Conference 7.286::home_work

            <<< JOET::DUA1:[000000.NOTES$LIBRARY]HOME_WORK.NOTE;1 >>>
                         -< Better living through DIY >-
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Note 1214.6             Lead paint stripping contractors?                 6 of 8
YODA::TAYLOR                                         25 lines  26-JUN-1987 08:15
                                -< An opinion >-
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    We contracted Winston Sullivan, from Lawrence Mass., to do deleading
    in our two family in Lowell and I would highly recommend him. He does
    not strip the wood, he sands it. So if you wanted to keep some fancy
    woodwork intact it would be both difficult and expensive. 
    
    As for the cost. The apartments have six rooms each with a good
    amount of hallways and windows. He charged $3000 for both, excluding
    the exterior of the house which would have been another $2000. We
    opted to replace the exterior painted wood and repaint it ourselves.
    
    If you wanted to remove the paint yourself I would recommend stripping
    with a chemical stripper or take the peices to a place and have
    them dipped, I don't know of such a place but would think that they
    are easy to find. Using a heat gun or sand blaster would imbed the
    lead into the woodwork. A suitable mask to protect you while sanding
    would cost about $400. A little cheaper than the $5000 and clearly
    an option.
    
    woodwork 
    
    good luck,
    wayne 
     
    

            <<< JOET::DUA1:[000000.NOTES$LIBRARY]HOME_WORK.NOTE;1 >>>
                         -< Better living through DIY >-
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Note 1214.7             Lead paint stripping contractors?                 7 of 8
YODA::TAYLOR                                          7 lines  26-JUN-1987 08:23
                             -< forgot to mention >-
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    I forgot to mention that his phone number is 454 6229 and that he
    is very active in this state educating people of the dangers of 
    lead paint and the equipment being used to delead.
                                                     
    

    
    Can anyone recommend a contractor for radon mitigation systems?
    We're buying a house that has unacceptable levels of radon in
    the air and water.  We need a cost estimate so we can finish 
    negotiations with the owners.  From what I've read in this
    notesfile, not all radon specialists can be trusted.  I can't
    find any recommendations, please point me in the right
    direction if some already exist.  Thank you.
    
    
    
    
    
    

    Don't know where you're located but in Massachusetts, two places
    come to mind that we got quotes from;
    
    Pelican Systems
    
    B-dry (they also do wet-basement work)
    
    Both outfits did a professional evaluation and were within $100
    of the estimates.  We went with Pelican Systems due to time
    constraints.
    
    -TB

Hi,

	I am looking for references for deleading contractors.

	I need to delead a house in Watertown, MA.

	Any help appreciated.

	Thanks. 

		Sumant.

    RE: .4   I had a 3 family house in Uxbridge deleaded last year by:
    
    Tara Deleading
    46 Dean St. 
    Norwood Ma 02062
    (617) 551-0116
    
    I was pleased with their work and had no problems with the re-inspection
    after the job.. I used J.M. Frohn Corp. from Milford Ma. (508)478-4342)
    as the lead inspector and was also pleased with his work.
    
      FYI, I was told by the inspector that after the paint has been
    identified as lead paint (by a licensed inspector) it is against the law
    for anyone except a licensed deleader to remove the paint in any way,
    i.e. you can't even rip it down and bring it to the dump, since it is now
    classified a hazardous waste and must be handled as such..
    
    Good luck,
    Dave

    Win Hancock of Holden, Mass., removed a small amount of asbestos from
    four short sections of heating pipe for me last week.  He was prompt,
    helpful, and easy to deal with.  I haven't gotten the bill yet, but
    he estimated ~$385, plus ~$150 for the air test (that was somebody
    else, not him).  Not cheap, but it was considerably cheaper (1/10!)
    than some of the wildly inflated estimates some people had thrown around.
    

I'm switching from oil to gas and need someone to pump the oil out of my tank
(and remove the tank (in the basement) if it's worth it).  The house is in 
Chelmsford, MA.  I called one place and they wanted $250 to pump the tank and
remove it (through a bulkhead; doesn't need any cutting).  They wanted $125 just
to pump out the oil!  There's about $100 worth of oil in the tank so that really
makes it like $225!!  Anyone know of anyone who charges less and takes into
account the value of the oil?  (Actually this guy asked if it was good oil adn
I said it was so I guess he took it into account - I didn't explicitly ask him.)
If it's gonna cost an extra $125 to remove the tank I'll just leave it there
empty!

