Pressure washing in Bucks County, PA: Levittown-era houses, lead paint and complaints
Updated · KeystoneProGuide editorial team
What should Bucks County homeowners know before a pressure wash?
Most Bucks County houses fall in the age band where lead paint is a real question. The Census Bureau estimates that only 9.9 percent of the county's 257,260 housing units were first built in 1939 or earlier, against 25.0 percent statewide, and only 5.7 percent since 2010. The rest, a large majority, date from the decades in between. The federal lead paint rule turns on one year inside that span, 1978, which is why it is the first thing to settle before anyone sprays painted siding or trim here.
Why does a 1950s Levittown house raise the lead question?
Because it was built well before the 1978 ban on lead paint for homes. According to the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, slightly more than 17,300 houses were built in Levittown between 1952 and 1958, across Bristol, Falls and Middletown Townships and Tullytown Borough. Every one pre-dates 1978.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says about three-quarters of U.S. homes built before 1978 still contain some lead-based paint, and that the older the home, the more likely it is. It does not say whether any given house has it. For a Levittown house with original painted surfaces, the EPA's advice is to have them tested by a certified inspector or risk assessor, or to assume lead-based paint is present if you cannot be sure.
What does that mean for the company you hire?
If a company will be paid to wash painted surfaces on a pre-1978 Bucks County house, the EPA requires it to be certified in lead-safe work practices. The EPA's archived answer on washing says the work must be contained so that no dust or debris, including what runs off in the waste water, leaves the work area. That is worth asking about by name in Lower Bucks, where the Levittown houses stand.
Washing vinyl over old wood is a different case, since the vinyl itself is not painted. The siding industry's association, PEPA, says some siding makers do not recommend power washing at all and others limit the pressure, so ask the company what your siding's maker allows.
Does it matter that most Bucks County homes are owner-occupied?
It does for the lead rule. The Census Bureau puts owner occupancy at 77.8 percent of the county's 249,187 occupied homes, against 69.3 percent for Pennsylvania as a whole. The EPA's rule generally does not apply to an owner washing their own house, but it does apply to anyone who rents out all or part of a pre-1978 home, and to the firms they hire. With 22.2 percent of occupied Bucks homes rented, that covers a good number of landlords.
Where does the wash water go in Bucks County?
That depends on which of the county's municipalities you live in. Penn State Extension explains that storm sewers in Pennsylvania's urbanized areas carry water to local streams without treatment, and that each municipality in the state program must find and stop discharges of anything other than stormwater. A Levittown resident, for example, could be under any of four municipalities' rules. Ask the township or borough office, and ask the company where its water will go, particularly when the job involves old paint.
How do you check a contractor in Bucks County?
Start with the state. The Attorney General's contractor search can be filtered to Bucks County and to the work type "Pressure Washing", though the page warns that type-of-work data is still limited. What Pennsylvania requires explains why registration for washing alone is not clear-cut.
Then use the county. Bucks County Consumer Protection/Weights and Measures mediates consumer complaints against businesses, whether or not the business is based in the county, and coordinates with enforcement agencies when a case may be criminal. Its list of problems includes false statements that services or repairs are needed and incomplete or unsatisfactory home repairs, and it takes complaints online or by mail.
What will it cost here?
No survey publishes a Bucks County price. The national ranges, including how height and square footage move the total, are in the cost guide. Businesses that serve the county are listed on the Bucks County pressure washing page.
Sources
- 2020-2024 ACS 5-Year Narrative Profile: Bucks County, Pennsylvania, U.S. Census Bureau
- 2020-2024 ACS 5-Year Narrative Profile: Pennsylvania, U.S. Census Bureau
- Levittowns (Pennsylvania and New Jersey), Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia
- Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Lead-Safe Renovations for DIYers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- How do RRP requirements apply to pressure washing? What containment and other preparation are required?, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (January 2025 archived copy)
- Home Improvement Contractor Search, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
- Consumer Protection/ Weights & Measures, Bucks County
- What is an MS4?, Penn State Extension
- How to Clean Vinyl Siding, Polymeric Exterior Products Association (PEPA)