Age

The EPA notes that nearly all homes built before 1978 have at least trace amount of lead paint. If you are buying or renting an older house that was built before the above mentioned year, you should assume that there is at least trace amounts of lead paint.

Physical Aches and Pains

If your child exhibits symptoms such as loss of energy, hyperactivity, reduced attention span, stomach pains and insomnia, then you should seriously consider taking him or her to the doctor for a blood lead test.

Lead Paint Tastes Good

Believe it or not, lead has a sweet taste and it is not uncommon for toddlers and young children to pick lead paint off the walls and eat it. If you notice your young children doing this on a regular basis, buy a paint test kit at a local hardware store.

Check the Paint Job

Lead based paint often deteriorates in a clear cracking pattern that makes it look like the wall has been painted using an alligator skin pattern or made to look like shattered glass.

Consider the Garden

If you do a lot of gardening and tend to feel unwell after tending to flowers and shrubs, then there may be lead contamination in the soil.

These are some key signs that lead paint has been used in the home. If you suspect the use of this type of paint, get the home professionally tested and deal with the problem immediately, as it is a serious one that can cause permanent health damage.

Additional Resources:
One Source Training
Public.Health.Oregon.Gov

1. Are the folks that live in your home displaying allergy symptoms? Sneezing, coughing or other general respiratory problems can result from the bad air. This can be a leading indicator that there might be a mold issue. Conditions can worsen for people that experience prolonged exposure (All Property Management).
2. Weird, musty smells can also be a tip off that their is mold growing in the unseen places of your property. They can be hard to pin down because the mold could be growing anywhere or everywhere!
3. Water leaks can lead to mold because it enjoys the moisture and hidden pockets that water can find its way into. Old leaks and cracks are often the initiating culprit for these sorts of situations.
4. Dark growth spots on surfaces where moisture occurs. Mold requires moisture to feed and grow. Kitchens, bathrooms, basements and garages are all prime candidates for mold growth if not properly maintained.
5. Spores in the ventilation system. A ventilation system continually circulates the air that is in your home or living space. If it has mold spores then so does your heating and air system. Though they may have originated from another source, those spores are pushed through the entirety of your property over and over again while you breathe them into your lungs.

Take precautions and use these tips to help indicate if you might have a more serious mold condition in your own home, it can save your health and home!

Mold is particularly dangerous to people with compromised immune systems and people who have existing respiratory problems. When mold spores get into the air, in higher than normal concentrations, they can be hazardous to your health. Following are five health hazards of living in a house with dangerous mold.

1. Allergic reactions can be intensified when you inhale mold spores that are floating around in the air. You may experience such symptoms as a runny nose, eye irritation or nasal congestion.

2. Bronchitis and COPD sufferers will find it more difficult to breathe. The airborne contaminant can get into the lungs and cause problems such as wheezing and a persistent cough.

3. Athletes foot and other skin conditions and fungal infections can be exacerbated by the exposure to mold. While athletes foot is annoying, it is not as bad as getting a fungal infection in your lungs or digestive tract as the result of inhaling or ingesting mold spores.

4. Growth of mycotoxins or substances that are toxic to the body are perhaps the most dangerous of all the things that can happen if you are exposed to mold. Toxins are the enemy of the body and can be aggressive, causing a victim a great deal of pain and suffering.

5. Fever and shortness of breath is a severe reaction your body can have as a result of the infiltration of mold. If you experience a high fever or prolonged shortness of breath, you should not wait to seek medical help.

Mold should not be ignored. Before you start experiencing the symptoms associated with exposure to mold, you should take steps to remove the mold and keep it from coming back.

From 2007 to 2010 — just before the lead-paint rule took effect — an estimated 535,000 U.S. children aged 1 to 5 had high enough levels of lead in their blood to merit concern, a new survey by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) finds. The study also noted how lead levels in kids” blood has declined markedly over the decades. But the CDC, stressing that no safe blood level for kids has ever been identified, said it concurs with other groups that promoting lead-safe homes “is the only practical approach to preventing elevated [blood lead levels] in children.”

The CDC”s findings, published April 5 in its Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, will likely figure in the debate over the Environmental Protection Agency’s Renovation, Repair and Painting (LRRP) rule. The rule took effect April 22, 2010, and requires contractors performing renovation, repair, and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in homes, child care facilities, and schools built before 1978 to be certified and to follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination. Ignoring the new rules can lead to fines of up to $37,500 per day.

Remodelers, building material dealers, and related parties have been pressing the EPA and Congress to change the rule, primarily by reinstating a provision that would have permitted homeowners to voluntarily remove themselves from the effect of the rule if they attest that nobody lives in the house who is younger than 6 years old or is pregnant. Removing the opt-in provision increased the number of homes potentially affected by the rule to 79 million from 38 million.

The CDC based its report on an analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for 1999-2002 and 2007-2010 in which it found that 2.6% of the young children in the 2007-2010 survey sample had blood lead levels (BLLs) of at least 5 micrograms per deciliter. Health officials used to regard 10 micrograms per pokies deciliter as the point at which exposure reached an official “level of concern.” But in May 2012, the CDC accepted the recommendation from its Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention (ACHLPP) that it should shift that official level of concern to any mark shared by children above the 97.5th percentile, largely because health officials have never set a maximum safe level for lead exposure. Thus, this new report pegs that level at 5 micrograms per deciliter.

The report noted the “substantial progress” made in reducing the number of children with elevated BLLs over the past four decades. The 1976-1980 NHANES data found an estimated 88% of children aged 1 to 5 had BLLs equal to or greater than 10 micrograms per deciliter. By 1994, that percentage had plunged to 4.4%, and in 1999-2002 it fell to 1.6%, and during 207-2010 it shrank again to just 0.8% of all children in the 1 to 5 age group. The CDC credits that sharp drop to the elimination of lead in gasoline, the ban on lead in paint, and the reductions in lead in products marketed to children.

In January 2012, the CDC”s advisory committee on childhood lead poisoning prevention set BLLs of 5 micrograms per deciliter as its new target to fight. The percentage of kids at or above that level has shrunk from 8.6% in 1992-2002 to 4.1% in 2003-2006 to 2.6% in 2007-2010.

Childhood exposure to lead can have lifelong consequences, the report reminded readers. “CDC concurred with ACCLPP that primary prevention (i.e., ensuring that all homes are lead-safe and do not contribute to childhood lead exposure) is the only practical approach to preventing elevated BLLs in children,” the report said. “Prevention requires reducing environmental exposures from soil, dust, paint, and water, before children are exposed to these hazards. Efforts to increase awareness of lead hazards and nutritional interventions to increase iron and calcium, which can reduce lead absorption, are other key components of a successful prevention policy.” —Craig Webb is editor-in-chief of REMODELING