· by Michael Blair, Nashville's Painters
Lead was taken out of residential paint in 1978, and a great many Nashville houses are older than that: the bungalows and Victorians of East Nashville, Edgefield and Germantown, the cottages in Sylvan Park and Belmont, and plenty of mid-century ranches across the county. Under decades of newer coats, the bottom layers on the trim, windows and siding of those houses often contain lead. That does not make the house dangerous to live in. It changes how the paint has to be prepared, and it is the reason a painter should ask the age of the house before quoting it.
Where the risk actually comes from
Intact lead paint under a sound top coat is not much of a hazard. The problem is dust and chips. Dry scraping, power sanding and burning paint off with a torch or a very hot heat gun turn the old layers into fine dust that settles on floors, sills and soil, and young children take it in through their hands and mouths. Adults can be exposed too, and dust carried home on work clothes is a well-known route.
The places that matter most are the ones that rub or get chewed. Window sashes grind old paint into dust every time they open. Porch floors and steps wear through underneath. Exterior siding that has been scraped by several owners has often left chips in the soil along the foundation, which is exactly where children play and gardens go in.
Finding out whether you have it
Assume that any pre-1978 house has lead in some layer until someone shows otherwise, and treat trim, windows, doors and exterior surfaces as the likeliest places. The EPA recognizes certain test kits that tell you whether lead is present on a specific surface, and a painter doing renovation work in an older house may use one before starting.
For a complete answer, a certified lead inspector or risk assessor can test every painted surface in the house, often with an instrument that reads through the layers without damaging them. That is worth doing before buying an older house with young children, or before a large remodel. Your pediatrician can also order a blood lead test if there is any concern about exposure.
What the federal rule asks of a painter
The EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies to paid work that disturbs painted surfaces in housing built before 1978. Above small thresholds, the company must be an EPA-certified firm with a certified renovator responsible for the job, and it must follow lead-safe work practices. Before the work starts, you should be handed the EPA’s Renovate Right pamphlet. If a painter quoting your 1920s house has never mentioned any of this, ask.
Lead-safe practice looks different from an ordinary paint job. The work area is contained with plastic sheeting, the ground is covered under exterior work, open-flame burning and high-temperature heat guns are off the table, and power sanding happens only with a shroud and a HEPA vacuum attached. Cleanup is done with HEPA vacuums and wet wiping, then verified, rather than swept up.
- Ask whether the firm is EPA lead-safe certified, and see the certificate
- Expect the Renovate Right pamphlet before work begins
- Expect containment, wet scraping and HEPA cleanup
- No open-flame burning or dry power sanding on old paint
What it means for the job and the price
Containment, careful prep and the cleanup take real time, which is why a lead-safe quote on an older house is not directly comparable to a quote that skips all of it. A painter who power-washes and dry-scrapes a 1910 porch to save a day is spreading chips across your yard and your neighbor’s, and it is also a violation of the rule. The price difference is the cost of doing the job the way the law already requires.
Often the best approach is to leave sound lead paint where it is and encapsulate it under good primer and finish coats, disturbing only what is loose or failing. When our painters take on a house built before 1978, we treat it as lead-safe work from the first scrape, set up containment before prep begins, and leave the site cleaned and checked. Replacing heavily worn old windows can remove the worst source of dust entirely, and that is a conversation worth having alongside the paint.