Lead Paint Inspections, Lead Abatement, and Lead Safe Compliance
In the State of MA, any property that has a child under the age of 6 living there is required by law to have the property tested and brought into lead safe compliance. Check out the link below for all the details about MA Lead Laws.
There’s a ton there so I’m writing this post to hopefully break down the process into 3 simple steps that will help folks understand how it all goes. Note: this article assumes there’s no previous testing history on the property. I’ll go into situations where a property has been tested before in another post.
Step 1: Comprehensive Initial lead Inspection
The first step to bringing a property into lead safe compliance is always a comprehensive initial lead inspection done by a lead inspector licensed in MA. During the inspection, we will test all surfaces in every room of the home as well as the exterior. For units in a multi-unit building, we’ll also test any relevant common areas (hallways, stairways, basement laundry, porches, etc.).
The inspector will use what is called an X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) Analyzer to complete the testing. This machine allows to test any surface in a matter of seconds to determine if there’s any lead in the paint. It can test through multiple layers of paint, typically around 1/4” to 1/2” deep depending on the material that’s painted.
Once the testing is complete, we’re able to generate a comprehensive report of any lead that was found on the property and it also calls out any lead hazards that will need to be abated. We typically have the report over to you the same day (or worst case the next day).
If a property doesn’t have any lead hazards present, we’re able to generate what’s called a Letter of Full Initial Compliance (LOFIC) and you’re effectively done with the process.
Step 2: lead abatement
If lead hazards were present during the initial inspection, then a licensed deleading contractor must come out to do the abatement work and cleanup. There are a few key pieces to the abatement work. These are the containment setup, the abatement/deleading work, and the cleanup. (Please note this is a general overview and not a full account of all things that go into the lead abatement step).
The containment consists of blocking off the area to be abated in order to contain the lead dust that’s inevitably generated when the contractors work on surfaces that are leaded. Some of the things that go into the containment are the following.
Work area will be restricted and all people entering will have on proper PPE (Personal Protection Equipment)
Work area will be covered and sealed (tape) with 6-mil plastic to ensure no lead dust can escape
Covering and sealing any HVAC vents/intakes and making sure the heating/cooling systems are off
Covering with plastic any of the belongings that can’t be moved out of the room
Once all the containment is setup for a particular work area, the actual abatement work can begin. I’ll use a future post to go into more detail about the methods used for deleading, but the most common methods used are scraping, covering, making intact, and removal/replacement.
When all the abatement work is done and the containment is broken down, the final step is a thorough cleanup is done by the deleading contractor. During this step, they will typically vacuum all surfaces in the home/unit with a HEPA-filter vacuum. They will then perform a washing with a solution of tri-sodium phosphate (TSP) on all surfaces. They’ll follow that up with another vacuum with the HEPA filter vacuum. After all that is completed, we can move on to the re-inspection.
Final deleading re-inspection
When all the abatement/deleading work is complete, the lead inspector needs to come back out to the property to conduct a final deleading re-inspection. There are two parts to the re-inspection. The first part is a visual check to ensure all the abatement work was properly performed and that all surfaces look good. We also visually check to make sure everything in the home/unit looks clean.
Once this look good, we can move on to the second step, which is a dust wipe test. The lead dust wipe test ensures that there’s no lead dust contamination left behind after the work was completed. These wipes are analyzed at a local lab and the results are typically available the next day. The dust wipes are typically taken on 2 floors, 2 window sills, and 2 window wells. The total number of dust wipes depends on the number of rooms in the home/unit.
When we receive passing dust wipe results from the lab, we are then able to issue a Letter of Full Deleading Compliance. The letter of compliance never expires although it is on the homeowner to maintain the good condition of any leaded surfaces in the home. Occasionally, we will see housing authorities require that lead certificates be no older than 10 years old.
Hopefully this post helps to explain the process a bit more. In the case that you have more questions, don’t hesitate to reach out by giving us a call or filling out our contact form. We’re happy to help answer any other questions you might have.