Should I have the peeling paint in my kitchen cabinets (in my 1920's vintage apt. building) checked for lead?

I would think so, I’m more concerned with how jealous I am of your building.

I would have it checked. You wouldn’t want the stuff accidentally getting in food.

Yes, have it checked. And you might want to have an inspection for asbestos. I’m sure you signed something when you rented the place about lead and asbestos, it might be worth it to pull that out and see what they said.

I think there’s a DYI test kit you can buy at a hardware store.

Being that they are from the 20’s they do have lead in them if they are painted. It should be of no concern unless you eat it or get it into your system someother way, so most definantly don’t let small children near them.

Have them tested. A visiting child or pet could eat them.

I wouldn’t even bother having it checked, you can pretty much bank on there being lead in it.

Though one thing you may want to keep in mind is that it was probably repainted long after the original construction (meaning it may have been repainted without lead paint at a later date). In fact being 80 years later, it wouldn’t surprise me at all.

As far as lead paint though, for YOUR health, you’re mostly in the clear. I mean you don’t really want lead paint, but the majority of the damage would come from ingesting it or something like that. Since you’re not licking the walls you’d be ok. But it is the type of thing you’d want to get taken care of sooner rather than later.

I pretty much assume that my 1929 house’s paint is full of lead!

Since it is peeling, presumably small bits could end up almost anywhere, including in food. Lead poisoning isn’t good at any age, so I would probably have the levels checked.

In addition, should you choose to sand and repaint, you really need to know if you need to have the full breathing mask/isolation room sort of thing going on.

The funny thing is that the paint is totally flaking and peeling off in the inside cabinets where I keep my cookware. So, when I take out a pot, it is usually filled will paint flakes. I never really got this before. Anyway, today I didn’t notice it right away, and poured some soup in the pot before I noticed all the paint. It most surely does contain lead. Perhaps I can ask if they would mind repainting the inside. The outside of these cabinets is fine.

Thanks for all your good answers!

And @asmonet—it is a great apartment!

I’m pretty jealous of your building, too, but I’d definitely check the paint.

I will—tomorrow.

If you have pets it could present a problem. You can encapsulate the lead paint by painting over it.

Checking your own lead levels might be easier (since i don’t know how to check for lead in your paint) We get our sons done I believe once a year…that’s what is recommended to us by our Ped. They just take a drop of blood and let us know his level.

@casheroo: Thanks for that suggestion. It might be interesting to learn if I have higher lead levels than I should have.