
in 1992, the Housing and Community Development Act established a requirement
that the seller of a home had to disclose potential lead-based paint usage
to the purchaser to complete the sale. The disclosure requirement, unless
augmented by more restrictive law in some states, is only a requirement
to notify the buyer of a potential hazard when a property built before
1978 is sold; there is no legal requirement (again, in most states) to
do anything about the hazard.
How Can Lead-Based Paint
Be Harmful?
The specific hazard is lead poisoning. Very young ckildren are at the
highest risk of being poisoned by lead paint because actively growing
bodies absorb many of the mineral substances they have contact with,
whether it is something needed and healthful like calcium or a dangerous
substance such as lead. Chronically high levels of lead can cause brain
and organ damage, behavioral problems, hearing problems, and can damage
the nervous system. These problems can occur in both adults and children,
but as an added factor in children, it can cause impairment of growth.
Any home built before 1978
that has cracked, peeling, or chipped paint should be treated as a potential
hazard. The damaged paint should be repaired immediately. If lead paint
was used around the window or door frames in the home, the process of
opening and closing these items may be generating a surprisingly large
amount of dust that contains lead. This dust is toxic and can be difficult
to get rid of. Vacuuming, sweeping, and dusting can cause it to reenter
the air and it just shifts around whenever you touch it. Lead-contaminated
dust can be tracked out into the yard where it will contaminate the
soil around the home. This could pose a further danger to young children
and pets.
In order to find out whether
your home has a lead-based paint problem, if you live in a home built
before the 1978 ban, the safest thing to do is to get a paint inspection
conducted by a trained professional. A proper inspection will let you
know the status of lead content in every painted surface and will reveal
any areas of serious danger.
Although there are test kits
available that let homeowners perform testing for themselves, the EPA
recommends a professional inspection to uncover problem areas that may
be missed by the untrained eye.
Information furnished courtesy
of Automated Homefinder, Colorado's Highlands
Ranch real estate specialists.
More Articles of Interest
The
Advantage of Offering a Homeowner's Warranty in Selling Your Home
Fixer
Uppers
Five
Good Things to Know About Hiring a Real Estate Agent
Pricing
for Success in Selling
Getting
Your Home Ready for Sale Year-Round
Six
Secrets For Making Your Home Feel Larger Without Breaking the Bank
