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Lead Removal http://www.state.ma.us/dph/clpppske.htm to read about the Childhood Lead Poisoning and Prevention Program and to have them mail you everything you ever wanted to read about lead paint and then some... LEAD (from meg) "EXCEPT FOR THOSE LOW-RISK TASKS SPECIFICALLY LISTED IN THIS BOOKLET, ALL DELEADING WORK MUST BE PERFORMED BY A LICENSED DELEADER." The Massachusetts Lead Law requires that homes be deleaded for full compliance or brought under interim control when all of the following apply:
"In the past, the Lead Law and regulation required that all deleading work had to be done by Licensed Deleaders because of the dangers involved in the work. However, it is now clear that some deleading work activities are far less dangerous than others. They are called low-risk deleading work." Of course, there aren't a heck of a lot of low-risk deleading tasks out there - they're limited to removing doors and shutters, and covering surfaces (with aluminum, vinyl, woord, vinyl siding, housewrap, vinyl-backed wallpaper, formica, and so on). When I spoke with the deleading folks a few months ago, they said that encapsulant, i.e. a latex paint that's labeled "encapsulant" & available at Home Despot, would also be considered a lead abatement procedure. There are special rules for using encapsulant, and a FREE HOME VIDEO from the CLPP office on the stuff. FROM AMB: On the other hand, the law (105 CMR 460.000, which they also provided in its entirety) allows no such slack. Still, the policy statement combined with the fact that they also sent me a bunch of booklets on how to safely do my own complex deleading work sends a fairly clear message. Of course this is all so much not legal advice as to not be funny; the only thing any of us (who aren't lawyers) can do is to advise you to see a lawyer. :-) Make sure to find a good one. Most lawyers are just as clueless as you are when you get off the beaten track, and there's no substitute for reading the law for one's self. I highly recommend chasing down that URL I posted the other day; the state will happily send you everything you ever wanted to know and then some. LOSTHAWK WRITES: Respirators? MEG: LOSTHAWK WRITES: MEG: For example, he showed us how to make window sills pass or fail the encapsulant test at will. The "test" consists of making an x in the paint with a utility knife, rubbing on a special tape (also amde by 3M - hmmmmmm), pulling the tape off, and seeing how much of the tape comes with it. Supposedly, this test will show you whether or not a layer of encapsulant will stick to the old paint. The problem with testing windowsills is that everyone leans on them at, oh, shoulder height, soaking oil into the paint with their hands. If you test at 5' off the ground, the sill fails; if you test 7', it passes. (I accidentally mentioned this fact to the state lead person once, and she was NOT pleased. Ron might be embarrassed if you bring it up.) WSY WRITES: Unless the millwork is of "redeeming social value" (and it often is) don't bother with strippers. Pull off the woodwork and trash it. If it's really nice woodwork, take it to a vat stripper and have them do it. Likewise, pull the radiators and take them to a sandblast/powdercoat shop and have them blasted down to bare metal and powdercoated. Not only will that preserve them as interesting fixtures, but it will look really good AND it will improve their heat transfer characteristics significantly (ten layers of paint does tend to keep the radiators from working effectively.) FROM LORI F: |
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