Anyone own pre-1978 property?

[Karen S.]

When I bought my property 6.5 years ago, I was a total newbie and pretty much did everything wrong.  Bought when the market was still high (and interest was at 7.5%) and then shortly after, the bubble burst and my property way under water.  Long story short, I tried to do some renovations myself or hired handymen to do the work because my finances were very slim.  My question relates to lead based paint because I am reading about it and I didn't know that if the property was pre-1978, you're not even supposed to paint the property yourself unless you're EPA certified.  Does anyone out there have info that can shed more light on this topic?  I'm curious because many of the landlords in my community do alot of painting and renovation projects in their buidlings and I'm sure none are EPA certified. 

[Chris Volkers]

All of our buildings are pre-1978... Granted, I do not operate in an overly-regulated state like CA or MA, but the risk of lead exposure is extremely low.

We have a LBP and Radon disclosure tacked on to each lease. We don't have paint chips laying around and we usually advise our tenants to not eat paint. Also I have not been able to find credible evidence of anyone ever having ill effects from radon gas in their residence.

People will say a lot of scary stuff about it, but sometimes it's ridiculous. Few of our ancestors died of lead exposure, and they all had it in their houses. If your painter is using a heat gun to strip wallpaper and heats the paint to 1100 degrees... your building will burn down before his brain can swell. (Paper ignites around 450 degrees)

IMHO, the real risks involved with lead paint are legal, not medical. On that, you need to educate yourself on your local and state laws, not on a forum full of (often helpful) hear-say. Then you weigh the risks... and probably paint over it.