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Lead-based Paint Dangerous for Children

Young children are particularly susceptible to lead poisoning since they are more likely to ingest lead paint chips, flakes, or dust and are more sensitive to the adverse health effects of lead. Elevated lead levels in young children can trigger

• learning disabilities
• decreased growth
• hyperactivity
• impaired hearing
• brain damage

Lead can be found in a number of places inside and outside the home. For example, lead can be found in household dust from deteriorating lead-based paint or from soil tracked into the house. It can also be found in drinking water coming from old lead pipes, fixtures and solder.

"Childhood lead poisoning is easily preventable with the right information and awareness. This grant will help Arizona tribal communities raise awareness about preventing lead's adverse health effects," said Administrator Jackson. "This project is an important example of the efforts happening across the country to protect our children from a major health threat."

Lead-based Paint Outreach to Native American Tribes

The Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona is developing culturally specific outreach materials to educate tribal families, especially parents of young children, and tribal staff on the health risks to children from exposure to lead-based paint.

Lead Awareness for Facility Maintenance Personnel

The program specifically reaches out to facility maintenance personnel to stress the importance of using lead-safe work practices when renovating buildings.

The use of lead-based paint in U.S. residential housing was banned in 1978.

Approximately 75% of the U.S. housing stock built before 1978, or 64 million homes, contain some lead-based paint.

For information on EPA's lead paint program, go to: http://www.epa.gov/region09/toxic/lead

For information on lead in paint, dust and soil, visit: http://www.epa.gov/lead

For information on protecting your family from lead hazards, visit: http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/leadinfo.htm#where

Since early 2009, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has been contacted by more than 1,000 residents of 27 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia about possible chemical emissions from imported drywall that was used when their homes were built or remodeled. Most calls were from persons in Florida, Louisiana, and Virginia.

At this time, experts believe that defective drywall imported from China was installed in homes built or remodeled after 2003.

The number and location of all affected or potentially affected homes are not yet known.

CPSC is leading the federal investigation into complaints about imported drywall. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are providing technical support to CPSC and several state health departments. CDC and ATSDR are working with other federal and state agencies to identify what chemicals are in the drywall and if these chemicals are a health risk to persons living in homes containing this drywall.

How can I find out if my home has imported drywall?

Corrosion: Are any of your home's copper pipes, plumbing fixtures, or uninsulated electrical wires at light switches or receptacles corroded? Have your air conditioner evaporator coils failed early? Metal or copper corrosion of these types may mean there is defective drywall in your home.

Odor: Does your home have an odor that smells like rotten eggs, matches, or fireworks? A sulfur odor in the home might mean defective drywall is present.

Label: Can you see the back side of your drywall? Some drywall from China is stamped with "Made in China" on the back. However, some Chinese drywall does not have a label or markings.

The Florida Department of Health developed a guide for residents to help them identify drywall problems.

What has been found in the air of homes that contain imported drywall?

State and federal agencies are testing the air inside some homes in Florida, Louisiana, Virginia, Alabama, and Mississippi. They are testing homes in which homeowners suspect they have contaminated drywall and, for comparison, other homes in which no problems have been reported. State and federal agencies will evaluate these results to determine whether there is a health problem. This evaluation is expected in the fall of 2009.

How can Chinese drywall affect my health?

Some persons are more sensitive than others to possible chemical exposures. An exposure that causes no problems for some people can make other people sick or uncomfortable. Persons most likely to get sick from breathing contaminated air include the elderly, children, and people with asthma, allergies, lung disease, and heart problems. Until federal agencies get more information from the indoor air testing, it is not possible to determine if the symptoms people are experiencing are possibly from drywall.

What else should I do if I may be having health problems from imported drywall?

See or call a doctor if you are experiencing health problems and say that you are concerned your illness might be related to imported drywall. Tell your doctor about the health care provider fact sheet for imported drywall. A fact sheet from CDC tells your health care provider how to get more information.

• Go outdoors to get fresh air. Scientists do not know what, if any, benefit there is to opening windows to allow fresh air to come into the home.

Are there other problems I should watch for in my home that may be related to imported drywall?

