Effective April 2010, The EPA's Lead-Based Paint Law goes into effect. This law effects any painting, renovation or repair work in homes or child-occupied facilities that disturbs more the 6 square feet of lead-based paint on an interior surface and 20 square feet on the exterior. Contractors, maintenance professionals, and their employees, must be certified and trained in lead-safe work practices.
As a certified firm, we are required to post warning signs, restrict access to the work areas, prevent dust and debris from spreading to the rest of the home or facility, perform a thorough final clean of the renovated area, and verify that the cleaning was effective.
Barnes Building and Remodeling has been certified to conduct lead-based paint renovation, repair and painting activities in accordance with this new law.
Effective 4/22/2010, the EPA has issued a new rule related to lead paint called the RRP Rule (Remodel, Renovate and Paint). This law effects any work being performed on homes built prior to 1978. It states that any work being performed on a pre-1978 home must be done by a certified renovator - this means that the company hired to do work must be registered with the EPA, and there must be a Certified Renovator (an individual certification) on site performing the work. For more information on this law, here's a link to the EPA's website:
EPA RRP Website
And for more information to read up on this new rule, check out the following site:
More about the EPA RRP Rule
This rule is going to have a major impact on the industry. Homeowners need to be aware of this rule and ensure that any companies hired to perform work on their homes is in compliance.
We recently completed a remodeling project where we added a second floor living space over a garage. As part of the project, we also installed a new roof and new siding on the existing house. When the house was originally built, rigid insulation was installed on the outside perimeter of the foundation before backfilling. In theory, this is not a bad idea as it provides additional R-value to an otherwise uninsulated foundation. However, the problem in this application is that the insulation was extended above grade and terminated at the siding and framing of the main structure.
What was obviously not anticipated was that this rigid insulation would provide direct access for termites to the wood sill of the house.
We could actually see the tunnels in the rigid insulation that the termites chewed their way through to get from the ground to the house. The termites had infested the entire perimeter of the house! The had even started to work their way up the framing of one of the corners of the house. 
The challenge to the homeowner in this situation is that this was completely undetectable - it was only discovered once we started removing the existing siding in preparation of the new siding.
If you notice a similar situation in your home, have it checked out ASAP! The sooner a problem like this is discovered the easier and less expensive it is to remedy.
Researching and hiring a remodeling company for your home improvement project can be a daunting task, especially if its something you have no previous experience with and/or do not have any direct referrals from someone you know and trust. I have heard many times that a homeowner should get at least 3-5 quotes before making any decisions. I used to be a firm believer in this rule, in fact I used to recommend it to potential clients. However, I believe there are flaws with this approach and there are other important factors to be taken into consideration.
For instance, if you have a friend or neighbor that has been through a project and can provide a positive referral for the company they worked with, this would be a better start. You would still want to learn as much about the company as possible, how they work, their processes, background, etc. so that you can make your own well-informed decision. If you did this with one company, I believe this would be a better approach than picking 3-5 contractors at random and simply picking the one you feel is best.
Home remodeling is one of the most complained about industries in the country - spending additional time up-front, researching, asking the right questions, and seeking referrals is time better spent than using your valuable time inviting a whole host of contractors to your home and hoping that 1 or 2 of them is a legit, professional company. Do your behind-the-scenes legwork and then spend some quality time at your house with one or 2. In other words, spend more time asking around, networking, getting names from people you know, like and trust, and less time with contractors you're never going to hire.
In the past 6 years, there has always been several projects each year where we have been brought in to finish a project because of a contractor disappearing, doing negligent work, not pulling permites, etc. I'll provide some of these examples in future blog posts, just to be sure to scare you into hiring a professional company!!