If you live in an older home with children

Christina617

How do you feel about lead paint?  Do you believe that once it's painted over, it's no longer a concern?  We are searching for a new home and have found one that we really like but it has several issues such as lead paint and radon.  I think half of the windows are original to the house so they would have to be replaced.  From what I've read about lead paint, lead dust would be sent into the air every time we opened or closed those windows.

Anyone have a radon system installed?  The levels were 4.45 and 9.6 but they didn't install a treatment system.

There are a few other issues with the home including carpenter ants two years ago.  They've been under contract with Terminex since then.  Any thoughts on this?  Is it an ongoing issue?  Do they keep coming back if not treated?

Thanks for any advice/experiences.  

RaeAnt

I've heard that it is safer to paint over lead paint than to try to remove it. other than ripping out the walls and starting over, repainting is the only option that I know of. Supposedly the new pain "seals" in the lead based kind.

The radon, personally i would try to negotiate them paying for at least half the treatment system to go in. That isn't something that goes away untreated. it just continues to build up. It's just a matter of it being released and the source closed up i think.

 As for the ants, there is always the potential of them coming back and if not the ants, Maybe termites next time. There is no guarantee and the bug people won't guarantee/warranty it past usually a year  unless you continue treatment. That said, we did use a bug company that would come out quarterly and then yearly inspect for the termites we had. Even after we discontinued the treatments, we remained termite free. it also depends are where they came from. Did the house get the infestation from mulch or something else that attracted them in the first place?

Tabby2727

We have older houses (one in Halifax, one in Dauphin) were fixing up to sell.  They're both around 150yrs old.  We completely gutted, insolated, wired, ran water lines, drywalled, etc everything.  We scraped most of the wood/trim and/or replaced it with new and painted it.  We also replaced all the windows before Hannah was born.  If you do decide to get the house and are remodeling, I would recommend doing it before you move in. We love the look of old houses but there's a lot of work involved.

LizSnover

I have also heard painting over is better, and I have heard that unless your child chews on the banisters its really not too big a deal anyway. Now I am hearing there could be lead in the pipes of older homes and to have the water tested...yet another thing for us mommies to worry about!

rlthomas7

Ditto that painting over is better. At one of Adam's checkups, I think 12 months, they asked how old our house was and if we had ever scraped paint or if he ate it, to determine if he should have a lead test. They decided that he didn't need one, so it's probably not that big of a deal.

rlthomas7

And I guess our house had radon at some point because there's a little test thing in the basement. But it's never been at a bad level.

mpayne

Even though my hubby and I don't have children yet, we do live in a home that was built in 1959. We bought the house in June of 07 and decided to have the Radon tested just so we could have a piece of mind. We are glad we did b/c the levels were 4x what the national standard is. We made the sellers buy and install the radon system and it only cost them about $600. We had Central Penn Radon and they were AWESOME.

I'm sorry I can't help you with the lead paint or the ant issue. The people who owened our house before we moved in were the original owners and the man lived to be 92 or 93 years old, as for the wife she's still alive so that high of radon levels didn't do a thing to their health.

 

Good Luck.

LClaire

Answering late in case you're still looking:) Our house was built in 1944 and everything has been painted over and I'm ok with that since they're not chewing on it or anything.  The ped will also ask at appts how old our house is and has you have the kiddos tested if your house was built before 1950, so you can always have them tested for exposure. I would definitely have a big issue, though, with the window replacement and get things all stirred up, especially since E is so little and you're pregnant - I wouldn't be comfortable being in the house for quite a long time after the work was done:(