Painting a pre-1978 home in Maryland or DC: what to know about lead

Lead-based paint was banned for residential use in the United States in 1978. Homes built before then may still have it under later coats of paint, most often on windows, doors, trim, porches and exterior siding. Intact paint is a low risk. The hazard comes from dust and chips created when that paint is sanded, scraped or cut.

In this region that covers a large share of houses: Takoma Park and Chevy Chase bungalows, Capitol Hill and Petworth rowhouses, and many of the brick colonials and ramblers built in Bethesda, Silver Spring and Wheaton through the 1950s and 1960s.

The EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rule applies to paid work on homes and child-occupied facilities built before 1978. Unless testing shows no lead-based paint in the work area, the contractor must be an EPA-certified firm and use lead-safe work practices when the job disturbs more than 6 square feet of painted surface per room inside, more than 20 square feet outside, or involves replacing windows.

Below those thresholds the work is treated as minor repair, but practices such as open-flame burning and high-speed sanding without dust collection are still prohibited. The decision chart below walks through the same questions we ask at the first call.

On an interior painting project, the room is sealed with plastic sheeting, floors are covered, and HVAC vents in the work area are closed off. Sanding is done by hand with water or with tools connected to a HEPA vacuum. At the end of each day, debris is collected and the area is cleaned with HEPA vacuums and wet wiping.

On an exterior painting project, plastic goes down on the ground around the house to catch paint chips, windows and doors nearby are closed, and scraping stops when wind would carry debris. The extra setup and cleanup add time and cost, which is why we ask for the build year before we write an estimate. It should be in the scope from the start, not added as a change order.

Lead-safe practices are not only about removing old paint. Cutting into a plaster wall to fix a crack, replacing a section of window casing, or sanding a patch all disturb painted surfaces. Our plaster and drywall repair work in older homes is set up under the same containment as the painting, so the whole room is handled once.

Maryland goes further than the federal rule for landlords. Rental units built before 1978 must be registered with the Maryland Department of the Environment and must meet the state's lead risk reduction standard at each change in occupancy, which includes repairing chipping and peeling paint and passing a dust test before the next tenant moves in. That makes turnover painting part of compliance, not just appearance. Our property management painting crews plan turnovers around that inspection.

Washington, DC has its own lead program run by the Department of Energy and Environment, with separate requirements for pre-1978 properties. If you own rentals in the District, confirm current rules with DOEE before work starts.

Before you hire anyone for work on an older home, ask three things. Is the company an EPA lead-safe certified firm, and will a certified renovator be on site? How will they contain dust and clean up each day? And is the lead-safe setup written into the estimate? A contractor who cannot answer clearly is pricing the job without it.

Cabinets in older kitchens can be affected too. If you are weighing a kitchen update, see painting vs replacing kitchen cabinets.