• Some homes with imported drywall have had damage to exposed wiring. We do not know of any house fires that have occurred related to the drywall. If you experience unusual electrical problems in your home (such as appliances or light switches not working), ask a licensed electrician to check out the problem.

Where can I get additional information?

You can report a drywall problem to CPSC  by calling them at 1-800-638-2772.

Since early 2009, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has been contacted by more than 1,000 residents of 27 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia about possible chemical emissions from imported drywall that was used when their homes were built or remodeled. Most calls were from persons in Florida, Louisiana, and Virginia.

At this time, experts believe that defective drywall imported from China was installed in homes built or remodeled after 2003.

The number and location of all affected or potentially affected homes are not yet known.

CPSC is leading the federal investigation into complaints about imported drywall. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are providing technical support to CPSC and several state health departments. CDC and ATSDR are working with other federal and state agencies to identify what chemicals are in the drywall and if these chemicals are a health risk to persons living in homes containing this drywall.

How can I find out if my home has imported drywall?

Corrosion: Are any of your home's copper pipes, plumbing fixtures, or uninsulated electrical wires at light switches or receptacles corroded? Have your air conditioner evaporator coils failed early? Metal or copper corrosion of these types may mean there is defective drywall in your home.

Odor: Does your home have an odor that smells like rotten eggs, matches, or fireworks? A sulfur odor in the home might mean defective drywall is present.

Label: Can you see the back side of your drywall? Some drywall from China is stamped with "Made in China" on the back. However, some Chinese drywall does not have a label or markings.

The Florida Department of Health developed a guide for residents to help them identify drywall problems.

What has been found in the air of homes that contain imported drywall?

State and federal agencies are testing the air inside some homes in Florida, Louisiana, Virginia, Alabama, and Mississippi. They are testing homes in which homeowners suspect they have contaminated drywall and, for comparison, other homes in which no problems have been reported. State and federal agencies will evaluate these results to determine whether there is a health problem. This evaluation is expected in the fall of 2009.

How can Chinese drywall affect my health?

Some persons are more sensitive than others to possible chemical exposures. An exposure that causes no problems for some people can make other people sick or uncomfortable. Persons most likely to get sick from breathing contaminated air include the elderly, children, and people with asthma, allergies, lung disease, and heart problems. Until federal agencies get more information from the indoor air testing, it is not possible to determine if the symptoms people are experiencing are possibly from drywall.

What else should I do if I may be having health problems from imported drywall?

See or call a doctor if you are experiencing health problems and say that you are concerned your illness might be related to imported drywall. Tell your doctor about the health care provider fact sheet for imported drywall. A fact sheet from CDC tells your health care provider how to get more information.

• Go outdoors to get fresh air. Scientists do not know what, if any, benefit there is to opening windows to allow fresh air to come into the home.

Are there other problems I should watch for in my home that may be related to imported drywall?

• Some homes with imported drywall have had damage to exposed wiring. We do not know of any house fires that have occurred related to the drywall. If you experience unusual electrical problems in your home (such as appliances or light switches not working), ask a licensed electrician to check out the problem.

Where can I get additional information?

You can report a drywall problem to CPSC  by calling them at 1-800-638-2772.

In July of 2007 HUD introduced its Green Initiative, a nationwide pilot initiative to encourage owners and purchasers of affordable, multifamily properties to rehabilitate and operate their properties using sustainable Green Building principles.

Green Building and Healthy Housing Concepts

These principles comprise sustainability, energy efficiency, recycling, and indoor air quality, and incorporate the "Healthy Housing" approach pioneered by HUD.

The Green Initiative will focus on properties within HUD's Section 8 portfolio, specifically properties in the Mark to Market (M2M) Program administered by the Office of Affordable Housing Preservation (OAHP).

What is Green Building?

The real estate industry, including the housing industry (and more particularly the affordable housing industry), is undergoing a fundamental shift toward Green Building principles.

Green Building is designed to result in a property that reduces its impact on the environment, costs less to operate, and improves the residents' quality of life.

Green building considerations start with site selection and include building placement and design, materials and techniques used in construction, and all the systems, appliances, and fixtures within the building. Wikipedia provides a good working definition for the OAHP Green Initiative:

• Green building is the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings and their sites use and harvest energy, water, and materials, and reducing building impacts on human health and the environment, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal - the complete building life cycle.

