July 27, 2010

Lead paint rules hit remodelers

Contractors must get training

By Theodoric Meyer
The Chronicle

     New Environmental Protection Agency rules for renovating older homes that may contain lead paint are set to raise remodeling costs for homeowners and contractors alike.
     The new rules, which went into effect April 22, were first announced to the building industry more than a year ago. The regulations require contractors who work in homes built before 1978 — when the federal government banned the use of lead paint in houses — to follow certain procedures to dispose of paint chips and dust that may contain lead.
     According to the EPA, lead-paint was used in more than 38 million American homes before it was banned. Almost half of Oregon’s housing stock was built before 1978.
     Estimates of how much the new rules will raise the price of renovating older homes have varied wildly. The EPA originally estimated the additional cost at $35 per job. Current estimates run between $65 and $185 per job, but many painters and contractors say that is still far too low.
     “In private industry, there have been numerous rebuttals to that, in the range of several hundred to several thousand dollars per job,” said Wallace Reid, the EPA team leader for lead and asbestos programs in the Pacific Northwest. “There’s debate about that.”
     Contractors are also required to take a one-day class on the new regulations. The class aims to educate contractors about the dangers of lead exposure — especially for children and pregnant women — as well as more technical requirements, such as how far to mask off a window.
     The regulations originally required contractors to have completed the class by April 22, but the EPA extended enforcement of that provision after an uproar from Congress, the National Association of Home Builders and businesses such as Home Depot. Contractors now must register to take the class by Oct. 1, though workers are required to follow the new lead-safe practices even if they have not yet completed the class.
     The class has been administered through various regional contractors’ groups, such as the Central Oregon Builders Association. About 230 contractors have traveled from as far as Dufur and Ontario to take the class at COBA —which costs $189 for members and $229 for non-members — since classes began in January.
     According to Gretchen Palmer, the director of education and councils at COBA, the builders, painters and contractors who have taken the class have expressed mixed sentiments about the new regulations. Though some contractors have taken the new rules in stride, she said, others have decided to give up renovating older homes, citing liability concerns.
      “A lot of them have said, ‘You know what? I’m not even going to deal with this,’” Palmer said.
     The EPA, Palmer said, had severely downplayed the costs of the new regulations by failing to take into account the time needed to fill out paperwork, as well as the cost of expensive new pieces of equipment.
     Under the new rules, for example, contractors must use special EPA-approved vacuums equipped with high-efficiency particulate air filters to clean up lead-paint dust. Such vacuums are often more expensive than non-EPA-approved models, said Paul Marquis of The Vacuum Cleaner Shop, a specialty vacuum retailer in Augusta, Maine, and many larger stores do not carry them. The cost of an EPA-approved model by Dustless Technologies: $479.99.
     Contractors have also complained that the EPA has not done enough to communicate how to follow complex new regulations.
     “Everybody’s just kind of waiting to see what everyone else is doing,” said Terray Harmon, who runs a painting business in The Dalles.
     Harman agrees with the spirit of the new regulations, but he said the EPA could have taken more steps to clarify them, such as establishing a hotline for questions.
     Though they have frustrated many contractors, the new rules go a long way toward eliminating the major source of lead poisoning in America, said Richard Leiker, who oversees lead programs for Oregon’s Department of Human Services.
     Renovations of homes with lead-paint in them account for nearly 50 percent of American lead-related illnesses, Leiker said. Other sources of lead, such as gasoline and certain types of solder, have already been banned.
     Lead poisoning is the number-one preventable childhood illness in the U.S. In 2005, the Centers for Disease Control estimated that 310,000 children were at risk of harmful lead exposure.
     The new regulations, he said, will cut down dramatically on the chief remaining cause:“By addressing the major activity that generates those hazards — renovation, repainting and repair work involving older housing with lead paint in it — we’re cutting the major source that remains.