Our first Lead Containment, Control, and Clean-up Project

As a Certified Renovation Firm, and good servant to our customers, we are proud to understand and perform lead paint-safety procedures in accordance with Federal guidelines.  What follows is a description with a commentary about our first experience renovating in the regulated lead paint environment.

Performed on Friday, July 16^th, 2010, this project saw the replacement of a small glass block window with a fiberglass double-hung replacement window installed in the Master Bathroom, a long room off the Master Bedroom.  The existing window was equipped with one block missing, replaced with an inefficient and insufficiently ventilating aluminum vent. 

Replacing a poorly venting glass block window

Built in 1959 according to county assessor records, this ranch-style single-family brick dwelling is in the south of Denver, and is owned and occupied by a young family of four including two little girls aged seven and five.  On the day of the installation, only the husband was home.  The window was exposed to the protected front porch of the dwelling, and faced north.  The day was hot, dry, and calm (96 degree high, no precipitation). 

I had held a long discussion with the buyer about lead safety prior to receiving the order, during which we decided that Egret would not do testing for the presence of lead in paint, but rather presume its presence and perform a RRP procedure.  Prior to our arrival, the husband had purchased a lead testing kit from Ace Hardware.  We carved away paint at two places, one from the exterior wood brickmould, the other from interior window casing.  Peeling paint from a spot on the wall a couple of feet from the window was also retrieved, and we watched the husband perform three tests with a device consisting of a dropper to introduce drops of water to each of two white pads.  The brickmould and casing samplings were negative.  The plaster side of the peeling sample showed a slight orange-pink tint in a dimpled pattern in a small area in the center of the 2-3 square inch chip, resembling a rash if you will, which he determined to be inconclusive for the presence of lead.  But I wanted to practice our procedures, so we went forward under the presumption of the presence of a sufficient quantity of lead in the paint to warrant the procedures.

We had staffed the job with one Certified Renovator (myself) and one Non-Certified Renovation Worker (Steve, an Egret master technician with over twenty years of window and door installation experience).  Steve and I met prior to commencing the work to review all site prep, containment barriers, worker safety, and clean-up procedures that I would supervise and primarily perform.

            I had shopped for containment and safety materials and spent $155 on disposables, 6-mil plastic, painter and duct tapes, safety tape, signs, testing wipes, cleansers and soaps, rags for cleaning, and the like.  Non-conforming equipment consisted of fabric nose/mouth protectors instead of certified respirators, and a regular vacuum in lieu of a HEPA vacuum.

            Steve laid out the exterior protection and signage, and I instructed the homeowner to stay clear of the bedroom wing of the house.  His wife and he had done a superb job of removing every single movable and personal item from the entirety of the bathroom.  Steve covered the commode, the wall cabinet above it, the countertop and drawer-fronts, and the floor with plastic.  I assisted him with the construction of the temporary door.  We taped a panel to the casing and out onto the bathroom floor, then cut a slit in it, and overlaid a panel to protect the cut.

Preparing the plastic door

            After removing the brickmould and casing, the window and rough sill, we cleaned the area by vacuuming.   The glass block, being framed in small wood jambs, was removed to the exterior, and bagged for disposal.  Vacuuming the entire area followed.  We misted the plastic, and folded it up, and after bagging it, removed it through the window opening to the porch.  From there, I cleaned every surface of the room save the ceiling, using wet cloths and in certain places (the floor primarily) a mild spray detergent.  This cleaning included the mirror, the light bulbs over the mirror (after a cool down period), and the tub area and all wall surfaces.  Important to note here is my wiping of the floor.  While complete, it was more cursory – my efforts were not retarded by the crevices at the walls and across grout lines in the white tile floor, but should have been.  Once the floor was dry, I completed the visual testing procedure using a bright LED hand-held flashlight.  I found but one particle of fuzzy insulation, blown in from the open window opening onto the counter while I had cleaned the floor.  I removed it in a cleaning cloth.

I divided the wet testing into two parts, one for the horizontal counter and tub surfaces, the other for the floor.  There was no window sill – the glass block unit had been set flush to the plaster, and cased in a picture-framed four-sided casing.  Neither test area was close to 40 square feet in area.   Upon comparing the counter test pad to the standard, we passed with flying colors.  The floor failed – the pad had two darkened spots that were similar if not darker than the standard.  I cleaned the floor again, this time encouraging the cleaning cloth into all crevices and joints.  Again dry, I retested the floor, and it passed cleanly.

            Steve returned into the room, and I lifted the window into the opening from the exterior.  He set it, and proceeded to trim its exterior with new brickmould and case its interior as he would normally.  I twisted and folded closed the construction debris and cleaning and testing waste bags, and taped them shut, removing them to the rear of my enclosed van.

5 bags of window and lead safety debris for one window!

Les Jones, President, Egret Windows

Postscript – Just the day before we performed this installation, I had a discussion with a friend of mine about lead testing.  Ten weeks ago, he started a testing firm, received his certifications, and purchased an X-ray testing gun.  He intoned that his testing procedures run around $125 to $500 per dwelling.  We will revisit having testing done by him in the future, more particularly in light of his remarks about not finding qualifying lead paint on the interior of homes built later than 1960, and the inconclusive testing performed by our homeowner.

            This day was enlightening for sure.  I’m not convinced that my reading of industry literature claiming costs of $150 per opening for lead safety work is persuasive, yet I know now that the EPA’s estimate of $35 is horribly misleading.  (The ethical divide is interesting:  I always set the customer’s expectations low when it comes to installation timing or the price of a project.  I would rather surprise them with quicker installations and lower prices than they were expecting.  The government does the opposite – everything is to be rosy for the citizenry, I guess.)  We probably exhausted $20 worth of the $155 in disposables, maybe less.  And we were not employing expensive respirators that require filters, or a HEPA vacuum for which filters are expensive, or amortizing a Zip-Wall plastic-wall containment system.

Part of the new EGRET Lead Safety Work Kit

            But the preparation work, the clean-up, the testing and retesting, took more time than we expected.  If you throw in time we spent observing the homeowner’s test (or testing ourselves), discussing the matter at length with the customer in the meeting prior to the order placement, shopping for the materials, even time to prep common areas had we been replacing all of the windows, and heaven forbid, our time spent removing and replacing personal and moveable items had the homeowner not taken on that task, I would have to say that I had badly underestimated the time to be expended.  I didn’t keep a stopwatch on us, but I know I spent three hours total, and Steve spent two.  So $70 for his time, and mine?  Opportunity cost being what it is?  If he could have done it all without me, in say just two hours, we’re at $90 for a single window job.  Had we the additional testing for lead or personal prep and replacement time I just mentioned for which we could add one hour, the total moves to $125.

We have one more “free to the homeowner because we’re getting our feet wet” opportunity coming up next month.  We’ll be installing two double-hung windows in a home built in 1902.  Perhaps we’ll learn more there.

Location:

Littleton

Product Series:

Milgard Ultra Fiberglass