For Garland homeowners, Plano Lead Paint Removal plans lead paint removal along with testing, risk assessment, lead-safe remodeling and encapsulation on houses that predate 1978. Two facts shape every Garland job: the year the house was finished and which painted parts the work will touch. Together they tell us whether federal renovation rules or Texas abatement rules govern it.
Garland grew well before Plano did. The census counted 38,501 residents in 1960 and more than 81,000 by 1970, years before Plano reached 72,331 in 1980. Housing followed: of roughly 86,200 Garland homes in the 2020-2024 American Community Survey, 54.8% predate 1980, triple the Plano figure, and one in nine goes back before 1960.
Make a bedroom ready for a new baby without stripping the trim
Testing
Lead paint on the baseboards, the window trim and the door casing; the walls test clear
Surfaces
About 160 sq ft of baseboard and trim that nothing rubs
Method
Loose edges misted and scraped, two coats of a coating made to seal lead paint
Estimated cost
$1,500
In this example, the owners of a 1960s ranch house in Garland are turning a bedroom into a nursery. The baseboard paint has chipped in places, and a test shows lead paint on the baseboards, window trim and door casing, but not on the walls.
Garland's 1950s and 1960s houses carry painted wood where the brick stops: window frames and sills, fascia, soffits, garage doors and porch posts, plus trim and doors inside. On a house this age, peeling exterior trim can shed chips into the soil by the foundation. Our page on remodeling a house with lead paint covers lead-safe work on these surfaces during an update.
Work paid through city programs
Garland's Home Repair Program and its Home Improvement Incentive Program both include exterior paint and window or door work among eligible items. Neither program page mentions lead, yet on a pre-1978 house those jobs disturb old paint. Replacing windows is always covered renovation; lead-safe window and door replacement explains the steps.
Testing and risk assessment
A DSHS-certified inspector finds where lead-based paint is; a certified risk assessor looks at paint condition, dust and bare soil to find where it is a hazard now. For a Garland house with peeling exterior paint and young children, a risk assessment may be the more useful first step. Lead paint testing before remodeling covers testing tied to a planned project.
Full removal or encapsulation
Where paint is failing or the owner wants lead gone, abatement by a DSHS-certified firm removes it or seals it permanently. Sound interior walls and trim can be coated instead. Lead paint encapsulation explains which surfaces suit a coating.
Garland city programs and lead rules
Garland runs two programs that touch older houses, and its federal Action Plan explains how lead fits in. The FY2024-25 Annual Action Plan says federal rules (24 CFR Part 35) require lead hazards to be controlled before rehabilitation, particularly where children under six live, and that the city will conduct the required lead-based paint assessment, based on the federal funds invested, in units built before 1978. The plan expects the Home Repair Program to assist 7 households that year.
Home Repair Program
The program offers a Tier 1 minor emergency repair grant of up to $5,000 for one failed component, for owners 55 or older or with a disability, and a Tier 2 home rehabilitation grant of up to $25,000. Exterior paint and non-working doors and windows are Tier 2 items. Applicants must be at or below 80% of the Dallas County area median income and have owned and lived in the home for a year. Eligibility is decided by the city, not by us.
Home Improvement Incentive Program
This city program rebates 50% of qualifying exterior work, up to $10,000, on single-family homes at least 30 years old with a Dallas Central Appraisal District value of $300,000 or less. Qualifying work includes replacing at least half the windows, exterior doors and repainting the whole house, and the policy requires building permits for windows and doors after the notice to proceed. The policy does not mention lead, but on a pre-1978 house both window replacement and paint prep fall under the EPA renovation rule.
On the 300 and 400 blocks of South 11th Street, the Travis College Hill Historic District is listed in the National Register, with Craftsman bungalows and a period of significance from 1913 to 1960 in the National Park Service record. We have not confirmed whether Garland applies local design review there, so ask the city before exterior changes.
Garland residents searching for lead may find reports of the soil cleanup near the former Globe Union battery plant. In 2021 the EPA began replacing soil along a residential creek corridor running southeast from Shiloh Road, after soil tests showed high levels of lead contamination; the plant made lead-acid batteries from the 1950s until 1995. That is industrial soil contamination, not house paint, and it is outside what we do; questions about it belong with the EPA.
Does Garland test for lead before city-funded repairs?
For federally funded rehabilitation, yes. Garland's FY2024-25 Annual Action Plan says the city will conduct the required lead-based paint assessment, based on the level of federal funds invested, in homes built before 1978. Ask the program staff how that applies to a specific repair.
Do 1960s Garland homes have lead paint?
They may. Any home built before 1978 could have lead-based paint in its original coats, and Garland has about 13,900 homes from the 1960s and 8,300 from the 1950s. Testing the surfaces you plan to disturb, or a risk assessment if paint is peeling, tells you what is actually there.
Is the Globe Union soil cleanup about lead paint?
No. That cleanup addresses lead in soil near a former battery plant, not paint in houses. A pre-1978 Garland home can have lead paint whether or not it is near that site, and testing the house is a separate question from the soil work.
Closer to Plano, Richardson has a large share of 1960s ranch houses and its own remodel incentive; see lead paint removal in Richardson.
Request a free lead paint removal quote
Which Garland street is the house on, and roughly when did it go up? Describe the repair or update, say whether a city program is paying for part of it, and note any children under six in the household. We'll get back to you soon with an estimate or any questions we have. Estimates are free and there's no obligation.
