There was zero abatement. They shot lead dust paint all over my house, my neighbors house, our yards etc. So we have lead positive tests, and visible material, all over the place.
Nothing was enclosed, no filtration system. It was such a cloud of debris being blasted around my son thought it was snowing.
Isn't the big picture that they spread lead all over the neighborhood?
Ooph. Used to work construction, still in the industry so to speak but not out in the field any longer. Hope the workers were at least wearing some kind of ventilator. Interested to hear how this turns out.
I know it's a big thing, but it was easily preventable from the company.
A company that irresponsible should lose their business. No one should be worried about it costing the guy his business. The owner clearly has no concern for his employees or your family's health. All he cared about was making money at yours and other's expense.
Hopefully they carry significant pollution liability limits/excess that dont exclude lead. Good luck and sorry to hear this.
I don't know. I just did a project at my house. I didn't smother the contractor but I sure as **** knew what the process and plan was before they did anything. Much less asbestos or lead remediation. Neighbor/homeowner can't claim ignorance.
Maybe he deserves to lose his business if he cannot operate within the requirements
Won’t somebody think of the guy who put in too low of a bid and created an environmental hazard for a bunch of neighboring parties (potentially with children) in order to maintain his profit margins?
Lead dust doesn't work like that man.
He probably has no clue about EPA guidelines because most low bid contractors don't. None of the subs I use even knew WTH I was talking about after I took the class and some of them do really good work.
I have. But I can't go back in time so they tent the house. There is lead everywhere. All I need to know is what the mitigation process is, and so we can find proper methods to get that done. But I'm not paying a dime because someone cut corners, and if I need a lawyer to make sure of that I will. Ive spent years working on our property to be organic and native friendly, there are also children at risk. It needs to be done properly and safely and at no cost to anyone except the party at fault.
JFC I know I am on the free board but some of you ITT are so damn dense.
Unless your kids are licking the outside of your house they're not at risk. Yes your garden is probably fvcked, so that sucks. Do you live in an HOA? Or is this a small neighborhood with houses close to each other? They have been doing this in multiple homes? We need some context here.
They stripped and sanded a house from 1910 which had a layer (or layers) of lead paint. They did not contain during the stripping/sanding and it coated a number of houses and yards in the particulate. At home lead test kits have shown a fairly extensive costing that is still testing positive today. A number of blood tests have now come back hire than previous tests also. The town has now cited them for improperly containing their work and the EPA are involved. That's where we are.
No HOA. We live in a town. Single family homes. Not super close but it's a neighborhood. Not a normal company for our area.
If the EPA is involved they are probably going bankrupt. The EPA lives to hang people like that, thats what I am trying to explain ITT. It's easily a $40k fine per occurrence then they will audit the guy on top of it for past occurrences. 40k per occurrence. No offense, but your vegetable garden is the least of that guys concerns. I guarantee he had no idea about lead paint, which is his fault but your neighbor also has some blame to share.
Cheap? It's more expensive to strip to original wood and repaint it. Unnecessary in my opinion, but not cheap.
Don't worry about anyone losing their business. They should. They underbid the job and took short cuts putting everyone else's lives in danger. Ask yourself, you really think this is the first job they did this way? What about the next job? Are they going to miraculously follow all the rules? I'm in the construction industry and I say, Screw'em.
That's the big question. What is the ppm and what is an acceptable ppm in the soil. Especially soil that produces a ton of food people eat.
NJDEP will be able to help you decide if remediation is needed and what it should be. Here is some commentary from US EPA that might be helpful:
Guy did shoddy work and may now have to compensate others for it. Others doing shoddy work doesn’t absolve him of wrongdoing, it’s more of a sad commentary on how hard it is to find good contractors (or other skilled labor) now.
You think most here would cut corners and risk endangering themselves, family and neighbors at the expense of saving a few bucks? You are comparing some of the most widespread and hazardous child contaminants to football tickets?
OP stated it looked like it was snowing. This isnt a few flecks of microscopic dust. A house where a pregnant woman lives was coated, multiple houses affected, a large vegetable garden is contaminated, blood tests are positive and visable material is all over....among others. You aren't getting the gist of the scenario if you think it's an invisible coating and it will merrily wash away with the next rain storm.
Or let the guy continue his practice and endanger his workers and others in the future? There are regs in place and this dude cut corners at the expense of others. OP is concerned for his health, the health of the family and the pregnant neighbor. The contractor is deserving of whatever comes his way.
I don't think you understand. Even if you try to be compliant and fail, the EPA still drills a hole in your ***. If as a contractor you try to follow their guidance its almost impossible to win a job when everyone is all about hiring the low bid.
Most people here are cheap. Yes, they would hire the low bid guy. I deal with this a decent amount as a GC. That's my frustration ITT. People want A level service at an F price. It doesn't work that way. As I have said like 5 times ITT. If that neighbor got a bid from an EPA certified contractor who knew how much he had to do to remove all that lead paint safely and properly, the guy would never have hired them. Tens of thousands of dollars that would cost.
If it were me I would talk to the guy, get a few things paid for and tell him to go take an EPA certified class and show me proof that he took it. The guy probably had no clue of what lead paint even is.
