Do You Need Paint Testing Services in Arlington, VA?

Most people assume their homes are places of sanctuary and safety. Unless you had your home custom-built though, it’s had a long history that in many cases stretches back decades, and while some of that history may be captured on the disclosure statements you received when you bought the place, those statements barely scratch the surface.

The unfortunate truth is that “back in the day,” people routinely used various materials in construction that we now know to be extremely harmful, and in some cases, deadly. Although sellers are required to make a disclosure about any known lead-based paint in homes built prior to 1978, they can only disclose what they know about.

If you’ve purchased a home with acreage and outbuildings, odds are that the disclosure only applied to the house itself, and even then, the person you purchased the home from may not have gotten complete or accurate information when he or she purchased it. That’s why our paint testing services in Arlington, VA are so important and in such high demand. You just don’t know what you don’t know, and having the paint in your home and in any outbuildings, barns, and other structures on your property is essential to your peace of mind (not to mention, when you sell the property, you’ll be able to pass along complete information to whoever buys it from you).

But our paint testing services in Arlington, VA are just the beginning. After all, if testing reveals the presence of lead paint anywhere on your property, the next logical step is to do something about it. You don’t just want to leave it alone and hope for the best, you want it gone, and we can help with that too.

Paint Testing Services In Arlington, VA – Why It Matters

The presence of lead paint is more than just a nuisance, it poses a genuine health threat, especially to young children and the elderly. It’s highly toxic, and worse, as it begins to age, it does two things: It begins to peel and flake, and many small children have been hospitalized as a consequence of eating paint chips.

Second, the older it gets, the more “chalky” it becomes, and this is what poses the greater overall risk.

That paint dust winds up getting all over everything, and the particles are small enough that they can easily be inhaled without your even being aware of it, which can lead to a variety of medical conditions, some of which can be life-threatening.

Worse still, if the dust is outside your home, it will invariably leech into the soil. If you have a garden, it will then leach into the food. Even if it doesn’t, it can still be tracked into your house on the bottoms of your shoes. It’s just not a good situation, and again, underscores why our paint testing services in Arlington, VA are so important. It could be a much bigger problem than you realize.

Broadly speaking then, here’s what you can expect if you avail yourself of our paint testing services in Arlington, VA, and lead paint is discovered on your property:

• The first thing we’ll do is produce an estimate for you, so you’ll have a clear understanding of what it will cost to have the lead paint removed from your property.
• Assuming you’re comfortable with the estimate, we’ll begin by cordoning off the area where the lead paint is so that as we begin the removal process, we don’t spread dust or paint particles to other areas of your property.
• Once the area has been isolated, we’ll begin removing it, culminating in its safe disposal at a facility licensed to handle it.
• Finally, we’ll thoroughly decontaminate the area to make sure that you never have to worry about it again.

Of course, we do a lot more than just provide paint testing services in Arlington, VA, and its subsequent removal. As a full-service environmental remediation company, we handle the safe removal of a variety of hazardous materials, including asbestos, formaldehyde, mold, and more.

In many ways, asbestos is even more dangerous than lead-based paint, and worse, sellers are not legally obligated to inform you of the presence of asbestos, which may leave you sitting on a ticking time bomb.

Between 1920 and the early 1980’s asbestos was used in a variety of ways inside homes. In fact, estimates are that nearly 80% of the homes and office buildings currently in use today still have asbestos in some form or another inside them. Depending on how old your home is, it may have:

• Asbestos shingles
• Asbestos insulation
• Asbestos siding
• Or asbestos flooring tiles

In a process similar to our paint testing services in Arlington, VA, we can test these to see if you have any asbestos in your home, and if it is found, we can safely remove it as described above.

Note that in some cases, removal isn’t the only viable option. For example, if you have asbestos floor tiles, a better approach might be to pour a layer of concrete over them, essentially entombing the asbestos beneath, and then, you can install some other, safer flooring material atop that.

In a similar vein, if you have asbestos siding on your home, it may be possible to simply cover it with a foam sheath and then re-side, although there are hard limits to how many times you can do this. At some point, you’ll have to rip all of the old siding off and start over, and when that day inevitably comes, you won’t want to employ a general contractor to get the asbestos siding off the house. In the overwhelming majority of cases, they just don’t have the skills, experience, and specialized equipment needed to safely remove it, which will lead to more (and potentially much more serious) problems for you down the road.

The same basic thinking applies to asbestos roof shingles. It’s entirely possible to just put new shingles down over your existing ones, but you can’t get away with the more than three times before you’ve got to rip everything down and start fresh, and again, you don’t want to hire a general contractor for that.

The main difficulty is that asbestos tends to get brittle with age. Any time you try to remove it, it will crumble, releasing tiny particles into the air that are easy to breathe in. Do that, and you open the door to a whole host of upper respiratory conditions, many of which can be quite serious. There’s also the risk of getting a deadly form of cancer known as mesothelioma.

Where mold is concerned, colonies are prone to form anywhere warm that has a high moisture content in the air. Unfortunately, mold colonies tend to establish themselves in areas of your home that are difficult to reach, which can make them notoriously difficult to remove.

Not to worry, we’ve got you covered there too. Our expert technicians are highly experienced at rooting out even the most stubborn of mold colonies, including from places you may not have even considered that colonies could form, like inside your heating and air-conditioning ducts.

In the case of mold in particular, after the colony has been removed, it’s important to change the conditions inside your home to make sure that a new colony doesn’t try to establish itself. We can make some equipment recommendations that will help bring the moisture content inside your home down, making it unlikely, if not outright impossible for mold to form.

Your family’s health is too important to take chances with. If you even suspect the presence of a hazardous material in your home or somewhere on your property, it pays to have a thorough inspection and testing done, and that’s not something you want to leave to just anyone. You want to make sure that the company you call upon has the skills and experience needed to correctly identify the hazard and safely remove it.

As the most respected environmental remediation company in the region, we are the company to call. We’ve built our reputation by exceeding the expectations of each and every client we serve, and we’d love to add you to our growing family. Give us a call today to schedule an appointment.

About Envriotex Environmental Services

Established in Fairfax, VA in 2000, Envirotex Environmental Services was founded on military service. While serving his country, the company's owner Mr. Freeman gained vast knowledge and experience in the environmental services field. His expertise in air monitoring and hazardous materials testing prepared him for his post-military career.