Home Remodeling Inspections
Home Remodeling? Read This First
If your house was built before 1978, you must take extra precautions when renovating, remodeling, or painting the interior or exterior of your home. These activities can disturb lead paint and release lead dust into the air which can fall onto your floors and window sills. Unlike asbestos that floats for a long time, lead dust sinks and falls on the floor, or whatever is around the floor.
Why Are Home Remodeling Inspections Important?
Lead-based paint can lead to serious negative effects on your family’s health. Babies can easily crawl around and pick up lead dust if it is not properly contained. To determine if lead paint is present in your home, the EPA requires a certified inspector perform the assessment.
How We Can Help
Home Remodeling Inspections
One Source Environmental is committed to protecting you and your family. You can begin your renovation worry free knowing our inspections are thorough and accurate. Of course you want your family to be happy and healthy. That’s why you wash your hands and clean your vegetables when cooking. But risks can come from places you never even thought to look. Many families in homes built before 1978 don’t realize the paint on their walls could be hazardous to their family.
Dust from lead-based paint can become disturbed during the renovation process and fall on furniture and the floor. Children often play on the floor and can get lead paint dust on their hands. The toxic substance can be ingested causing serious health risks – especially for those aged six or younger.
If lead-based paint (LBP)t is present when renovations, remodeling or painting begin, the risks of complications are increased. We want to help provide you with peace of mind. Our inspectors can quickly determine if lead paint is present in your home.
If you hire a contractor to work in your home, make sure that they have a renovate, paint, and repair license from the state or the EPA.
Renovate Repair Paint Rule 2010
Common renovation activities like sanding, cutting, and demolition can create hazardous lead dust and chips by disturbing lead-based paint, which can be harmful to adults and children.
To protect against this risk, on April 22, 2008, EPA issued a rule requiring the use of lead-safe practices and other actions aimed at preventing lead poisoning. Under the rule, beginning April 22, 2010, contractors performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in homes, child care facilities, and schools built before 1978 must be certified and must follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination.
Under the rule, child-occupied facilities are defined as residential, public or commercial buildings where children under age six are present on a regular basis. The requirements apply to renovation, repair or painting activities. The rule does not apply to minor maintenance or repair activities where less than six square feet of lead-based paint is disturbed in a room or where less then 20 square feet of lead-based paint is disturbed on the exterior. Window replacement is not minor maintenance or repair.
Among the states where One Source Environmental provides lead paint inspection services, North Carolina and Mississippi have their own RRP programs, while other states have decided to let EPA regulate these regulations.
North Carolina has a regulation that went into effect in 2010 that states that a person cannot work on a house built prior to 1978 unless they are a renovate and paint licensed individual. This prevents unqualified individuals from unknowingly disturbing lead-based paint. Find out how to get certified.
If you are in North Carolina, the following website discusses this state’s regulations:
http://epi.publichealth.nc.gov/lead/lhmp.html
In Mississippi, this website has information pertaining to that state:
http://www.deq.state.ms.us/MDEQ.nsf/page/Air_Lead-BasedPaint
EPA gives their regulations at this webpage:
http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovation.htm