Has anyone dealt with lead in your house?

[SusanBAnthony]

W are in an extremely tight rental market, and just found the most adorable house in the perfect location. I did a stalker drive by today- the current tenant is moving out right now and they aren't showing it yet.

The tenant saw that I had kids in the car, and stopped me to ask if I was considering the house. She said the reason they were leaving ("since it is the best house ever!") is that their 18 month old had a lead level of 9 and they tried to get it down for 4 months, en the landlord let them out of the lease. Apparently once you hit a level of 10 a landlord would be legally required to do abatement.

So. Crap. This house is far and away the best choice we have, and the same price as the other crappier houses. I am considering it despite the potential lead issue for that reason. It was built in 1945. Obviously the kids health is the most important, but T is 2.5, not a baby crawling around on the floor and mouthing everything.

Thoughts? Am I crazy for even considering it? Does anyone who knows a lot about lead have abatement suggestions that we could propose- like repainting. The whole house? But I have heard windows are often the culprit- is there anything you can do about them other an completely replace?

[Deleted]

I am sure we do, we had to have our entire house painted (so no loose/chipping paint) before we bought it. My kids have never tested high on lead (we've owned 3 homes aged 1900 through 1942). I had one friend who had a son w/ high lead & they found out he was chewing on the window sill behind the curtain.

[curbsideprophet]

I would probably would not risk it.

[GailGoldie]

my house is 85yo so we know there is lead - but it hasn't been an issue. Our boys have all tested fine.

i taught a child who had the highest level of lead poisioning in New orleans- he was basically fully mentally retarded from it- it was very sad. He was a thumb sucker and was picking at paint on the window as a baby.

i wouldn't risk it - esp since it's a rental... if you were buying and cuold make changes, etc... but renting? nope.

[bunch]

I'm nof bothered by an old house that can be encapsulated (should you own and be willing to paint). Renting where you know that there is a problem? No way.

[vanillacourage]

Not as a renter, no.

Also, if I were a landlord who had just had to let someone out of their lease early for lead issues with kids, I would not want to turn around and rent again to another young family. So it might not be as easy as saying that you like the place.

[SusanBAnthony]

I agree vanilla. I am going to go see it, and try to look at the windows in particular. Seems like the walls can easily be repainted, but windows seem more difficult. If anyone has suggestions of where to go for more info on that, I would appreciate it. I want to go int knowing what to look for, and what I could reasonably ask for up front in terms of abatement.

Another wrinkle in this whole thing is that the house is seriously so awesome that I would like to do a lease with an option to buy at the end, if they are willing. But if the lead source is not something that could easily be abated, like painting the walls, than I don't want to risk it.

[6fsn]

I wouldn't do it unless I was given a complete lead inspection. Sources of lead could be paint on the walls, windows, flooring, pipes, something outside in the dirt. It's not nearly as easy as saying "I won't let me kid lick the walls."

While you can live in a house with lead paint unless I knew where the sources where it's just not something I'd risk.

[SusanBAnthony]

6fsn, who would do a lead inspection, some kind of independant business, or the county, or what ? I will pursue that.

They may not even rent it to us once they know we have kids. If they know the levels are borderline and don't want to do abatement, they may just decide not to rent to anyone with kids. Is that legal, out of curiosity?

[vanillacourage]

Jul 16, 2012 20:34:14 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

They may not even rent it to us once they know we have kids. If they know the levels are borderline and don't want to do abatement, they may just decide not to rent to anyone with kids. Is that legal, out of curiosity?

If the house is as awesome as you say, they'll probably have multiple applicants. If I were going to be sly about excluding kids, (after checking that I could under local tenant law) I'd ask on the application for a listing of all other standing monthly debts - car payment, student loans, and if daycare was on the list I'd find a reason to choose another tenant. Non-parents and especially DINKS likely have more liquid income each month anyway so it would be justifiable if pressed.

[6fsn]

Ohio Department of Health regulates lead inspectors and risk assessors. The inspector will get results, but the assessor will tell you "how bad it is." You should also be able to contact ODH for free pamphlets (that the landlord is acutally required to give too). They used to have a list of anyone in the state that was licensed, but I can't seem to find it now. It's probably not really worth it. I used to get calls at least once a month looking for an inspector, but it wasn't something I ever did. Every person I've ever met in lead has been very helpful so it can't hurt to call ODH and ask about it.

If you want a specific company there is one out of Zanesville that I used to use for asbestos work. I've never used them for lead, but they were excellent to deal with asbestos. If you want to even talk to someone they might be a place to start. Lepi Enterprises.

[SusanBAnthony]

Well, we have no monthly debt and make far and away more than enough to afford the house, and I SAH, so no daycare, although I am sure me not working would be a red flag. I don;t really want to deceive them, its not worth it. But if it 100$ to have a lead test done, I might have it done to any other house we are thinking about renting, as every rental house we have looked at has been old.

6fsn, I will call them. I also have a friend who works at the Licking county health dept, so I emailed her too, to ask.

[6fsn]

Your health dept friend will have better contacts than I do. I wasn't really in lead even though I had my license. You can buy tests at any home store, but they typically only test paint. I also recognize I'm hypervigilant about lead.

[6fsn]

Completely unrelated, but if you like ice cream I recommend a little trip to Utica. It's maybe 20 mins. they have a pond, nice playgrounds, animals, and you can see where they make Velvet ice cream. They give little tours during the week. That's all free, but of course you can get lunch or ice cream too!

[karinothing]

Pretty much every house around here had lead paint at one time. I talked to our agent and he said that most of the houses have been painted 80 billion times so the lead paint is pretty far underneath other layers of paint. He said to make sure that if we ever stripped the walls that we did it safetly and to make sure there was no areas of peeling paint.

[karinothing]

Jul 17, 2012 7:02:25 GMT -5 @fivedogs said:

Jul 17, 2012 6:45:40 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Pretty much every house around here had lead paint at one time. I talked to our agent and he said that most of the houses have been painted 80 billion times so the lead paint is pretty far underneath other layers of paint. He said to make sure that if we ever stripped the walls that we did it safetly and to make sure there was no areas of peeling paint.

I wouldn't worry about an old house with lead paint necessarily (I grew up in one, as almost all of us probably did since it wasn't outlawed until 1978).

But unless the kid with the lead level of 9 is chewing on a toy or necklace and getting lead that way, there is lead exposed somewhere in the house. It would worry me if they haven't found the source of the kid's lead exposure yet. It may be in the water and not a chewed-on windowsill - who knows without finding out what testing the landlord or tenants have done. I would consider buying a house like this because I would have control over finding/dealing with the lead and it would be improving my own house, but not renting.

Oh goodness. I actually missed that part, which I realize is the bulk of the OP. Apparently I need to learn to read more carefully. Yeha, I would not rent that house, actually I would not buy it.

[SusanBAnthony]

6fsn, we have been meaning to do that all summer, and obviously I should get on that, since summer is half over. Yes, we love ice cream, lol.

Well, I turned the application in, and it will all come down to how willing the landlord is to have some testing done. If I can figure out where it is coming from and depending on its location, keep the kids away from it, or even pay to mitigate myself if it is a small/inexpensive thing, then I am fine with that. If they aren't open to that, we will keep looking.

[Deleted]

No. Lead can cause very serious problems. We have lead in our house but DD's lead level was 3. There's something wrong with the house. You're risking your child being place in protective custody (which is actually not as bad as what can happen from the lead).