Invisible Lead Dust Monsters

Since the paint we had sanded off the upstairs floors last week tested positive for lead, the project for this week was lead abatement. The Romanian floor dudes used a HEPA dust collection bag as they sanded, so we followed up with a HEPA vacuum pass, TSP wash and another HEPA vacuum pass to remove any lingering dust (aka Method 4). The 'TSP wash' meant scrubbing every square inch of surface on the second floor FOUR times. One pass with the TSP solution using vertical strokes and one pass using horizontal. Then one more pass in each direction with the rinse water. This process was pretty miserable, especially since we couldn't actually see the progress we were making. We just had to trust it was working. I lost track of how long the entire process took us but I'd guess around 6 hours.

What we COULD see was years and years of dirt and grime washing off the walls. Our clean rinse water would only last for a few scrubs of the wall before it would turn brown and filthy. This isn't too surprising considering the previous tenants didn't clean anything. Why would the walls be any different?



Poof was in charge of final inspections: