Exterior paint costs in Baltimore

The typical home in the Baltimore metro was built in 1976. That's two years before the federal ban on lead house paint. Over half the housing is pre-1980, and roughly one house in seven was standing before 1940. EPA says about three in four U.S. homes built before 1978 still have some lead-based paint somewhere.

That changes how a paint job runs here. Anyone you pay to scrape or sand paint on a pre-1978 house has to be EPA-certified and follow lead-safe practices that keep the dust contained and cleaned up. On a rowhouse, that might mean the cornice, the window trim and the back porch. It takes longer than a quick scrape-and-paint.

Cold sets the calendar. BWI dips below freezing on about 93 nights a year, two-thirds of them between December and February, and Benjamin Moore plans exterior painting for days of 35°F and up. Most of the work happens from spring to fall.

If you rent the house out, Maryland adds its own layer. The state's Department of the Environment requires owners of rental homes built before 1978 to register them, renew every year and provide a valid lead inspection certificate at each tenant turnover, unless the home is certified lead-free. A repaint is a good time to get those papers in order.