O Helpful People,
The lead paint project is maybe not going so well.
The painter is EPA-lead-certified, and his license is current. He has laid tarps on the ground and suspended them from the roof. He has a HEPA vac and space suits (that some of the guys don't actually wear) and face masks. But, he is power-sanding the boards down to bare wood. I can't really tell if the vac is attached to the sander, but I don't think so. A zillion chips fall onto the tarps and then they suck them up at the end of the day. Truly 99% of the stuff is contained.
But . . . first, he said he would tape plastic over the interiors of the windows, but he didn't. We wound up taping some of the windows when I found a little dust on the sills. Then, there is a light layer of dust that does get out and falls on the cars. Also, when he did the garage, he did pull down the door, but I guess he didn't tape around it, so everything in the garage got coated with a layer of lead paint dust. We started pulling things out and hosing them down, but it's a real mess.
My questions for you are: (1) how off-base is he? Is this within the minimum standards for lead paint guys? and (2) given that he has already made this mess, what must we absolutely do. Is it enough, do you think, to hose and wipe it all down? Will the kids ever be able to play safely out in the yard? I read all the warnings and guidance online, and I still can't decide if this is a big catastrophe or really just part of the process.