PaintingMania

When was lead paint banned?

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission banned lead-containing paint for consumer use in 1978. That date is the dividing line for every lead rule that follows: housing built before 1978 is presumed to potentially contain lead-based paint. Prep decides whether the finish is still attached in two years, so it is worth more of your time than the colour choice.

Why 1978 still matters today

The ban stopped new lead paint being sold. It did nothing about the lead paint already on the walls, which is why the hazard is still live nearly fifty years later — about 75% of pre-1978 US homes still contain some lead-based paint.

The risk is not the intact painted surface. It is the dust created when someone sands, scrapes, cuts or demolishes it. That is what the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule exists to control, and why paid work on a pre-1978 home is regulated.

How we sourced this

This answer is composed from our knowledge base, which holds only what a regulator, a standards body or a manufacturer supports. The sources behind it are listed below with the date we accessed each one. If a claim on this page has no source under it, that is a bug — tell us and we will fix it.

Where a figure is product-specific — coverage, dry time, recoat time, temperature limits — we point you at the manufacturer's technical data sheet rather than printing a general number as though it were a specification. That distinction is the most common error in this trade, and it is the one that costs people a repaint.

Common mistakes

  • Assuming a post-1978 purchase date means a post-1978 house. The build year is what matters.
  • Treating intact paint as the hazard. The danger is the dust from sanding, scraping and demolition.
  • Dry-sanding or using a heat gun on old paint because the area is small.
  • Taking a contractor's word that the rule does not apply to a pre-1978 home.

Related questions

Sources

  1. US Consumer Product Safety Commission. CPSC bans lead-containing paint, 16 CFR 1303 (accessed 2026-08-17).
  2. US Environmental Protection Agency. Renovation, Repair and Painting Program (accessed 2026-08-17).
  3. US Environmental Protection Agency. Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home (accessed 2026-08-17).

Also asked as

  • When was lead based paint banned?
  • When was leaded paint banned?

Last reviewed: · The PaintingMania editorial team · Lead paint & the RRP rule