To date, the focus of green initiatives has been on new construction rather than on rehab, particularly  moderate rehab that is associated with M2M properties.

There are fewer opportunities to Go Green in rehab, but the opportunities are  significant, particularly when viewed in the context of the M2M standard 20-year schedule of property repairs and replacements.

Green Rehab Benefits

Green rehab practices should result in lower utility costs that benefit HUD as well as residents and lower environmental impact. When rehab is performed in a manner that meets both Green and Healthy Housing principles, residents will benefit from

• lower utility costs
• improved indoor air quality
• lower risk of pest infestations
• lower levels of allergens
• reduced risk of mold-related illness

Why apply Green principles in the M2M Program?

The M2M Program offers a unique platform for establishing a Green Initiative in the HUD affordable housing portfolio because it can be implemented within existing statutes, regulations, and authorities.

M2M provides opportunities to implement Green Building principles in a representative sample of M2M restructurings involving properties that are already undergoing rehabilitation.

As HUD's primary housing preservation tool since its creation in 1997, OAHP has restructured more than 1,600 projects nationwide through the M2M program. These projects are privately owned, HUD-subsidized (through Section 8), multifamily properties, with approx 100 units each, on average.

In addition to rehabilitating properties, M2M also resizes and restructures property debt to account for market rent levels, to pay for rehabilitation and 20 years' of estimated repairs and replacements, and to establish a financially viable project for the long term.

M2M provides an opportunity to test the impact of Green and Healthy Housing principles in the existing HUD-subsidized multifamily inventory by providing modest incentives to owners and purchasers to perform needed rehab and maintenance using Green alternatives, and to collect ongoing data to validate impacts on utility consumption and indoor air quality.

In developing the Green Initiative, OAHP has consulted with several industry experts, and their participation has been invaluable in the development of this outline. By launching the Green Initiative through M2M, HUD has the opportunity to continue to work with industry leaders to shape both the future of HUD's efforts and of the Greening of affordable housing in this country.

MORE INFO: http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/omhar/paes/greenini.cfm

On May 6, the secretaries of HUD and the Department of Energy (DOE) signed an MOU  to facilitate use of DOE Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) funding in public housing and privately owned, federally assisted housing properties.

HUD-Qualified Housing
Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)

these properties, which are designated as "HUD-Qualified Housing," as well as those funded with the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) have sufficient income verification and rent controls to essentially prequalify them for the income and rent restrictions of the DOE's WAP program.

The WAP program requires that the households assisted have incomes no greater than two times the federal poverty level. In addition, when the funds are used in multifamily buildings, there must be sufficient controls to assure that WAP funded improvements are not used by owners to unduly raise rents and burden the low income people the program is intended to benefit.

Specifically, the MOU states that DOE will accept HUD's and the LIHTC program's beneficiary income eligibility determination and ongoing verification for the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP).

To facilitate this, HUD will give DOE a list of "HUD-Qualified Housing" and LIHTC projects, and within 60 days HUD and DOE will provide joint guidance to states for evaluating income eligibility in order to implement the MOU. The agencies will also organize joint forums to educate stakeholders.

The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) provided $16 billion to DOE and HUD to improve the energy efficiency of existing homes. The Weatherization Assistance Program, which has been funded in recent years at roughly $250 million, received an additional $5 billion in ARRA. Similarly, HUD received $4.5 billion in new funding to renovate and upgrade public housing and $250 million to retrofit the privately owned, federally assisted housing.

The MOU is at www.hud.gov/recovery/doemoucombined.pdf

The Green Schools Initiative points out that a large portion of our population spends their days in unhealthy buildings.  And those are our children.  Greening schools can improve the health and learning productivity of our children...and our future doctors and bosses and in-laws!

Learn more about these "7 Steps to Green Your School" at the website of The Green Schools Initiative...your children are depending on your voice being heard, and your handy man and woman skills being put to work for them.

