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If your home was built before 1978, it is required by the EPA that the windows be tested for the presence of lead-based paint before any work is done.
To thoroughly analyze the paint in your home, each different painted surface should be tested. Different paints may have been used throughout the house on walls, window frames, doors and so on. Paints can also differ from room to room. It is important to test each of your home’s painted surfaces where work will be taking place both inside and outside. The testing professional will be sure to test headers and lintels on windows and doors, all sides of the frame, jambs, and sills on the inside and outside of the house.
Who should test
Testing for lead ideally should be done by a certified professional trained specifically for this process. In order to be a certified specialist, there is a course provided by the EPA. Most states, including New Mexico, require that a lead paint inspector be certified. At Glass-Rite, several of our employees are EPA certified to test for lead paint.
How it’s done
Certified testing professionals usually use what is called an XRF machine. This is a handheld x-ray fluorescence device that x-rays a painted surface to measure the amount of lead in all the layers of paint. The XRF can scan down to the original paint and detect even low levels of lead. This type of testing is done in the home and disturbs little, if any at all, of the paint.
Other testing kits are commercially available. If you are installing windows yourself, you can test for lead using one of these kits. The kits do not tell you how much lead is actually present, and their reliability at detecting low levels of lead is questionable. A certified professional is always recommended when testing for lead paint. At Glass-Rite, our certified employees use the recommended professional XRF machine to scan for lead paint.
Our process
If Glass-Rite is installing for you, we follow the EPA’s RRP rule. The Renovate, Repair, and Paint rule, or RRP, has very specific methods for minimizing and containing dust. Glass-Rite, by law, must comply with these rules when doing work on your home.
If you are installing windows or doors on your own, you must test for lead-based paint and use RRP procedures if lead paint exists. Failure to adhere to RRP procedures could result in penalties and or fines. Please check out the RRP rules here.
Glass-Rite will try at all times to minimize any negative impact of the RRP rules, but it is possible that you will experience some inconvenience such as restricted access to the work areas, longer completion times, or we may need you to move furniture and other items away from the work area. We must contain dust on the interior and exterior of the house. This involves using plastic sheeting up to 10 feet away from the windows on the exterior of the house. In most cases, we will need to turn your heating and cooling systems off while we are working to minimize the possibility of the migration of any dust from the worksite. Finally, we will be sealing off the work areas with tape and plastic. It’s possible that the tape may leave marks on the walls inside and/or outside your home.
On the positive side, the worksite will be spotless; every last bit of dust and debris will be cleaned up by our crews. Again, Glass-Rite will try our best to minimize all of these potential negative impacts on you and your home.
Each home is unique. Please discuss your specific concerns with both your sales person and the lead installer.