Houses built in the 1920’s are beautiful and exude their own charm but the first thing you have to do after you have purchased these old houses is to make sure that you are not going to have problems with the plumbing system, electrical wiring, etc. This is because if you live in a home or an apartment that was built during this time period, there is a good chance that the pipes in your home and apartment were soldered with lead. This is important especially when you consider the fact that tap water is the second among the most common sources of lead poisoning in children and adults, after lead paint in toys, of course. If your home has lead pipes, the water is contaminated as it passes through the pipes and down your faucet.

Apartments and houses built before the 1920’s have lead pipes for their water mains and used lead solder to connect the lead pipes to copper ones that were built during the 1950’s to 1980’s. So prior to drinking a glass of water from your faucet, make sure that you are going to have a professional test the water first to be certain that it is safe. It is also better if you ask for recommendations from either close friends or family members regarding professional plumbers that they have done business with in the past. You need to work with a plumber that has been in business for a long time and are highly recommended by their previous clients. You need to be sure that you can trust the professional you are going to entrust the testing of your tap water to. Study your options carefully before you make a decision.

It is important to know though, that water from these pipes, when it has sat for many hours would have higher lead content. If you have not yet tested your tap water or if you have not had the pipes replaced, what you can do is run cold water through the faucet for several minutes so you can be sure that you are not going to drink water that has been sitting inside a lead pipe all night. You need to be sure that you are going to run water in your faucet for a few minutes every morning before you or anyone in your family gets a glass of water to drink or any time so long as the water has sat in the pipe for a number of hours; you are not being wasteful, you simply want to avoid dealing with the problem of you or any or your family getting lead poisoning from drinking tap water.