Lead Paint Removal SNAFU & Warnings
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Certification & Training for Lead Paint Abatement, Cleanup, or Removal Workers & Companies
Warnings about un-trained asbestos cleanup workers
Lack of training or job supervision result in improper asbestos, lead, mold and similar contamination removal efforts
Basic Safety advice for lead paint removal on buildings
Comparison of the relative safety of different lead paint removal methods

Lead paint removal / abatement warning and case report: this article warns about un-supervised or un-trained environmental cleanup companies or work crews handling asbestos, lead, mold, and similar indoor contaminants, including identification of amateur or improper asbestos "abatement" projects that failed to properly remove materials or that left abandoned asbestos materials in place.

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Lead Paint Cleanup Troubles - "... the lead paint dust was everywhere!"

Readers should see PAINT FALURE, DIAGNOSIS, CURE, PREVENTION - in depth information on paint failure cause, cure, prevention at this website, Also see LEAD PAINT REMOVAL ALTERNATIVES and see LEAD POISONING HAZARDS GUIDE.

Question: Who Should I Use for Cleaning Up Lead Paint Dust Left by My Contractor?

You’re going to love this one. (maybe not). We were getting the exterior of our house painted. Since we have young kids (8 and 10), I thought I was careful to choose a painter only after discussing with the painter to discuss how they dealt with lead.

Our house painters seemed to do a good job (removing paint under a tarp to contain the lead, etc) until I went into our garage and noticed a white dust coating over everything and also found their mask, lights, tarp, etc next to my kids bikes! I tested contents throughout the garage and it’s a hot zone. The lead paint dust was everywhere and we had lots of items stored all over the garage.

The good part is the vendor is taking ownership. He would like to remove everything from the garage, wipe the articles down and box them, and then power wash the garage. (even the overhead electric door opener probably has dust on it.) I’m wondering whether it’s better to vacuum everything first (contents and entire garage, then wash down)and with a $500 HEPA lead specific vac vs just using a Shop Vac with HEPA filter. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Maybe there’s a business for inspectors who will check the premises for lead during and after a paint job. Maybe I need to hire someone watching the painters next time? We have drains in the garage and driveway. Theoretically, we could filter the water where it drains. Easy to say. I think the ultimate challenge will be to determine after the clean up whether it's really clean. How do I know whoever will wipe every bottle, toy,even fire wood? It's such a mess. Thanks - GK October 2010

Reply: A qualified professional company with expert supervision should be used for any environmental cleanup

Our OPINION about this lead dust containment mistake is below:

It sounds like a mistake to power wash the lead-paint-dusted garage interior:
- By power-washing the garage interior and simply allowing the wash-out to flow outdoors, you'll just be moving the contamination to the outdoor yard soil where your children play, to the street and as the wash dries, to air, and to neighbors, or the storm drain system
- Power-washing the garage interior, assuming some surfaces are insulated or covered with drywall, risks driving water into building cavities, creating a mold problem
- That approach certainly won't properly clean all of the items that are stored in the garage and are or may be contaminated with high levels of lead paint dust and debris.
It sounds questionable to have a lead dust contamination cleanup done by a contractor or their crew who, from having created the problem in the first place, appear not properly trained.
It sounds reasonable to HEPA vac and wipe all surfaces - that's part of what a lead abatement co would do, but they'd also probably have already set up a barrier between the garage and rest of the home.

Therefore you should be using a professional, trained, supervised lead paint or contaminated dust environmental cleanup company to handle this cleanup job. It's too bad, and surely an accident, but the lack of training or attention by the painter appears to have unavoidably increased the cost of this renovation job.

Readers should also see LEAD PAINT REMOVAL ALTERNATIVES.

Watch out for environmental testing and cleanup that are not performed by qualified experts. Details & examples of what can go wrong are at ASBESTOS REMOVAL, Amateur, Incomplete and Asbestos Removal, Certification.

