Why this matters more in Madison than in most places
Lead was banned from residential paint in 1978. Madison's housing stock is old by American standards, and a large share of the near east, near west, and downtown neighborhoods, along with nearly all of Stoughton's and Mount Horeb's historic cores, was built long before that.
If your house predates 1978, assume there is lead paint somewhere in it. It is usually not on the surface, it is under four or five later layers, which is precisely why disturbing those layers is the moment of risk.
What the rule actually requires
The EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies to paid work that disturbs more than a small area of paint in a pre-1978 home or child-occupied facility. In practice, most exterior repaints and a great many interior jobs qualify.
- The firm must hold a current EPA lead-safe firm certification.
- A certified renovator must be assigned to the job and on site or available.
- The work area must be contained: plastic sheeting, sealed doorways, HVAC shut down and covered.
- Dust-generating methods are restricted. Open-flame burning and uncontained power sanding are prohibited.
- Waste must be contained and disposed of properly.
- The area must be cleaned with HEPA vacuums and verified before the containment comes down.
- You must receive the EPA pamphlet and sign an acknowledgment before work begins.
How to verify a contractor, in about two minutes
Firm certifications are public. The EPA maintains a searchable list of lead-safe certified firms, and Wisconsin's Department of Health Services maintains state-level certification information as well. Ask any contractor bidding your older home for their firm certification number, then look it up.
This is a reasonable request and a legitimate contractor will not be bothered by it. A contractor who reacts badly to being asked for a certification number has told you something useful for free.
What it costs, and why the cheap bid on an old house is not cheap
Containment, HEPA equipment, controlled work methods, contained disposal, and verified cleanup all take time and materials. On a typical pre-1978 Madison exterior it is a real line item, not a rounding error.
Which produces a predictable and unfortunate market dynamic: on an old house, the uncertified contractor is always cheaper. They are not more efficient. They are skipping a legally required and genuinely protective part of the job, and the cost of that shortcut lands in the soil around your foundation and the dust on your floors.
Do you need to test?
Not necessarily. The rule allows a contractor to simply assume lead is present and follow lead-safe work practices, which is what we do by default on pre-1978 homes. It is the conservative approach and it removes an entire category of uncertainty.
Testing is worth doing when you want to know what you actually have, particularly before a larger renovation or if you have young children in the house. A certified lead risk assessor can perform an inspection, and Public Health Madison and Dane County is a good starting point for guidance and local resources.
If you have young children
Talk to your pediatrician about blood lead testing. Wisconsin recommends testing for children in high-risk housing, and Madison's older neighborhoods qualify. It is a simple test and it is the only way to know.
This is beyond what a painting contractor is qualified to advise on, and that is exactly the point: our job is to not make the problem worse, and to be honest about where our expertise ends.
What lead-safe work looks like on our jobs
- We confirm the build year before quoting, and price containment as its own visible line item.
- You get the EPA pamphlet and sign for it before anything starts.
- Work areas are sheeted and sealed, HVAC is shut down and covered, and ground is covered on exteriors.
- Wet methods and HEPA-shrouded tools only. No open flame, no uncontained sanding.
- Debris is contained and disposed of properly, not swept into the yard.
- HEPA vacuum and wet-wipe cleanup, verified before containment comes down.