Lead Paint

Here's a serious topic that I hope everyone who owns a house built before 1978 or does any work on a house built before 1978 will read. In April of 2010, North Carolina adopted the new rules created by the EPA concerning renovations and painting of houses containing leap based paint.
If you want to read up on all the rules on this new requirement, just Google something like North Carolina Lead paint. You will find lots of sites discussing this subject, including the EPA and the North Carolina government site regulating this requirement.

Here are the basic requirements: Anyone responsible for renovations or painting on a house built before 1978 and disturbs an area of more than 6 square feet, or replaces a door or window, shall be certified and licensed by the state as a lead renovator. This includes general contractors, repairmen, painters, plumbers, electricians, heating and air companies, and landlords.

About 24% of houses built between 1960 and 1978 contain lead paint. It may be possible to test these houses in the areas being renovated, and determine that they do not contain lead, but this can only be done by the certified renovator. 69% of houses built between 1940 and 1960 contain lead, and 87% of homes built before 1940 contain lead. Essentially, you can assume that any renovation in a house built before 1960 will disturb lead paint and the renovations will need to be carried out in accordance with EPA regulations. The renovator is required to present the home owner with a pamphlet Entitled "Renovate Right" Which outlines the hazards of lead dust, and requires a sign off by the home owner.

The EPA estimates that the additional average repair cost will increase by about $45.00. This is insanely wrong. As a general contractor, I have performed many renovations in older homes that with these new regulations would have added thousands of dollars to the cost of the project.

The requirements require that lead paint be handled with about the same amount of caution as asbestos. The areas being renovated are to be completely isolated from the other parts of the home. An extensive cleanup is to be performed at the end of each day, with a wipe down test to be done only by the licensed individual, and if it fails, the cleanup is to be repeated. All debris is to be bagged and sealed. All dust shall be collected with hepa vacuums. These rules also involve OSHA in that complete worker protection must be provided. (Suits, masks, etc.)

The fines for noncompliance can be staggering. The EPA looks at sins of omission versus sins of co mission. If a renovator performs work and ignores the rules, or if the homeowner chooses to knowingly hire someone that is not licensed, the fines can be up to $32,500.00 per day. If a licensed renovator performs the work in good faith, but fails to meet all the requirements, the fines might be less. In addition, the homeowner might be subject to lawsuit by his neighbors for failing to properly protect them.

The EPA is right now relying on other homeowners and licensed renovators to rat out the violators. Consider what might happen if you get a price from three renovators and you award the job to the least expensive one and he does not carry out the proper requirements. Would you be surprised if one of the other renovators or painters with the proper license turned you in?

I am both a general contractor and an owner of a home built in 1922. I do over half my work in homes built before 1978. I've taken the course, and have been certified, but I have not yet applied for my license. I'm not sure that I will apply. I'm a sole proprietor, at the very least, I will need to incorporate to protect my assets from fines or lawsuits. I only have one employee, and the two of us would be hard put to get any actual work done, and perform the proper set up and clean up required each day. In addition, I, without question, will be competing against unlicensed renovators. Will I turn them in to protect my share of the business? Right now, after six months of the requirements implementation, and over a year of notification, there are less than ten licensed renovators in the county.

On the other side of the coin, what will happen to the value of my house, where most of my assets lie, after these regulations have been in effect for five or ten years, and people have become aware of the increased cost of owning an older home, and potential homeowners have been scared by the supposed dangers of lead in there homes.

I don't even believe that the regulations will protect the children they were designed for. Houses, and especially rental properties, will be allowed to deteriorate because of the increased cost to renovate. The paint will chip, and the kids will eat it.

I can only hope that home owners and renovators will become incensed over these rules, and demand repeal. I hope you all will read this and tell your friends and neighbors about it. Most people that I talk to about these regulations, both homeowners and renovators, seem unconcerned, but believe me, this is a disaster in the making.