Painting an Older Kansas City Home: Lead Testing, Plaster Repair and What Prep Really Involves

Painting a Kansas City home built before 1978 is mostly a prep job. Get the old paint tested for lead before anyone sands or scrapes, repair plaster cracks so they don't come back through the new finish, and replace rotted wood before priming. If the test shows lead, the work has to follow federal lead-safe rules, and that changes who should do it.

I'm James Griffin. I started in custom finishes, working alongside interior designers, and I've been painting Kansas City homes since 2013. Older homes in Prairie Village, Brookside, Waldo and the older parts of Johnson County are some of my favorite jobs, and also the ones where skipping prep costs the most.

Does my house have lead paint?

If it was built before 1978, it might. The EPA estimates that about half of homes built before 1978 have lead-based paint, and the share rises with age: roughly two out of three homes built between 1940 and 1960, and nine out of ten built before 1940. Much of Prairie Village was built in the late 1940s through the early 1960s, and many Brookside and Waldo homes are older than that.

You can't tell by looking. The only way to know is a test. Lead paint that is intact and well covered usually isn't the problem. The risk comes from dust and chips created when paint is sanded, scraped or removed, especially for children and pregnant women.

Who should test for lead, and when?

Before any sanding or scraping, and by someone independent of the painter. A certified lead inspector or risk assessor can test the paint on site, and a lab can analyze paint samples. Hardware-store swab kits are a rough screening tool, not a final answer. On a home built before 1978, the first step is a third-party test, and the result decides the rest of the plan.

• No lead found. Prep and painting can go ahead normally, and you have the test result on file.
• Lead found. Federal lead-safe work rules apply to anyone paid to disturb that paint. The job has to be done by a lead-safe certified contractor using containment and cleanup practices. I'll tell you honestly what that means for your project before anything is disturbed.
• Not tested. Contractors working on a pre-1978 home are expected to treat the paint as if it contains lead. That's why testing first usually saves time and money.

Can you paint plaster walls?

Yes. Plaster takes paint well when it's prepared correctly, and the repair work underneath decides how it looks. Here's the order I follow:

• Check for loose plaster. Tap the walls. A hollow sound or a bulge means the plaster has separated from the lath, and it needs to be secured or replaced before painting.
• Repair cracks properly. Small hairline cracks can be filled and reinforced. Larger cracks and old repairs may need mesh tape and compound so they don't telegraph back through the paint.
• Deal with old coatings. Walls in older homes often have many layers of paint, and some have wallpaper or oil-based coats underneath. A bonding primer helps new paint stick.
• Prime, then paint. Skipping primer on patched plaster is how you end up with dull spots and visible repairs.

What's different about exterior prep on a 1940s to 1960s home?

Older exteriors often have original wood siding, trim and window sills with decades of paint layered on top. A few things I look for:

• Wood rot at the lowest and wettest spots: window sills, trim joints, fascia, and the bottom of siding near the ground. Painting over rot only hides it for a season or two.
• Failing old paint: peeling, alligatoring or chalking tells me how much scraping and priming is needed, and it's another reason to test for lead first.
• Timing: exterior paint needs the right temperature and dry weather, so the repair work and the painting window have to be planned together.

How does painting an older home compare in cost?

It usually costs more than painting a newer home of the same size, mainly because of the prep: testing, plaster and crack repair, scraping and priming, and any rot repair. The honest answer comes from a walkthrough, and I do those for free. You'll get a written price that spells out the prep and the painting separately.

Planning to paint an older home? Tell me about the house and I'll walk it with you, no pressure and no sales pitch. Call or text 913-704-4418, or request a free quote.