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Home › Articles › General Home › Keep Kids Safe

Keep Kids Safe

Avoiding the Hazards of Home Remodeling

By Alyson English

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Vermont mom Brandy Brow knows about remodeling with children underfoot. After all, when you have six kids under the age of 12 and have been building and remodeling for 10 years, you become fairly skilled at handling all the complications. Brow's understanding of the importance of safety while remodeling was hard-won, however. Her 1-year-old daughter suffered lead poisoning when the family removed some French doors in their old house.

"Her levels were one point below intervention, where the state removes the family from the home to do lead abatement," Brow says. "The outside of the house was lead paint, all the doors, baseboards and windows were lead, and there was lead paint inside the cupboards."

The Brow family received priority consideration for Vermont's lead abatement program because of the severity of the child's poisoning and the amount of lead in their home. "The state's lead reduction program gives a combination grant and non-interest-bearing and half forgivable loan payable upon selling the house," Brow says.

All the time and work that the family put into taking the house from a poisoned trap to a remodeled living space was worth it. The high lead levels, which had caused irritability, appetite problems and stunted growth in their daughter, were gone. "After the lead reduction work, our kids' lead levels returned to normal, and they suffered no long-term effects," Brow says.

It Could Happen to You
While not every family who remodels must worry about lead paint, which hasn't been used in U.S. homes since 1978, there are hazards that can crop up for any family embarking upon a home remodeling project. Christopher Ashe, one of the stars of HGTV's 24-Hour Design, isn't just a carpenter. With more than a decade of experience in the building trade under his belt, Ashe knows about the dangers that families can face when remodeling. "I categorize construction hazards as one of two ways: immediate or long-term," he says. "Long-term hazards are usually materials that were once commonplace but have since been found to be dangerous. The big ones are lead paint and asbestos."

Ashe says if you're working in a home that was built before lead was removed from paint, the best way to test for lead is to have a qualified lead inspector come out to test the house. He adds that while wearing approved safety gear when working around lead paint remnants is essential, homeowners should also seal off any HVAC ducts and make sure they vacuum with a HEPA filter vacuum twice a day, minimum.

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