Pre-1978 Lead Paint: What Eastover Homeowners Should Know

If your house in Eastover or Myers Park was built before 1978, there's a good chance some of the old paint underneath the newer coats contains lead. This isn't something to panic about. It's something to plan around. We've been repainting these neighborhoods for 24 years, and it comes up on nearly every older home we touch.

Why 1978 Is the Line

The federal government banned lead in residential paint in 1978. Homes built before that date, especially the 1920s and 1930s housing stock common in Eastover and along Queens Road and Cherokee Road in Myers Park, were very likely painted at least once with lead-based coatings. Those layers are usually buried under decades of later paint jobs, but they're still there on the plaster, the trim, and the original wood windows.

What This Means for Sanding

Sanding is where lead paint becomes a real consideration. Dry sanding creates dust, and dust is how old lead paint gets into the air and into a house. Before we touch a sander to old plaster, trim, or siding on a pre-1978 home, we talk through the surface with the homeowner. Sometimes the answer is wet sanding. Sometimes it's a different prep method entirely, or working around an intact layer rather than disturbing it. The point is to have that conversation before the work starts, not after.

We don't carry a lead-safe or EPA certification, and we won't claim one we don't have. What we will do is take the condition of the paint seriously, explain what we see, and make a plan that fits the house.

How This Plays Out on an Eastover or Myers Park Job

A lot of our work in these neighborhoods is plaster wall repair in Eastover Charlotte and repainting a 1920s house in Eastover from the inside out. Plaster holds paint differently than drywall, and it often has more layers built up over a century. Original wood windows add another wrinkle, since the glazing putty and sash wood were painted right along with everything else. When we're painting original wood windows in older homes, we look at the condition of every coat before deciding how to proceed.

Painting historic homes in Myers Park also means working inside the rules of the local historic district, where they apply. We don't handle historic district approvals or speed them up. If your street falls under that review, the city is the right place to ask, and we'll gladly work from whatever color and material decision comes out of that process.

It's Not Just a Myers Park Issue

Pre-1978 construction shows up anywhere with older housing stock, not just the Olmsted-era streets. If you're unsure how old your home's existing paint is, that's a fair question to ask before any project starts, interior or exterior.

What We Do Instead of Guessing

We don't send someone out to blast a wall with a sander and hope for the best. The owner walks the job first, looks at the paint condition room by room or section by section on the exterior, and writes up what he sees. If lead-era paint is a live possibility, that's part of the estimate conversation, not a surprise charge later.

This matters whether we're doing a full repaint, drywall and plaster repair, popcorn ceiling removal, or wallpaper removal on plaster walls. Any time old material gets disturbed, we think about what's under it first.

A Smaller Job Than You Might Think

Homeowners sometimes assume a pre-1978 house means the whole project turns into a bigger deal. Often it doesn't. A lot of the time the old paint is sealed under several later coats and stays put with the right approach. We'll tell you straight if your job is simpler than you feared. We'll also tell you if it isn't.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have a lead-safe or RRP certification?

No. We don't hold that certification, and we won't claim one. What we do is take old paint condition seriously on any pre-1978 home, discuss it with you before sanding starts, and adjust our prep method to the surface.

Will this slow down my project?

It can add a conversation up front, but it doesn't have to slow the work. The owner looks at the paint condition during the estimate walk, so this gets planned for before a schedule is set, not discovered mid-job.

Does this apply to exterior work too?

Yes. Old siding and trim on a pre-1978 home can carry the same layered history as interior plaster and wood windows. We look at both exterior and interior surfaces the same way before deciding how to prep.