Doing pre-emptive strike on lead in Detroit house -- info?

[Frank L. Bartlo]

Don't know if this is the right sub-forum for this, but here goes:

I'm planning to move out of my house in Detroit soon and rent it out. I've found it is necessary to get a lead clearance, and I want to do a pre-emptive strike.

Any of you do or are personally familiar with lead clearance inspections in Detroit?

I'm looking for info on how I can make sure it sails through so I can get out from under this 16 ton weight and not have to sell it on ridiculously soft land contract terms.

I was planning on doing the sort of testing that will be done myself and seeing if the house is good, then order the "official" inspection once I know it's good to go. The house has been extensively redone relatively recently (as compared to its 1920s date of construction), with the rear 1/3 being a complete more recent addition, but I don't know how recently.

I know there are approved encapsulants I could use, should too high a lead level turn up. How might pre-emptive use of one of these encapsulants affect the inspection results?

Any info would be much appreciated. Might get you a job as well.

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

A good "prep-prime-paint" job should do the trick. Just make certain you get 100% of all painted areas. More difficult than you may imagine.

Are you only concerned with lead paint, or lead solder on the copper pipes (pre-1986?) also ???

[Frank L. Bartlo]

Thanks, Jeffery.

It's the paint only. Plumbing is not tested, and the piping appears too recent for any lead solder anyway.

The info I was really looking for was exactly what kind of testing will be done, so I can do those tests myself, and confirm that it's good to go. It should be OK, but I want to make sure, because once a house "flunks" a lead test, it's as good as condemned if the owner doesn't have loads of money to throw into it... which I don't.

I don't understand why they don't just have people test the properties and have the information on lead safety on file, so adults who need not be concerned about lead can still occupy them. This house is a 1 bedroom house that's not likely to have any people with children occupying it anyway (rolling eyes).

[Larry D. Kage]

This help, Frank?

http://www.michigan.gov/mdch/0,1607,...9892--,00.html

[Larry D. Kage]

What You Can Expect from a Lead Inspection
What to Expect From a Lead Inspection


List of Certified Lead Inspectors
This listing is provided as a service only, and is not intended to be an endorsement of any person contained therein.

[Frank L. Bartlo]

I've read all that. I want to know what is actually done, i.e., how and where the sampling is done in such inspections, so I can do the testing myself first to see if there is a problem before taking the chance of having the house effectively condemned.

In absence of such info, I'll just have to do the worst case scenario, and send paint chips from the oldest areas to the lab. If they're good, I should be good to go.

[Joseph Burley]

I am a lead risk assessor. Rather than trying to do your own testing I would recommend that you focus on cleaning up dust on the floors and in the windows and making sure all paint is in good condition. I suggest you don't try to test chips yourself unless you research the specific sampling requirements including separating individual layers as you could get a false negative result and you likely wouldn't be able to use the data for official purposes without professional certification.

The focus on what we test is on floor/window dust and damaged paint. No matter how high the lead content is, if paint is in good condition, no problem. Keep in mind that repainting is a good thing as you bury the lead deeper but no amount of repainting will "dilute" or make a lead-painted surface non-lead. Also, leave no bare soil around the exterior of painted buildings as that is checked also--use mulch etc. Checking the plumbing for lead is optional/not usually done (unless someone gets lead poisoned).

If you haven't heard yet, rental properties in Detroit will need a formal risk assessment from someone certified.