Certified Renovator - Lead Paint Class
This week I had the pleasure of attending an 8 hour class to learn about the hazards of working around lead paint and how to best protect myself and other property users from the its risks.
This all came about as I was looking for a new place to live. Searching for apartments and houses, Maple Leaf Property Management kept popping up with great places to live. Property managers can be great people to know as a plumber because they frequently handle the maintenance and work orders for the buildings they manage. I gave them a call, as a plumber, asking what it would take to join their approved vendors list. The office was super nice and asked if I was certified to work in buildings with lead paint. Honestly, this was not something I had even considered. In plumbing, the most we interact with paint is when we cut open a wall to access the pipes behind the drywall.
Maple Leaf sent over a couple options for getting certified, one of which was LeadClasses.com. They offer classes weekly here in Seattle so I signed up for the one 10 days out. When the day arrived I rode my bike down to the Hampton Inn in Tukwila, wheeling my bike into the small conference room, dodging side-eyes from the other tradesmen (I’d say tradespeople, but this class truly was 100% men), and taking one of the few remaining seats in the front row.
The class itself really was pretty solid. The teacher had great stories to tell, made a point to note everyone’s name, and really did his best to make eight hours fly by. The big takeaway for me was, maybe unsurprisingly, that most of the rules don’t apply to plumbers. Not to say the rules aren’t important - they are. Lead poisoning is a real thing and a real concern. Buildings built pre-1978, with the older ones having a much higher likelihood of containing lead-based paint, pose a real danger to those working with the effected areas. Sanding, scraping, peeling, removing, or real any disturbance of lead-based paint should be taken seriously. This goes for the folks working with it, but moreso for those who come after us. Lead-based paint was extremely popular in industrial uses, including schools, and the impacts on kids under the age of six is a real threat to their health and development. Containing the areas of disturbance, using the proper PPE, and cleaning the area after the work is done is essential.
After a quick test, I got my certification and sent it off to Maple Leaf. I’m now listed as one of their approved vendors and hope to work with their team for a long time to come.