Thanks!

    
    Why don't you just wait a while to switch over and use the oil in the
    tank up instead of having to have it pumped out and disposed of? When
    you switch from oil to gas don't you switch burners too? That way you
    won't really have to worry too much about mucking up the oil burner
    with cruddy oil (I mean the stuff that could be at the bottom of the
    tank), that is, if it's being replaced anyway, it doesn't really matter 
    does it? It may cause a little problem with timing though, like can
    you get them to do the switch on short notice so that when you finally
    use up the rest of the oil you can get them to hook up your gas quickly
    enough? 
    
    Steve B.
      

The furnace needs replacing cause the heat exchanger is rusting out.  There is
already some soot coming out the registers so I haven't used the furnace since
I moved in (end of May).  (luckily it's not winter time!)  Nice idea otherwise
though.

B

    
    Did you check with your supplier?  I know some offer this service.
    
    Why not advertise tank and oil for free in exchange for removal?
    
    Gary

I'm sure Alpine Environmental in Westford would do this type of job. 1-800-660-7261. In fact 
I think they did exactly what you want done to the last "This Old House" in Wayland.  As I 
recall they pumped two tanks, washed them (to get the sludge out), hauled them away (they are 
crushed and recycled), and also removed the external pipes (I guess more than one oil 
delivery person has made a mistake and dropped 250 gallons of oil into people's basements).  

I think they said it would be about $1000 and they recycle the oil and sell it.  But 
then they are expensive since they don't often do small residential jobs. 

Unless you need the space or are worried about the tank's integrity I'd leave it.

    You might try Frank Martin of Martin Oil Burner Service in Lawrence.
    He is a small operation and specializes in removal and installation of
    oil tanks. He just did some work for me and did a good job and was very
    reasonable. I did have a small oil leak in my underground tank, but
    that's another story...
    
    Frank's phone is (508)683-4747.
    
    Ray

I live in Lunenburg and am looking for a lead inspector and de-leader.  Any 
recommendations?

    Re: .13
    
      I used J.M. Frohn (508)478-4342 from Milford Ma. as an inspector, and
    Tara Deleading (617)551-0116 from Norwood as the contractor.. They 
    deleaded a 3 family I own in Uxbridge. This was back in Feb. 92.. 
    
    I had no complaints about either, they were both professionals and
    worked well together..
    
    Dave
    
    (Nice last name)  :)) 

	This seemed to be the best place I could find for this...Mods,
please move if I misguesssed.... thanks...

	We've signed a P&S on a serious fixer upper under the FHA 203K
program. The location is prime waterfront. The house is in "fair" to
"poor" condition. For those not familiar with 203K, the program lets
you finance the house and all the improvements (less the down payment)
and the only stipulations are that you can't overbuild for the neighborhood
or exceed the completed market value by more than 10%.

	The house falls under 203K because it has no water. The well that
used to feed this house was split off to the abutting property. We've had
the house inspected and it came out about where we thought it would. Some
framing and lally columns are needed, needs a heating system, wiring is recent
but needs some work to bring it into code. Plumbing is in pretty good shape.
All in all the total cost of the house and the improvements would still
total well *below* the market value.

	Here's the problem.... The house inspector found remnants of an
Underground Oil Storage tank (UST). After inquiring with the owner of
the abutting property, sure enough there *IS* a UST on her property. The
lines run from her property to the 203K house cellar. The tank was supposedly
drained, but not filled with sand. A new oil tank is in the basement of the
203K house.

	Here's the "other" problem.. There is a "casual dump" on the opposite
end of the property. A quick inspection shows items like paint cans, bicycle
frames, a car frame, flooring, wall lathe, brush.

	Our thoughts range from "run away, far away and don't look back because
future liability could be deadly", to "Let's do it and just keep our mouths
shut".... What we'd like to see is the bank (forclosed property) clean up
these items then move forward, but we feel they wouldn't even bite on this one.

	The house is located in New Hampshire, and we currently have plenty
of contingencies which would let us out of the contract unscathed.

