In 2020, it’s a little odd to still be talking about lead paint, especially with the advances and safer paints that have been developed over the years. While you can’t buy lead paint, at all, anymore, it can still be found in older homes. It wasn’t federally banned until 1978 and it was still actively being used before 1950. If your home or building was built before 1950 and the paint hasn’t been redone, chances are you have lead in the paint. If it was painted between 1950 and 1978 there’s less chance of you having lead paint, but there might be other applications that could be hazardous if not taken care of.
The scariest thing about lead is that it could take months or years for any symptoms to show up in your body. Repetitive exposure can build up over time and you might not even realize it until it’s in your system enough to cause a serious issue. It can affect your heart, brain, liver, kidneys, nervous system, and much more. Lead exposure can turn into lead poisoning wreaking havoc on every system of the body. It’s extremely hard to catch symptoms early enough. By the time it is enough where symptoms present themselves, it’s non-reversible and can even be fatal.
We’ve heard about young children accidentally eating the paint chips because they don’t understand that it’s not food. It can also be ingested by touching the wall with lead-based paint and then wiping or putting your fingers in your mouth. Another form is to inhale powders or dust from the lead-based paints, which is usually from sanding down the paint.
There are several kits that let you easily test the paint yourself. Usually, your local home improvement stores will have them or you can order them offline. If you feel like your home does have lead-based paint in some form or another give us a call at Power House Painting. We are certified to help you out with all of your lead-based needs! We’ll be happy to help update and create a safe environment for you and your family.
