Lead paint can be a problem, but let's not get carried away here.
When TreeHugger Katherine wrote a recent post on saving money, she included Living in an old house for all the reasons that I have promoted old houses- they are in the right place (you can walk to everything), shaded by trees, often cheaper and have “long finished off-gassing noxious chemicals.” They were designed before air conditioning so are usually cool in summer thanks to cross-ventilation and thick masonry walls. Then a commenter noted:
Living in an old house is a big mistake especially if you have young kids. Lead poisoning is 100% ensured. Golden rule should be nothing before 1982.
As a past president of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario who spent years fighting to preserve old houses and buildings, and who, when I was an architect renovated many old buildings, I will say flat out: this is not true.
Lloyd Alter/ My old house, dripping leaded paint chips into the garden, pre-renovation/CC BY 2.0
