Lead Paint Testing

Detailed Home Inspections Cleveland Ohio is licensed to perform Lead Clearance Inspections that comply with legislation passed by the Cleveland City Council requiring owners of rental property in Cleveland built before 1978 to prove that their dwelling units are safe from lead hazards.

The legislation requires income property owners or their agents to engage an independent contractor to perform a lead inspection on their property to prove their property is Lead Safe or otherwise have it remediated and re-tested for compliance. The Lead Safe Ordinance allows for two types of inspection: either a Lead Clearance Examination or a Lead Risk Assessment Inspection.  Detailed Home Inspections Cleveland Ohio is licensed to conduct the Lead Clearance Examination (LCE).

 

Under the LCE guidance, a licensed Inspector is hired to inspect a rental property that has been remediated/cleaned: 

 

Lead based paint, the most common source of lead exposure to children in Cleveland, was banned in 1978. However, over 90% of rental units in the City of Cleveland were built before 1978. So, it’s very likely that your rental unit has lead in it. Potential lead hazards include any area with deteriorating lead-based paint (peeling, chipping, chalking, cracking, damaged, or damp), especially those places that children can chew or that get a lot of wear-and-tear, such as: windows & window sills, doors & door frames, stairs, railings, banisters, and porches.

 

If your property has any evidence of hazards, you must remediate lead hazards prior to scheduling a lead safe clearance examination, and getting a Lead Safe Certification. If your property’s paint is in good shape without deterioration, and you make the determination that your rental unit does not need remediation work, you may Clean your Property.

 

Cleaning your property before scheduling a lead clearance examination greatly improves your chance of passing your clearance. The Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition strongly encourages you to clean your property before scheduling your clearance examination. 

The property must pass a visual inspection before paint dust sampling can be done.
The property will fail the visual inspection if one or more of the following conditions exist:

1. Chipping paint anywhere.
2. Peeling paint on upper roof overhangs and soffits.
3. Peeling paint on any window anywhere.
4. Deteriorated wood with peeling paint.
5. Interior water/plumbing leaks with peeling paint on finished wall surfaces.
6. Exposed soil at exterior play areas (cover bare soil/dirt with mulch).
7. Peeling paint on basement walls, floors or ceilings.
8. Paint chips on ground, basement, window wells, and anywhere else.

Dust samples will be taken on interior window sills, window troughs (where the base of the lower window sash sits when closed) and on the interior floor in front of windows. It is imperative that windows be thoroughly cleaned and the floors in front of them be cleaned as well.

If the property fails the visual inspection, all failed areas must be cleaned/contained/painted before the inspector can return to conduct dust wipe sampling. Sampling can be conducted no sooner than 1 hour after clean up.

 

Please note that your Clearance Examiner cannot be related to or the same as the RRP Licensed contractor that remediated your property. Property owners cannot conduct a clearance examination on their own properties.

 

Our price to perform the LCE for a single family home is $350 which includes one visit to the home for inspection and subsequent testing.  If the home does not pass the visual inspection for lead hazards we cannot perform any testing and will communicate the failed areas to you via email.  If the home passes the visual inspection and we perform testing and it passes, then you will be provided with a lead clearance report so you can apply for Cleveland’s Lead Safe Certification.  If we are requested to return to the property for re-inspection and/or testing because it did not pass the visual inspection or the testing the first time, we charge $100 for the return visit to re-inspect and test for the first time or to re-test a subsequent time.  For duplexes we charge $450 plus $150 for subsequent visits.  Additional unit charges can be quoted to you upon inquiry with us.

 

For additional information on the City’s requirements, please visit https://leadsafecle.org/

You can text us if you have any questions, or visit leadsafecle.org for more information.

Otherwise you can schedule this service via our online scheduling button above.