DIY Home lead testing

In the News

• March 10, 2026. New study co-led by UW and Boston University reveal color-changing wipes can detect lead in homes. "A team of researchers from UW and Boston University collaborated on a study to validate inexpensive wipes that turn red, orange, or pink when they detect lead in homes and cars. This could make lead screening in homes faster and more accessible for families. [.....] The study, published in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, found that colorimetric wipes can change color when they detect lead. The wipes were produced by SKC Inc., a company dedicated to hygiene and occupational health and safety equipment. They can also reliably identify contaminated surfaces in residential settings. Researchers tested the wipes in nine homes and seven vehicles belonging to Boston-area construction workers who lived with children. Workers in the construction industry can unknowingly bring lead dust home on clothing, shoes or tools. This is known as 'take-home exposure.' ”

• Jun 16, 2025 Denver 7. Get the lead out: Putting new at-home lead testing technology to the test "Denver7 Investigates. Inexpensive, simple tests promise to end lead poisoning, but do they work? Denver7 Investigates tried them out." Video here.  

• December 11, 2024 NYT. I Went Down a Lead-Testing Rabbit Hole. Here’s What You Need to Know About Home Tests. "Unfortunately, if you are curious or concerned about lead being in something you own, most home-testing options are limited. Tests—even those recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency—have been difficult to use, prone to user error, and expensive per test. But what if an instant, easy-to-use, precise, and readily available test existed, one that allowed users to conduct literally hundreds of tests at a much lower cost than traditional methods? I had this question until I came upon a method that produces a neon-green glow when the metal is present." 

• 8 April 2024. The assessment of lead detection methods in Tamil Nadu India and Beyond

• More here from Toledo's Lead Paint Detectives. 

Home lead testing 

Problem statement At risk families can benefit from identifying lead hazards in their homes. The knowledge may:

1. help determine if a professional lead risk assessment is required to assure family safety

2. permit a family to adopt interim controls (eg. regular deep cleaning or isolation of affected lead sources). 

3. substantiate a request to property owner to take corrective measures using lead safe practices.

However, a DIY test is not recognized by the Ohio Department of Health, US EPA or US HUD as a satisfactory clearance test. So a DIY test cannot be used, for example, in support of an application for a lead safe certificate in Cleveland.

Wait, there's more. Once the owner of a pre-1978 property knows that there is a lead hazard in the property, the owner must share that information with a prospective purchaser or renter.  If an owner fails to provide disclosure of known lead hazards, and a child in the unit is poisoned, that owner may be held liable for the personal injury to the child resident.

Owner may take steps to remediate their personal residence, but an owner must use RRP certified professionals to make renovations in a rental property. 

CLASH research with DIY home lead tests

2024-25. CLASH has been in touch LeadDetectives in Toledo about a DIY product that they have been testing as a part of their lead risk assessment business. Anthony Weaver of Lead Paint Detectives reports on his work with Lumetallix.

In May 2023, a CLASH  team reached out to the University of Notre Dame (UND) which has been offering a DIY home lead test kit to families in Indiana. The UND researchers sympathized with our experiences. They were encountering the same kind of hesitancy from recipient families. The UND kit has two advantages over the 3M kit.

• UND uses samples of soil, water, and paint, not just paint, and

• The UND samples must be returned to UND for analysis. 

Downside: the packaging and instructions seem too complicated for home use. CLASH will follow up to determine how kits are being used in Indiana.

2021-22: CLASH distributed 3M Lead Test Kits to at risk households. Note that 3M product described here is no longer being manufactured. In 2021, using funds provided by God Before Guns, CLASH purchased 3M lead test kits that were used in two ways:

1. Volunteer administered testing at Monticello apartments (East 71st and Carnegie) and at two rental properties in Cleveland's Westown neighborhood). In all three of these cases, CLASH volunteers identified lead present in the units and shared the information with the tenants whose homes were tested. In two of these cases, the tenants elected to move from their rental homes without seeking further remediation. In the third case, tenant hired a professional lead risk assessor to confirm the results and reported lead hazards to the Department of Building and Housing before moving from the unit.

2. Distributed lead test kits to families visiting a CLASH information table at a community event. Despite efforts to recontact families who received test kits, CLASH was unable to reach the recipients of the test kits.

3. A CLASH member independently used the 3M lead test kit to determine the extent of lead risk in a house he acquired in the Larchmere area. He determined that it was economically unfeasible to make repairs make the property lead safe. The property was later demolished.

In 2022, CLASH spent another $200 to purchase additional lead test kits for a community event in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood. A CLASH volunteer was trained to brief each family on how to use the test kit, and another volunteer was trained to do follow ups with the recipients. Again we had to report the overall failure to get feedback from the recipient families. Almost invariably they did not answer the phone or respond to emails. On a couple of cases we made unannounced home visit, but couldn’t gain access to the family member who received the DIY kit.

As a result of our experiences in 2021 and 2022, CLASH volunteers have three hypotheses about the repeated failure to get feedback from families who receive DIY test kits.

1. The 3M product is not simple or intitutive to use. In cases where CLASH volunteers used the test kits in homes (Monticello building and individual rental properties with the consent of the tenant), it took us a while to get the hang of using the product. Eventually we used YouTube videos for training on how to use the product properly.

2. The 3M product that we were distributing has a real market value. During the summer of 2022, prices rose by about 50% and there was heavy demand for the product, so that test kits were often unavailable in big box stores. 

3. A third hypothesis is more subtle, but has some anecdotal support from others in the field of lead testing. Families may fearful about reporting known lead hazards either to their family members, their landlords or investigators (like CLASH). One corrobrating support for this hesistancy was when we provided soil test kits (a test tube) to high school students in a 2022 summer program operated by the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition. Despite the simplicity of gathering a soil sample in the test kits, none of the 14 students ever returned a sample (just lots of excuses).

Test two: Distributing University of Notre Dame test kits