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May 2012 Moms
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XP: Lead - Long

bloverdebloverde member
in May 2012 Moms
My 18mo was tested for lead at 12mo because we live in a high risk area. It was normal. A week ago we saw paint flecks in his diaper and had him retested. His level is 8.5.

I know it's not CRAZY high, but it's high. And I'm freaking out. My husband wants to move. My dad agrees. My mom thinks we're over reacting, and should just clean the house really well and keep him from eating the chips.

The health department won't come out and do an assessment until a recheck in one month confirms the high reading. Our landlord is lazy and does things half azzed. First she says that she doesn't believe there is lead in the house. Then she says that there is no point to doing a professional decontamination cleaning until the lead is eliminated by stripping the paint, sanding and repainting. But that will cause more lead dust in the air. She won't pay for a cleaning until the health department confirms the lead.

What would you do? Also complicating things is that we're moving out of the area for work in 6 months, so we would need to find a short term lease.
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Re: XP: Lead - Long

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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
    Ouch, that sucks.  I also live in an old house (that we own) but had it totally gutted except for the hallway and first floor as it is a multi family.  We refuse to rent the first floor to anyone with kids under five for this reason.  It's just too scary.  I hate my DD even touching the walls and stairs in the hallway.  
    It would be a long process for you to remain in the place while the lead is removed and it will get in and on everything.  I would honestly move.  Use this as your excuse for a short term lease and hopefully you can find a land lord who is understanding.  
    Good luck with this.
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    selockarselockar member
    I think I would look into a short term lease. I know it's not ideal, but I don't think I would trust your land lord to do everything the right way.
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    bellelambbellelamb member
    It's fairly easy to spot lead paint, it cracks differently than latex, maybe search yourself to see where the lead is. It's probably wood trim or doors. If it's doors like our house was it's cheap to remove them and replace them.
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    bellelambbellelamb member
    Oh yeah there's also DIY lead check kits at home improvement stores. It could easily be a toy or something other than your apartment.
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    GromMomGromMom member
    If I were renting I'd move. We live in an old house so there's not much we could do other than move out while we had the place decontaminated, but I would do it if lo had a lead level change like that. Sorry you have such a tough situation. I hope you could break your lease over an issue like lead
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