Lead Paint Rules for Pre-1978 Homes

A lot of St. Louis County housing predates 1978, which is the year the federal government banned lead-based residential paint. That date matters for more than trivia — it triggers a specific federal rule that governs how paid contractors are allowed to disturb painted surfaces in older homes, and the threshold for that rule is lower than most homeowners assume.

The EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rule requires that any paid work disturbing more than six square feet of interior painted surface, or more than twenty square feet of exterior painted surface, in a home built before 1978 be performed by an EPA Lead-Safe Certified firm using contained work practices. That's not a large threshold — a normal exterior repaint crosses twenty square feet within the first hour of scraping window trim and soffits, and a typical interior repair or repaint clears six square feet almost immediately.

The rule exists because disturbing lead-based paint — through scraping, sanding, or heat — can create lead dust and chips that are hazardous, particularly to children and pregnant women. Because that risk exists at a small scale, the law doesn't wait for a large renovation to apply; it applies as soon as a paid contractor's work crosses those modest square-footage numbers on a pre-1978 property.

A firm holding EPA Lead-Safe certification has agreed to follow specific containment and cleanup practices designed to prevent lead dust from spreading during the work and to verify the area is properly cleaned afterward. This isn't a marketing badge — it reflects a documented process the firm is expected to follow on every applicable job, not just the ones where a homeowner happens to ask about it.

If your home was built before 1978 — which describes a large share of the housing stock in cities like Kirkwood, Webster Groves, Manchester, and older sections of Ballwin — it's worth asking any contractor bidding the job directly for their firm's EPA Lead-Safe certification, not just assuming they have it. A contractor who can't produce it, or who seems unfamiliar with the requirement, is a sign the job may not be handled with the containment practices the law actually requires.

This applies to both interior and exterior work, and it applies regardless of whether lead paint has been confirmed on the specific surface being worked on — the rule is based on the home's construction date, not on testing every layer of paint before starting.