Baltimore CHAP Tax Credit Rehabs - Historic Millwork and Lead

[Simon Daniels]

Looking for some insight from Batimore rehabbers that have completed CHAP tax credit renovations. What do you do with   millwork that is deemed historic but tests positive for lead? It seems the options are:

1. Remove historic pieces, have them "dipped and stripped" in acid bath to remove lead paint, and reattach

2. Replace with identical special order millwork

3. Paint over using lead encapsulation paint

Seems that option 3 is the most cost effective, but I'm wondering if you get dinged at sale time due to property not being classifiable as "lead free" with the encapsulation paint, and the trim looking dingy due to many layers of paint. Dip and Strip seems the second of the cheapest options material-wise, but creates additional labor expense for the demo.

What's considered best practice?