Damn the babymaking!

[judecorp]

So the apartment was really cute, the backyard was wonderful, the landlord was totally nice and chill, and the downstairs chick that we met was wicked awesome!

So what's the catch?
It's not deleaded.

Eff Dash Dash Dash. Back to the drawing board.

Comments

[sassywoman.livejournal.com]

Crap! That sucks the big one!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'm debating looking into hiring a lead inspector to make me feel better. But I don't know what the landlord would think of that.

[ktmcda.livejournal.com]

I think lead is not such a big problem unless paint is peeling, or getting scraped like on windows. I realize you know a lot about this due to your job. But it isn't quite as scary as it seemed when I was pregnant.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

The paint on the outside of the house itself, and the porch, was very noticably peeling. And some of the walls inside had some cracks/chips in them that made me nervous. And the windows had recently been replaced (plus) which could have unsettled some other things (minus).

I mean, to ease our minds we /could/ look into hiring an inspector to let us know if there's any danger there, but I am not even sure what the cost of that would be or even if the landlord would go for that.

But I don't know if that's a heck of a lot of time/money/effort for an apartment, you know? Argh. So complicated.

[eight.livejournal.com]

Clearly I'm no authority on this but

when I was looking at an apartment in WMA that wasn't deleaded, my dad said: "So? Don't eat the paint."

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

That's fine as long as all of the paint/structures in the apartment/house are in good condition (no chips, peels, signs that the paint is deteriorating). This house was majorly peeling on the outside (no idea if it's lead paint on the outside - the landlord says, "I'm sure there's some all over, but it's probably been covered up over the years") with a decent amount of cracking on the inside.

*shrug* We're just not sure we want to risk it.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

Hey ... look ... it's *me* stalking *your* livejournal.

I will say that the landlord in question is not one to worry about aesthetics, yanno? Like, you saw his totally minimalist apartment! This is probably why the outside of the house is peely and otherwise not living up to its full potential. Mandy & I don't really care, because who the hell looks at the *outside* of the house all that often, right? I will say that he's been really great/proactive about fixing and upgrading functional aspects of the house. We came in the other day and we had a new toilet because he had notice a slight leak down to the basement.

I don't even know what I'm saying here except that our landlord is mega-laid-back (a plus sometimes) but also explains why his own apartment is so lackluster.

I think unfortunately here form and function meet ... like in your case, peeling paint = major danger whereas for non-babymaking peeps it might be a minor inconvenience.

I don't know what his ultimate feelings on the issue are but his number is 617-669-0909. You could certainly give him a "Hey we liked the place and were wondering if you were open to having a lead inspector come in ..." conversation.

In any event -- keep in touch. I'd love to invite you two to cranium parties :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Hey, Fanilow. :)

You know, I really appreciate you giving me the landlord's phone number, but I thought a lot about this last night and it's really not appropriate for him to have an inspector come or think about his paint just because WE'RE trying to get knocked up. I mean, it's totally his prerogative not to have a deleaded place, and at a different point in our lives, it would have been totally fine. Just not now. And that's cool.

I don't begrudge him his aesthetics or his peeling paint. It's all fine! It just makes me nervous with the baby stuff.

It's a bummer because we LOVE the place and we ADORE you, but really, his place is totally fine the way it is, and it's /us/ that don't fit. Yanno? I don't personally care about the LOOK of the paint or the cracks, just that there might be potentially hazardous dust coming out of them. That's all.

But I don't want to intrude on your landlord, because he was really an awesome guy.

[gimmeapony.livejournal.com]

Little kids and babies (of which Jen and Jude are trying to make) don't listen to good advice like that, though. ;)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Older kids don't listen to advice either. DAMN THOSE MEDDLING KIDS!

[quinniepants.livejournal.com]

i was thinking the same thing. jude, you really should be over your paint-eating phase by now. i mean, maybe it shouldn't have started in the first place. it's kind of a turn-off.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Oh come on, your mom totally loved it when I ate paint chips.

[quinniepants.livejournal.com]

not as much as your mom loved it when i ate her paint chips. and by paint chips, i mean tang.

i really enjoy our conversations. hee!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Can we get off of mothers? I just got off of yours.

[quinniepants.livejournal.com]

ohhhh dayum!! the winner is you!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I rule!

[changinglight.livejournal.com]

that completely sucks

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Find us a new one! :)

[changinglight.livejournal.com]

yes, ma'am :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Awesome. That was easy! :)

[ladyoracle.livejournal.com]

I had to read your replies before I figured out that "deleaded" was about lead in paint. At first I was thinking "deleted," and it was a misspelling, but that didn't make sense.

As a non-babymaker, I have no idea about that kind of thing, but I think since you all are going to all this trouble to have a child together, precaution just makes sense.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Yes, lead paint. Since this is an old area and most of the houses were built in the early 1900s (or earlier sometimes), they are definitely in the realm of lead paint (which CAN cover any house built before 1978 but usually before 1950ish). It's a bit of a hassle to de-lead an apartment and needs to be done by professionals, and it's not a requirement for landlords to do it - they just need to let prospective tenants know it isn't de-leaded and decide for themselves.

If we weren't making a baby, it wouldn't be an issue at all. But considering how many other obstacles are in this whole process, the last thing I want to do is add some other complication or risk. I've worked with too many kids with lead poisoning.