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LEAD PAINT REMOVAL ALTERNATIVES
LEAD PAINT REMOVAL TROUBLES

PAINT & STAIN GUIDE, EXTERIOR
PAINT & STAIN LIFE CHART
PAINT FALURE, DIAGNOSIS, CURE, PREVENTION
PAINT FAILURE CHECKLIST
PAINTING MISTAKES
PAINT FAILURE DICTIONARY
PAINT FAILURE ANALYSIS LAB PHOTOS
Paint Failure Case Photographs-SITE
Paint Failure Case Photographs-LAB
PAINT LAB SAMPLE PREPARATION
PAINT SURFACE PREPARATION

3/07: thanks to Gary Randolph, Ounce of Prevention Home Inspection, LLC Buffalo, NY, for attentive reading and editing suggestions. Mr. Randolph can be reached in Buffalo, NY, at (716) 636-3865 or email: gary@ouncehome.com
06/07: thanks for photographs of transite asbestos heating ducts, courtesy of Thomas Hauswirth, Managing Member of Beacon Fine Home Inspections, LLC and (in 2007) Vice President, Connecticut Association of Home Inspectors Ph. 860-526-3355 Fax 860-526-2942 beaconinspections@sbcglobal.net
Thanks to reader GK October 2010 for discussing incompetent lead paint removal, lead paint dust contamination left indoors by the painting contractor, and how to clean up the lead paint dust mess.
Asbestos regulations for Ontario are published under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and are in Ontario Regulation 278/05 Web search 11/4/2010, original source: http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/regs/english/elaws_regs_050278_e.htm
"Lead Poisoning Update", The Old House Journal, 1983
Exterior Paint Problems on Historic Woodwork [Copy on file as /exterior/Preservation_Brief_10_ Exterior_Paint_Problems_on_Historic_Woodwork.pdf ] - , Kay D. Weeks and David W. Look, AIA, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Parks Service Preservation Brief No. 10. Web search 02/01/2011, original source: http://www.nps.gov/hps/tps/briefs/brief10.htm
Methods for Removal of Lead Paint from Steel Structures, Technical Report REMR-EM-08, Lloyd Smith, Corrosion Control Consultants & Labs, Inc., Kentwood MI, Alfred Beitelman, US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL, US Army Corps of Engineers, 1994, Department of the Army, US Army Corps of Engineers, Washington DC 20314. Websearch 02/01/2011, original source: http://www.cecer.army.mil/techreports/beit_led/BEIT_LED.RPT.post.PDF
National Bureau of Standards lead paint hazards report NBSIR-75-974 [Abstract]. Demonstration of experimental lead paint hazard abatement methods in Atlanta, Georgia final, Dept. of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards, Institute for Applied Technology ; Springfield, Va. : for sale by the National Technical Information Service, 1978, OCLC # 04094947, at OCSPP Chemical Library/Washington,DC
PAINT FALURE, DIAGNOSIS, CURE, PREVENTION - in depth at this website

Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair

Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore. Also see our Book Reviews - InspectAPedia.
US CPSC Document #426 "How to Protect Your Family from Lead in the Home" with additional information and annotations
"Standard Operating Procedure for Determining Lead (Pb) and Its Availability in Children's Metal Jewelry", US CPSC, 2/3/2005
"Displaced Gypsies at Risk from Lead in Kosovo Camps," Nicholas Wood, New York Times, 5 February 2006 p5.
Lead in Drinking Water: Advice
Tests for Lead Contamination in Water
Lead in Drinking Water - Testing Problems/Advice
How to Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home U.S. CPSC publication with additional links and resource references
Lead Hazards in buildings, Dust, Paint, Water: General Advice, Testing Procedures, Illnesses with additional links and resource references for Lead Hazards
Lead Testing & Correcting Contamination from Lead Water Supply Lines/Entry Mains - Lead Pipe Problems/Advice
Extreme Lead Poisoning Symptoms Suggested by Feb 2006 NY Times Article on Kosovo Roma Camps
"Dally No Longer, Get the Lead Out," Jane Brody, The New York Times," 17 January 2006 p. F6. This is a good article for summarizing the lead issue.
SOP for Determining Lead (Pb) and And Its Availability in Children's Jewelry
Toy Industry Policy on Lead in Toys, International Council of Toy Industries, October 8, 1997
"The voluntary standard established in the United States under ASTM F-963 and the European standard under EN-71 for soluble lead in toys (lead which may migrate from the toy and be ingested by the child) is 90 parts-per-million. At that level, any intentional use of lead in paints or other surface coatings containing lead would immediately put the toy over the permitted limit."

