Lead paint removal in Silver Spring, Maryland.
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Silver Spring is where Montgomery County’s pre-1978 rental math gets big. The close-in neighborhoods filled out between the 1930s and the 1960s with brick colonials, cape cods, and ramblers, and a huge share of that stock now operates as rental housing: single-family rentals, basement apartments, group houses near the transit corridors, and older garden apartment complexes in Long Branch and White Oak. The county has roughly 123,000 rental units and about 55 percent of them predate 1980, which is the pool Maryland’s lead law regulates, and Silver Spring holds one of the largest slices of it.
For tenants and buyers, the practical risk in this housing era is concentrated in a few places: original double-hung windows whose friction surfaces grind paint into dust, painted radiators, porch and railing systems, and basement window wells. Post-war builders used lead paint heavily on trim and exterior surfaces even as wall paints shifted. A 1950s Four Corners colonial with its original windows almost always tests positive somewhere; the question that matters is whether the paint is intact and whether the dust standards are met, which is what the inspection actually measures.
For landlords, Silver Spring turnover is constant, and every change of occupancy in a pre-1978 unit triggers the inspection and certificate cycle. We schedule around tenancy dates, coordinate the accredited crew and the independent clearance testing, and get the certificate into your hands before the new lease starts. Nearby, we do the same work across the border in Takoma Park and up the pike in Wheaton, and the cost page publishes the ranges no local competitor will put in writing.
Areas we cover around Silver Spring
Downtown Silver Spring · Four Corners · Long Branch · White Oak · Woodside, and the blocks between. ZIP codes 20901, 20902, 20903, 20904, 20910. Pricing for every treatment is on our cost guide, and the rental certificate cycle is explained step by step on the landlord page.
Basement apartments are the quiet compliance trap in Silver Spring: they count as rental units under the law like any other, and their window wells and old utility-room paint fail inspections at a high rate. If you rent a basement unit in a pre-1978 house, the certificate requirement applies to you.
Silver Spring lead paint questions, answered
I rent out a 1950s Silver Spring colonial. What fails inspection most often?
Original windows first, by a wide margin: friction surfaces and deteriorated sash paint. After that, chipped trim on stairs and door jambs, painted porch elements, and basement areas. Fixing the specific failures, not gutting the house, is what the Modified Risk Reduction standard requires.
How fast can a turnover inspection and fix happen between tenants?
The inspection itself is quick to schedule. If the unit passes, you are done. If paint hazards are found, component-level work on a typical colonial usually runs a few days, then clearance dust testing takes a lab turnaround. Plan for one to three weeks between tenants for a unit with known issues; less once a unit has been brought up to standard.
Do garden apartment units follow the same rules as houses?
Yes. Every pre-1978 rental unit in Maryland is covered individually, whether it is a single-family house, a basement apartment, or one unit in a 200-unit complex. Larger owners often put whole buildings on a compliance schedule, which prices meaningfully better per unit than one-off calls.
What does the typical compliance job cost here?
The bulk of Silver Spring turnover work lands between $2,500 and $6,000: window treatments on several openings, targeted trim repair, cleanup, and clearance testing. Full window replacement across a whole house, or full-interior abatement, costs more and is quoted room by room. Every range is published on our cost page.
My tenant is worried about lead dust with kids in the house. What is the right move?
Take it seriously and test: a dust wipe screening is inexpensive and gives an objective answer against the state standards. If levels are elevated, Maryland gives tenants real remedies and gives you a defined path to fix it with accredited workers. Getting ahead of it is cheaper than a rent escrow case.
What would your Silver Spring property need?
Testing first, written quote after. No obligation.
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