Lead safety during renovation archived

No.

Elevated blood lead levels can be especially dangerous in very young children. If you knew there was lead paint on the walls, you should have had it removed by a certified expert in lead paint removal. It also would have been a good idea to cover the air vents in the room being demolished (not just close them) and turn off the air system. By keeping the air system on, you have likely contaminated the entire house. Doing the remediation you risk assessor suggests sounds prudent, not alarmist, to me. I would also notify your pediatrician about the potential lead expose your young child may have had and arrange to have the child's blood lead levels checked at the appropriate time.

Good luck.

Oh boy. We had the exact same thing happen to us. Long, long story short. We were out of our house for two months and the painter's insurance co. had to pay for around $20k in remediation (including our alternative housing).

Your son is at the worst possible age for lead poisoning because he's most likely crawling and putting everything in his mouth.

In Oregon, our painter was licensed and bonded, never told us that they would be doing any sanding and should have given us State mandated brochures about lead risks. There are rules of thumb when working with any hazardous materials such as lead and asbestos (creating negative air flow, sealing central air vents, turning off a/c systems etc.). Our painter did none of this because he let his 20 year old son do the job while we were out of the house. FYI - Our lead level was 80 times the allowed limit all through the 1st floor and basement playroom. We did exactly what your assessor mentioned above (hepa/tsp) and had to throw a ton of stuff out (like stuffed animals). We also had the kids lead levels benchmarked before we moved back in and then a few months later (I can't remember exactly how many months later - per our pediatrician).

You might want to call the State to find out what your contractor was required to do.

Feel free to whisper if you need any more info.

I would love to know how the "lead assessor" knew there was lead dust all over without taking samples and testing them. Lead dust looks like any other dust. I hate to be cynical, but is the guy also in the lead abatement business?

Did the contractor sand the window molding or just remove it? The same with the wall that you think had lead paint?

I don't want to minimize the situation and agree with Joan that leaving the AC on wasn't really smart on your part, however, have your son tested and baseline his lead level and wait for the lead test before letting panic set in.

Even with my post above, I would agree w/bobk not to panic. Our lead came from fine sanding of paint down to the wood for hours - we had a visible layer of dust all over. We had samples taken from all over the house and they did come back with different levels to the point where we weren't concerned with the 2nd level that had been sealed off.

You can buy lead test kits at Home Depot and use them around your house. Just something you might try first to see where you have it and then after you perform the remediation that was suggested by the assessor. It's an economical first step before having a professional abater come in.

We did the lead detector tests on our walls a few years back before having the house interior painted and they were clear. But we just started a kitchen renovation, literally, last Thursday and I saw this thread and now I'm having my husband test periodically throughout the project. So, thanks for the heads up and Good Luck!

Thanks for the comments. While they have not been reassuring, some have been helpful - especially Oregangal (I am so sorry for your ordeal but I appreciate your advice). We are still waiting for test results from the baby's room. If they come back okay, we will test the rest of the house to see where our areas of concern are. If they come back elevated, we will have to do the recommended cleaning all over the house before returning home. And no matter what, we will have our son tested as recommended by his doctor. Although we may not have gotten smart about this in time to prevent our house from being contaminated, I am thankful that our caution kicked in before bringing our son home to potential exposure. To answer a couple of your questions: Our risk assessor does not do abatement so he does not seem to be acting in his own self interest. He actually recommended that our contractors do the cleaning because they are certified lead contractors. This gives us a little more confidence that our contractors know how to handle this issue. I doubt the workers did any sanding. They would have had no reason to. However, they demolished a plaster wall that had lead paint on it, so I'm sure lead dust was released. The question is the extent to which it was contained.

Lastly - a comment for Kriss: The EPA website specifically states that you should not trust those do-it-yourself lead test kits to determine whether your house is safe because they can be inaccurate. My guess, however, is that if your paint assessment came back clear, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. (Don't take my word for it though, because I am clearly in the midst of a learning process about this stuff.) Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the desks and your renovation continues to go smoothly.

I am posting the EPA's website incase anyone needs more information on this topic:

www.epa.gov/lead

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/public/dohmhnews6-03.pdf

Just an update for anyone who might be interested: The dust test in the baby's room came back clear. (Phew!) We're going to have the rest of the house tested on Friday. In the meantime, our contractors (who, incidentally, have been very cooperative) cleaned the kitchen in the manner described above (hepa/tsp/hepa) to prevent any further spread of lead dust. They pointed out that because the walls are stripped down to the studs, these surfaces are difficult to clean thoroughly. They suggested that if the kitchen fails the dust test, they can spray lead encapsulant paint over the raw surfaces to permanently contain the dust. We also had our air conditioning guys come out to change the filter. They said it was perfectly clean and did not need changing. We found this reassuring as well. (By the way, the contractors also blocked the air ducts in the kitchen and checked the location of air returns before beginning the job . . . As you can see, I like them and don't want their reputation tainted as a result of this in case anyone finds out who they are.) That's all for now. I will sleep a little better tonight.

I would think that demolition of a room down to the studs, while creating a lost of dust in general, wouldn't release nearly as much lead paint dust as sanding lead paint would. During the demolition most of the paint should remain attached to whatever it was sticking to in the first place - plaster, would, etc.

That's all very reassuring. Sounds like you're in capable hands. Sleep well!

Glad you got such good news on the baby's room. Please let us know how the tests go with the rest of the house.

If you follow the link I posted above, you will note that blood lead level testing is now recommended routinely for very young children, whether or not they have been knowingly exposed to lead in their environment.

mkh - glad to hear the baby's room came back clear. Hope everything else does too. Thanks for the info about the lead tests. And yes, the kids LOVE the desks, although we are displaced at the moment.:confused:

Okay, so here's how it has gone. Most of the house is pretty okay. Lead levels were totally undetectable in all of the upstairs rooms and most of the downstairs. They were detectable but below the EPA's threshold for safety (40 micrograms per square foot) in a couple of areas close to the kitchen. They were twice the EPA's standard in one spot close to the kitchen that our cleaning lady missed. (Regular cleaning lady, not a lead-certified person, came to clean before we got wise to all of this.) Lead levels were very high, however, in the kitchen and basement. At the recommendation of our contractor, we got a lead guy involved who is in the process of writing up a plan of action for us to make the house safe for our return. This will include sealing off two doorways to the kitchen so that the kitchen and basement are not accessible from the inside of the house. Entry to the kitchen and basement is through a side door to the house. The contractor is also installing a negative air machine in the kitchen which will suck the kitchen air out of the house and clean it before it is exhausted. This is an extra safeguard against any lead dust getting through cracks and crevices from the kitchen or basement into the rest of the house. The contractor will also have his lead cleaning team come to do some clean-up in the downstairs rooms where we have concerns. We will stay out of the kitchen and basement for the duration of the renovation. At the end of the renovation, the kitchen and basement will be majorly cleaned (Hepa, etc) and the basement floor will be sealed with a clear masonry seal. Those are the highlights. The contractor has been cooperative and we have remained on good terms. My son and I have been out of the house staying with my parents for a month while my husband has been a weeknight bachelor at home. We hope to be home together soon. All in all, it could have been worse but please learn from our mistakes.

Guys I wouldn't put too much faith in those lead paint test kits you can buy at home depot. All they do is test the top layer of paint, they cant tell you what is under it. Unless you are testing a place that has not been painted since before 1978 they are really useless.

If you are going to do any renovations on your home just spend the money and get a test done by a certified lead paint evaluator. Don't take the cheap way out because you'll pay for it in the long run.