Buying A Home
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
talk to me about lead paint
We have put an offer on a house that is 119 years old. It has been updated in all the right areas (plumbing, elect, roof, sewer, etc) and is in great shape. There is a lead pain disclosure and the sellers state they don't know about lead paint but we know that it was used prior to 1978 in the house and has since been painted over a number of times. Would you be concerned about lead paint? If you bought a house with it, what have you done to prevent risks? We have a 2 year old that is mostly grown out of chewing on stuff. I'm not sure if these are the right questions but any guidance would be great. Thanks.
Re: talk to me about lead paint
I've never used it, but there is a "paint" that is used to cover any lead painted surfaces. It seals the surface so the lead is supposedly no longer an issue.
I believe it's just a surface cover. You'd have to paint over it with normal paint. I know Lowe's sells a lead testing kit. You could use it to see if there is even any exposed lead paint in the house.
I've lived in old houses and I've bought an old house, but they were all gutted and re-built with modern drywall and paint. As long as you don't intend to lick the walls, you don't have pets or children who are apt to chew on walls or windowsills, and the paint is in good condition then I wouldn't be terrible concerned. I'd eventually seal it and paint over it though.
http://pandce.proboards.com/index.cgi#general
It's not so much that I'm worried. Our realtor just recommended that we ask around to see what others have had experience with. We love that it's an old house and this in no way is a deal breaker. Our inspector may also test it just to see if there is a lot of exposure. If so, then we will check out the special pain from Lowes.
Just remember if you're going through an FHA loan, if they see any chipped paint on an older home like that, they will require you to fix it prior to move-in. Which is what we're going through right now
We had to re-paint one window sill out back this weekend because the paint was chipped, and we get to pay an appraiser another $125 on top of the $510 we've already paid to come back out, look at the paint job and say "yep, it's painted."
I should've become an FHA appraiser
Lead paint is also pretty obvious. It has a very distinct crack-pattern to it.
Looks like this:
Rather than this:
[IMG]http://www.alantrauger.com/Portals/4/Newsletters/Fall20082/Images/peeling.jpg" border="0" />
If I could see the lead paint everywhere, I would be pretty nervous because of the potential for dust. I probably would still buy the house, but i wouldn't move in until I'd had the paint professionally treated. If I didn't see any lead paint cracks, I know it wouldn't mean there was definitively no lead paint, but I'd be a lot more comfortable just moving in and rehabbing things as I came across them.
Thankfully we are going with a conventional loan. Our realtor said that if we had it professionally done that it the guys coming in would wear hazmat suits and it would be dramatic. She said we're better off doing the painting ourselves, if we see the need for it. So far, we have not noticed anything obvious.
Oooooooh yes, they would go crazy dramatic with the production of the removal of the lead paint, and also with the cost. They will charge BIG bucks to take care of the lead and in the process with scare the crap out of you and your family, don't buy into it. Plenty of people have scraped and re-painted lead paint with no issues. I would just scrape it with as minimal dust as possible and re-paint.
That's how the contractors make their money - just like when you get your oil changed at a chain and the mechanic tells you if you don't change your air filter your whole family will inhale all the toxins in the air and turn into zombies. Fear sells.
We are about to close on an 1890 house and fortunately the majority of the interior woodwork isn't painted. Lead paint isn't a deal breaker for me because I want an old house. In our current 1906 house the woodwork suffered a worse fate and had nearly 80 yrs worth of chippy paint layers. We room by room had the woodwork stripped and restained to eradicate the lead paint. I tried to do most of it before we had kids, but for the projects that happened afterwards, DS and I moved out while the stripping was occurring. The few rooms we didn't strip were in good condition so I was worried.
It generally isn't a problem if the paint is intact. Have fun in your new old house!