Lead Paint Testing

Lead paint inspections are a surface by surface investigation for lead based paint. Southeast Lead Consultants Lead Inspection includes testing for Lead Paint in all accessible interior rooms (including closets) and all sides of the Exterior.

Our testing is conducted using an XRF analyzer which uses an X-Ray to detected lead based paint. Benefits of XRF are:

  • No cutting of paint chips, no laboratories and no touchup painting
  • Immediate, accurate results. We’ll tell you if there is lead on-site
  • Safe effective testing. Since we don’t cut or score the walls, we eliminate exposing paint
  • Upon completion of field work, we provide a comprehensive report. The report will detail by room and component where, if any, lead paint was identified.

Defining Lead-Based Paint

Title X (“ten”) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992, defines lead-based paint inspection (in two places, with slightly different formatting of the same word­ing) as:

A surface-by-surface investigation to determine the presence of lead-based paint as provided in section 302(c) of the Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act and the provision of a report explaining the results of the investigation. (15 U.S.C. 2681(7), for use by EPA and its stakeholders; and 42 U.S.C. 4851(12), for use by HUD and its stakeholders)

This definition in Title X is based on, and mentions, the earlier Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act (Public Law 91-695), enacted in 1971, which described an inspection in its section 302(c) as being an:

Inspection of all intact and nonintact interior and exterior painted surfaces of housing subject to this section for lead-based paint using an approved x ray fluorescence analyzer, atomic absorption spectroscopy, or comparable approved sampling or testing technique. A certified inspector or laboratory shall certify in writing the precise results of the inspection. If the results equal or exceed a level of 1.0 milligrams per centimeter squared or 0.5 percent by weight, the results shall be provided to any potential purchaser or tenant of the housing. (42 U.S.C. 4822(c))

The sampling and testing protocols in this chapter fulfill the definition of lead-based paint inspection, in providing guidance on selecting building components of housing to sample and/or test them and the methods for determining whether they are coated with lead-based paint.

Section 302(c) of the 1971 act, above, established the threshold for lead-based paint as a surface concen­tration (or “loading”) on the basis of weight of lead per area of surface, at 1 mg/cm2, or a weight concen­tration on the basis of a weight of lead per weight of paint, at 0.5% by weight. That section also has wording providing for HUD to review the lead-based paint threshold and reduce it if “reliable technology makes feasible the detection of a lower level and medical evidence supports the imposition of a lower level.” As of the publication of this edition of these Guidelines, in response to a petition received by the EPA on August 10, 2009, HUD and EPA are collaboratively considering whether to lower the threshold level of lead-based paint; they are also looking into whether to lower the lead dust hazard standards.

HUD, consistent with EPA, CDC and OSHA, notes that paint with lead that is deteriorated or disturbed, even if its lead content is below the current EPA and HUD standards, may still pose a human health hazard, this depends largely on how much lead-contaminated dust is generated from the paint and where that dust is dispersed. Accordingly, HUD recommends, in these Guidelines, using lead-safe methods of working with paint that is known or presumed to have lead in it, whether or not it is lead-based paint.

Service areas includes, but not limited to; Atlanta, Savannah, Macon, Athens, Augusta, Albany, Marietta, Acworth, Norcross, Duluth, Sandy Springs, East Lake, Decatur, Dunwoody, Columbus, Roswell, Gainesville, Newnan, Rex, Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Smyrna, Valdosta, Kennesaw, Bartow, Rome, Mableton, North Atlanta, Dalton, Douglasville, Canton, Forest Park, Stone Mountain, Lawrenceville, Statesboro, Evans, Tucker, Richmond Hill, Garden City, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee.