Lead law will take effect in 2010, likely to impact your remodel!

Beginning in April 2010, federal law will require that contractors be trained to protect children and pregnant women from dangerous levels of lead. Signed in March of this 2008, the EPA’s “Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting Program” is the most important new effort to combat childhood lead poisoning in the last decade says the EPA.

The law will require contractors and maintenance professionals to be certified, and their employees trained. In addition, they must follow protective lead-safe work practice standards when renovation, repair or painting activities will disturb more than six square feet of lead-based paint in a room or when 20 square feet of lead-based paint is disturbed on the exterior.

Contractors will be required to post warning signs, restrict occupants from work areas, prevent dust and debris from spreading, conduct a thorough cleanup and verify that the cleanup was effective.
Two-thirds of homes and half of the schools and day care centers built before 1960 have some lead-based paint. These new requirements focus on those built before 1978, the year lead-based paint was banned, where children under the age of six are present or where an expectant mother resides.

Exposure to lead-contaminated dust is the most common way children get lead poisoning, which can cause serious behavior and learning problems in children and health problems in adults says the EPA.
By requiring certification, we will be able to identify those contractors who are trained in lead-safe work practices.  It is likely all of this will add cost to our remodels as well.

For educational materials and brochures, please visit www.epa.gov/lead, or call the National Lead Information Center at 800-424-LEAD (5323).

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The latest on Home Depot’s Eco Options green products and Ron Jarvis

What is orange, green, and good for a residential home remodel or improvement project? GetWithGreen thinks one answer is the ever growing inventory of Eco Option products located around the corner at your local Home Depot.

This past week Ron Jarvis senior vice president of environmental innovation with The Home Depot and GetWithGreen.com, sat down to talk about the Eco Options program, and retail trends in green home product market.

Ron’s home improvement career spans 23 years, starting early on with Lowe’s, followed by 13 years at America’s largest home improvement retailer, The Home Depot. For the last eight years Ron has been tracking energy products for the retail giant, and now leads the company’s Eco Options program, among other environmental initiatives, reduced energy consumption by stores, reduced waste and increased recycles as well as increased sustainability into all business functions.

Eco Options is Home Depot’s product labeling program that allows customers to easily identify products that have less of an impact on the environment. The 3,000+ products are located Read more

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‘Elements’, new from California Paints: eco-friendly, zero VOC finish

California Paints is now offering Elements, a new line of paints that are zero VOC, GreenWise Certified, and follow LEED guidelines.

Considered to last longer than ordinary zero VOC paints, Elements paint, is made with Microban Technology.  California Paints explains that this eco-friendly technology “contains a unique anti-bacterial additive that creates an internal germ-proof barrier within the paint formulation.”  Other anti-bacterial additives release harmful gasses or odors.  Microban protects gasses or odors from leaching into the paint over time.  Several of California Paint Products have Microban technology.  Click here to read more about these products.

California Paints is part of the California Products Corporation, committed to preserving the environment through waste management.  Products are created on site and evaluated by employees that have been trained in environmental issues.  California Paints is conscious of Read more

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Monocoat: Natural hardwood oil finish and VOC-free

To get the hardwood color you desire without the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s), look into Rubio Monocoat’s natural oil finish.  Currently it is available in 34 colors, with a choice of matte or satin.

Originating in Belgium, Monocoat’s natural oil finish has been used throughout the world in many applications for almost 45 years.  It has been applied to wood flooring, windows, furniture, decking, and siding.   Feel comfortable applying Monocoat throughout your home, in your kitchen and bathrooms, and even high-traffic areas, such as commercial settings.  Completely plant-based, it will protect your wood from coffee, ink, wine, milk, and soft drinks. 

Not only is it a beautiful product, but it needs only a simple single coat application with a pad.  A chemical reaction is produced, and the Monocoat’s natural oil finish bonds with the cellulose in the wood.  In fact, if you try and add more, the flooring will not accept the second coat.  Should your floor be damaged, simply apply Monocoat, and you will find it difficult to distinguish where the damage had previously been.

Monocoat’s natural finish is durable and will provide Read more

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PAINT & FINISHES: More color on Yolo Colorhouse zero VOC paints

GetWithGreen.com was able to connect up with Virginia Young of Yolo Colorhouse last month during an open house at Eco Home Improvement in Berkeley, CA.  Virginia spoke a lot about the paint market, and differentiating Yolo from other vendors in the marketplace.

What do we like about Yolo?  We like their background as a professional painters.  Both Virginia and her business partner Janie Lowe got their start by actually painting.  So what?  This means that they have taken into account important elements such as making sure their paint covers well - a criticism of some eco-friendly no VOC paints.   In addition, Yolo is one company that is doing more that branding a paint zero voc and “green”.  They are incorporating as much into their daily business practices as possible… recycling practices, bio diesel trucks, and more.

Check out Yolo Paints for your remodel.  If you don’t know what color would look good, Yolo offers 12″x24″ paper samples covered with paint for $5.99.  Much nicer than those 1″x1″ squares you pick up at Home Depot.  Much nicer than purchasing entire quarts, no likeing them, and letting them sit in your garage!

Lastly, GetWithGreen came across a nice little article on Star-Telegram.com.  Author Jesse Milligan gives some background on the company and Janie Lowe: Paint it green: You can put her colors on your walls.  Check it out!

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PAINT & FINISHES: Home Depot offers eco-friendly paint

Home Depot starts selling eco-friendlier paint in April.

ICI Paints and The Home Depot will launch an environmentally friendly paint nationwide in April 2008. The Freshaire Choice? Paint offers a paint free of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and is backed by a lifetime guarantee and GREENGUARD certification. Featuring a custom color palette of 66 beautiful colors available through an innovative tinting system.   Additionally, the packaging, samples, color cards are made in some % with recycled materials.  At $35-38 a gallon, here is what Home Depot and ICI have to say about it (from their press release today)…

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the air inside a home is, on average, two-to-five-times more polluted than the air outside. As the emphasis of environmental concern shifts from outside to inside, paint is a large contributing factor to poor indoor air quality and can emit harmful chemicals, such as VOCs, for years after Read more

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No-VOC Paints: Protect the Planet and Your Health

This article from a freelance author in Oregon offers some insight into reason why we should all consider no VOC options as we do our homemakovers. Read Article

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