	What would you do?

thanks,

Rick

<cross-posted to Real_estate>

    "prime waterfront" is hard to get.  I'd check into EPA regs and find
    out how much you'd have to pay to get that oil tank out of there.  If
    it's not too much to bear, then go for it and help clean up the
    environment.
    
    Lots of places have casual dumps.  Unless you have reason to believe
    that there's asbestos in there, I'd just clean it up enough that it's
    not an eyesore.
    
    Where are you getting water?  Well, or town?  Contingency for that?
    
    Mark

	Review - existing house, water supply well 'split off'
to adjoining property.  Same adjoining property has UST which
fed house in question.

	Did both lots formerly belong to the house in question, and
the 'adjoining' building get built recently, at which point the
water supply was 'stolen' and the house in question abandoned?  This
is what it sounds like.  Both lots are now independent, right?

	I don't see how the UST tank would be a problem - it's not
on your property!  The neighbor will have to pay big bucks to have it
removed and all the 'contaminated' soil removed and replaced, not you.
The dump sounds domestic, so just get a dumpster (you'll need one for
the renovations, anyway...)  Drill a new well (whose plot is the current
one on?) or connect to town water and you're set.  But wait - what about
septic?  Where's the field, on which plot?  

>             <<< Note 2014.17 by PCBUOA::TARDIFF "Dave Tardiff" >>>
>                           -< ...a BIG dumpster.... >-
>
>
>	Review - existing house, water supply well 'split off'
>to adjoining property.  Same adjoining property has UST which
>fed house in question.

	New house and 203K house (the one we are considering) previously
shared the same lot. Existing well on New house property is currently piped
to both houses, although shutoff in the new house so no flow is going to
the 203K house any longer.

>	Did both lots formerly belong to the house in question, and
>the 'adjoining' building get built recently, at which point the
>water supply was 'stolen' and the house in question abandoned?  This
>is what it sounds like.  Both lots are now independent, right?

	Yes...

>	I don't see how the UST tank would be a problem - it's not
>on your property!  The neighbor will have to pay big bucks to have it
>removed and all the 'contaminated' soil removed and replaced, not you.
>The dump sounds domestic, so just get a dumpster (you'll need one for
>>the renovations, anyway...)  Drill a new well (whose plot is the current
>one on?) or connect to town water and you're set.  But wait - what about
>septic?  Where's the field, on which plot?  

	True, the UST is not on the 203K house's property, *BUT* the
lines are and it sits right beside the property line. Would this be minimal
exposure since 1) UST is on other property 2) Supposedly it's empty? Would
I be liable to some extent because of the lines which run to the 203K house
in the event of a spill?

	Both houses have town sewer. However, town water is too far away
to be a financially feasible option, a new well must be drilled for the 203K
house.

thanks,

Rick

>	True, the UST is not on the 203K house's property, *BUT* the
>lines are and it sits right beside the property line. Would this be minimal
>exposure since 1) UST is on other property 2) Supposedly it's empty? Would
>I be liable to some extent because of the lines which run to the 203K house
>in the event of a spill?

	Talk with the relevant officials in the town.  Explain the tank
situation, and see what the risks are.  If it never leaked, then you'd
be ok - worst case would be that they'll assume a leak and come in and
require you to remove it all (including the 'contaminated' dirt).  Seems
that the neighbor would get most of that burden, though - you might get
just the edge plus the feed line trench (that can't be that bad...).
	While you're there, ask about the well - whether the 'risk' of
the tank puts any restrictions on possible wells.
	I'd believe that the existing, drained tank will be grandfathered
safe. (This is NH, right?).  I think the automatic must-pay-to-remove stuff
kicks in only if you de-commission a tank, and even that may be by state.
This is where the local officials come in - they can explain the risks.

	My old house has a basement tank, on a dirt floor.  How's that
any different from an UST?  Hmmm...perhaps I shouldn't tell anyone that?
	

	Just to close this latest string.......

	We've decided to pass on the property with the Underground
Storage Tank next door. We recently found that even though the tank
may reside on someone else's property, the abutters (US!) can be 
liable for cleanup costs and they can be extensive (upwards of 80K!).
Cases such as this have already occurred in Mass. While this property
is in NH, we cannot afford to have an 80K+++ liability hanging over our
heads.

Rick