1.  Establish a Green Team or Eco-committee
2. Adopt an environmental Vision Statement
3. Conduct a School Environmental Survey or Audit
4. Create a Green School Action Plan
5. Monitor and Evaluate Progress
6.  Integrate Greening into the Curriculum
7. Inform, Involve and Celebrate!

The "7 Steps to Green Your School" is adapted from Eco-Schools International,

http://www.eco-schools.org/aboutus/howitworks.htm

Green Schools Initiative

GreenSchools.net

Building deconstruction and demolition can be profitable...and definitely a greener use of natural resources...even if they are used!  (Especially when those materials are used!)

There are some pathways to explore if you want to deconstruct buildings...or use the materials.  Here are some tips:

Prices for deconstruction vary from $3 to $14/sq ft. depending on location and market timing.  Labor is usually priced per square foot.  The value of materials vary. 

• Mundane materials can run $2-4 per sq ft of materials. 
• Other valuable materials vary greatly -- the sky's the limit.

There are other reasons beyond value of materials to consider responsible deconstruction of old buildings.

• Cost avoidance -- avoid disposal costs, 
• Avoid taxes -- tax benefits to property owners,
• Value of antique and reusable materials
• Babysitting disposed materials. 
• Saved labor rates. 
• Saved landfill tipping fees/disposal 
• Donation of materials for tax deductions
  

Clever contractors can deconstruct and salvage a building in smart ways that saves costs.  Experience, creativity and efficiency make a difference. 

Owners benefit financially because they get tax deductions for the value of materials they donate to nonprofit organzations vs. landfilling.  Habitat for Humanity ReStores is an example.  Local historical societies sometimes have antique parts shops to help restore old properties.

A general list of materials that can be salvaged from deconstructed buildings include:

• Antiques, artifacts, ornaments, mundane building materials.
• Fixtures (the older the better for high end design -- antique salvage is a strong market) 
• Appliances: antique water heaters, stoves, etc. can be sold for @$20.
• Fixtures: toilets and sinks can be valued in restoring old buildings
• Doors and windows -- There are a thousand and one uses for doors
• Flooring is easy to extract and marketable.  Very valuable.   Oak or fir go for $14 sq ft. 
• Roofing - slate and tile are popular and valuable
• Siding - common used building materials include aluminum.  Wood siding can also be used for millwork.
• Heavy timbers - very active.
• Dimensional timbers have less market, but old growth, heart pine, Douglas fir, etc. can be milled and converted to other products.

Reuse isn't the only market for salvaged materials.  They also have "recycled content"  potential:  lumber can be ground into use for fuels, mulches, etc. Gypsum drywall can be used as soil amendment or returned to factory, or used for other agricultural purposes.

New construction can also use recycled materials and reuse materials:  High end use of these salvaged materials can create a distinct green statement and brand a design or construction firm as a "green building" company when they excel at the practical and aesthetic use of recycled content.

For more resources about green building and salvaging, check out  GreenBuildingTalk.com

Exterior walls provide large surfaces that are exposed to the elements and interior walls can become tunnels of air in through interior spaces.

Energy conservation with wall construction provide a variety of options such as:

• Minimum R-19 insulation
• Inspect insulation to eliminate gaps that result from remodels or settling insulation
• Consider advanced framing or insulated headers
• R-10 exterior sheathing can prevent thermal bridges
• Light pastel paint colors in hot climates can reflect heat on exterior walls
• Green walls or trees outside West windows  can also provide shade to reduce hot afternoon temperature rises

Find more details about these retrofit suggestions at USGBC Checklist for Green Retrofits:

Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs

Program your thermostat

Plug air leaks

Tune up your heating and cooling (HVAC) system

Choose ENERGY STAR® appliances

Reduce water use

Switch to green power

Explore solar

Use low-VOC products

Plant trees to provide shade and wind protection for your house

Use native plantings

Not all solar installations have to be on the rooftop...or even permanent in one place.  Take this new desk design:

The SOLo Lounge Table might change the working habits of teckies. Built into the surface of this roll-around table are solar panels that charge up its internal battery and power your devices. It can connect to a variety of devices and there’s a drawer for storing and charging your gadgets. The SOLo alse features Bluetooth connectivity for system monitoring in addition to the included System Monitor display/device. More info here.