Quick answer
Treat any home built before 1978 as if it contains lead paint unless testing shows otherwise. On a painting or wallpaper job, that means sealing off the work area, misting surfaces before scraping, avoiding dry sanding and open-flame or high-heat stripping, HEPA vacuuming and wet wiping every day, and checking surfaces before the space is reoccupied. Massachusetts landlords should also check their own obligations under the state lead law.
Why most Quincy and South Shore houses should be treated as having lead paint
Residential lead paint was banned in the United States in 1978, and most of the housing in Quincy and the older Norfolk County towns was built well before that. The two-families and triple-deckers in Wollaston, North Quincy and Quincy Point date mostly from the early 1900s. The Victorians and Colonial Revivals on Wollaston Hill are older still, and even the postwar capes in South and West Quincy carried oil and lead-based paints for years. Later coats of latex sit right on top of those layers.
Lead paint that is intact and covered is a lower risk. It becomes a hazard when it turns to dust or chips, and that is exactly what scraping, sanding, opening walls and stripping wallpaper can do. Windows are a frequent source because sashes rub against jambs every time they open. That is why we presume lead on any pre-1978 surface and plan the work around it from the walk-through forward.
How containment and dust control change an interior painting or wallpaper job
The biggest visible difference is containment. Before any disturbance, floors in the work area are covered with plastic sheeting taped at the edges and extended several feet beyond the work, doorways are sealed off, and heating registers and radiator covers in the room are closed or wrapped. Furniture that cannot leave the room is wrapped. People and pets stay out of the contained area while dust-producing work is underway.
The prep itself changes too. Surfaces get misted with water before scraping so chips fall heavy instead of floating. Sanding is done by hand with wet methods or with a sander attached to a HEPA vacuum. Some methods are off the table on lead paint: open-flame burning, heat guns running at high temperatures, and dry power sanding without dust collection.
- Plastic sheeting on floors, taped and extended past the work area
- Doorways and registers sealed before work starts
- Misting before scraping, wet sanding or HEPA-attached sanding
- No open-flame burning or high-heat stripping
- Debris bagged and sealed inside the work area
What lead-safe work looks like on the outside of a Quincy house
Exterior prep is where the most paint comes off, so containment matters even more. Sheeting goes on the ground along the wall being scraped, extending out from the foundation, and is weighted or staked so wind off Quincy Bay does not lift it. Windows and doors near the work stay closed. On a gusty day in Houghs Neck or Squantum we hold off on scraping, because chips and dust carry onto a neighbor's lot or into a garden bed.
Paint chips are collected throughout the day and bagged, and the sheeting is folded inward and cleaned before it moves to the next wall. Power washing is done at moderate pressure to clean, not to strip, because blasting old paint off the clapboards sends lead-laden water and chips into the soil. Where full removal is needed, we use scraping, hand sanding and HEPA-attached tools instead.
Porches deserve a special mention on Quincy houses. Porch floors, rails and balusters on two-families and triple-deckers often carry the thickest old paint, and foot traffic grinds it into dust that gets tracked inside. When we prep a porch, the floor below it and any steps leading to the yard get covered too, and we keep the porch closed to use until the final cleanup is done. Soil near a drip line where old paint has flaked for decades is worth keeping kids and gardens away from.
How cleanup and verification work before you get the room back
Cleanup on a lead-safe job is slower and more careful than an ordinary paint job. Debris and sheeting are misted, folded inward and bagged. Every horizontal surface in the work area gets HEPA vacuumed, then wet wiped, then vacuumed again. Windowsills and window troughs get extra attention because dust settles there and children touch them.
Before the room goes back into use, the cleaned surfaces are checked. A common method is a cleaning verification check with disposable wet cloths wiped across floors and sills and compared against a reference card, repeating the cleaning where a cloth fails. Owners who want lab numbers, for example before a child moves in, can hire an independent lead inspector or risk assessor for dust wipe sampling after the job.
What Quincy-area landlords should check for pre-1978 rental units
Landlords carry extra responsibilities beyond the painting itself. Federal rules require that tenants in pre-1978 housing receive lead hazard information before a lease is signed. Massachusetts also has its own lead law covering rental housing where young children live, and it places duties on owners. We don't interpret that law for anyone. Owners of two-families and triple-deckers should check their obligations directly with the state before a turnover, a renovation or a new lease.
From a practical side, rental turnovers are a good time to fix the common lead trouble spots: friction surfaces on windows, worn porch floors and rails, peeling paint on door jambs and stair treads. A painted surface that is intact and maintained is far easier to keep safe than one that is flaking. Schedule disturbance work when the unit is empty so tenants are not living next to a contained work zone.
What adds time and cost when lead-safe practices are followed
Expect lead-safe steps to add time to a job, mostly in setup and cleanup. On an interior room, containment might take an hour or two, and the end-of-job cleaning and check another two to three hours. On an exterior, sheeting and daily cleanup add time to every prep day. Disposal of bagged debris adds a modest cost.
These steps are not optional extras on a pre-1978 house. They are built into how the job should be priced from the start. If two estimates for the same room differ a lot, ask each painter how they plan to contain dust, which tools they will use on old paint, and how they will clean and check before leaving. Call (617) 576-8235 to set up a walk-through anywhere in Quincy or Norfolk County, and we'll go over those details on your house.
Clementine Thayer, Decorating Tips Editor, writes our guides from what our painters and paperhangers see on Quincy-area jobs. Questions about your own house? Call (617) 576-8235.