"Under federal law, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) enforces a standard for total lead of 600 ppm. Recently, the CPSC refused to lower the lead limit in paint and other similar surface coating materials to 100 ppm after finding that most paints sold in the United States were already at or below that level and, therefore, these materials did not present an unreasonable risk of injury warranting further government regulation."
Environmental Hazard Testing, Effects, Remedies, Prevention our main Enviro-Haz Web Page
Appropriate Methods for Reducing Lead-Paint Hazards in Historic Housing, Sharon C. Park, AIA, and Douglas C. Hicks, U.S. National Park Service.
"Report on the National Survey of Lead-Based Paint in Housing," - Executive Summary - U.S. EPA, April, 1995 (EPA 747-R-95-003). An Executive Summary of this report is provided in this web page below. The Full report is at this (large) pdf file.
Using X-ray fluorescence for analysis of lead in paint and applicability of other agencies lead levels OSHA, 03/01/1999 - this is an important document because OSHA does not accept XRF for analysis of lead exposure in the workplace.
"The lead-in-construction standard was intended to apply to any detectable concentration of lead in paint, as even small concentrations of lead can result in unacceptable employee exposures depending upon on the method of removal and other workplace conditions. Since these conditions can vary greatly, the lead-in-construction standard was written to require exposure monitoring or the use of historical or objective data to ensure that employee exposures do not exceed the action level. Historical data may be applied to all construction tasks involving lead. Objective data was intended to apply to all tasks other than those listed under paragraph (d)(2) of the standard.

"OSHA does not consider X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to be an acceptable method of analysis. As stated in your letter, XRF analyzers are generally considered accurate when concentrations of lead in paint exceed 1 mg/cm�. For the purposes of occupational health, these levels are considered substantial and may easily present an exposure hazard. Without having conducted monitoring, or without the benefit of historical or objective data, the employer has no assurance of the employee's exposure. "

"Other regulatory agencies, such as Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) have designated levels of lead in paint below which they consider the paint to be non-lead containing. The missions of these agencies differ from OSHA's, and for that reason, OSHA cannot recognize these levels as safe under workplace situations"

We recommend reviewing this position letter from OSHA. -- DF
How to Identify Lead Paint Hazards, Maryland Department of the Environment, outlines when a lead inspection is necessary, who can perform a lead inspection, and the types of analysis used for lead inspections and testing. Maryland DOE includes suggestions for do-it-yourself lead paint testing using paint chips or scrapings. If you follow this approach be sure your samples accurately represent conditions at the whole building, inside and out -- DF.
Sample XRF Lead Survey Report, "Lead Paint Inspection and Visual Assessment Single Family Dwelling, Murdock & Assoc., Mattoon, IL.

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Lead Paint Cleanup Troubles - "... the lead paint dust was everywhere!"

Question: Who Should I Use for Cleaning Up Lead Paint Dust Left by My Contractor?

Reply: A qualified professional company with expert supervision should be used for any environmental cleanup

Questions & Answers regarding this article

Ask a Question or Search InspectAPedia

Technical Reviewers & References

Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair

Lead Paint Removal SNAFU & Warnings
InspectAPedia^® -