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BE A (RE)MODEL PARENT
Keeping Children Safe During Home Renovations
By Alyson McNutt English

My children make our home hazardous for adults. It’s true. From small LEGO™ parts becoming embedded in my feet to discovering shape-sorting blocks only after I’ve twisted my ankle (and we won’t even begin to discuss the diaper pail), my little ones are not exactly safe-home certified.

But as kids, they’re not supposed to be. It’s my and my husband’s responsibility to monitor my little architect-to-be’s building projects, making sure they stay out of the baby’s curious mouth. We scout out missing sippy-cups (lest the toddler find them a week after-the-fact and decide to drink the congealed concoction), and we keep medicine bottles and ointment tubes out of the reach of little hands.

It is our job to make our home safe for our children. And when we bring danger into the house – like with our family’s recent tiling job in our home’s main bathroom – we have to be more vigilant than ever to make sure we are responsibly protecting our most precious assets.

Hidden danger in the air

Mother of six Brandy Brow knows about remodeling with children underfoot. After all, when you have six kids under the age of 12 and have been building and remodeling for 10 years, you become fairly skilled at handling all the complications.

Brow’s understanding of the importance of safety while remodeling was hard-won, however. Her one-year-old daughter suffered lead poisoning when the family removed some French doors in their old house.

“Her levels were one point below intervention, where the state removes the family from the home to do lead abatement,” says Brow. “The outside of the house was lead paint, all the doors, baseboards, and windows were lead, and there was lead paint inside the cupboards.”

The Brow family received priority consideration for their state’s lead abatement program because of the severity of the child’s poisoning and the amount of lead in their home. “The state’s lead reduction program gives a combination grant and non-interest bearing and half forgivable loan payable upon selling the house,” Brow said.

And all the time and work that the family put into taking the house from a poisoned trap to a remodeled living space was worth it. The high lead levels, which had caused irritability, appetite problems, and stunted growth in their daughter, were gone.

“After the lead reduction work, our kid’s lead levels returned to normal and they suffered no long-term effects,” says Brow.

And while not every family who remodels must worry about lead paint, which hasn’t been used in U.S. homes since 1978, there are hazards that can crop up for any family embarking upon a home remodeling project.

Know the risks to breathe easy

Christopher Ashe, one of the stars of HGTV’s 24-Hour Design, isn’t just a carpenter. With more than a decade of experience in the building trade under his belt, Ashe knows about the dangers that families can face when remodeling. “I categorize construction hazards as one of two ways: immediate or long-term,” says Ashe. “Long-term hazards are usually materials that were once commonplace but have since been found to be dangerous.”

Ashe says if, like the Brow family, you’re working in a home that was built before lead was removed from paint, the best way to test for lead is to have a qualified lead inspector come out to test the house. He adds that while wearing approved safety gear when working around lead paint remnants is essential, homeowners should also seal off any HVAC ducts and make sure they vacuum with a HEPA filter vacuum twice a day, minimum.

Even if lead paint isn’t a problem in your home, Ashe’s recommendation about sealing off the HVAC units may still be an important safety step, particularly if you have a child with breathing problems like Nancy Carr.

“My son has asthma, so when my husband and I remodeled our bathroom, we took great efforts to keep our 3-year-old son safe,” Carr says. Because they have a very small home and their son’s room is only 20 feet from the bathroom under construction, they sealed off his room with drop cloths, put rags along the base of the door to help keep out dust and debris, and swept the floors every day in an attempt to shield his little lungs from the dangerous particulates.

Carr says that beyond the environmental hazards, she and her husband anticipated the difficulties of having a toddler underfoot during the process. “I sent him to a babysitter each day for the majority of the project, so he would not be underfoot,” Carr says. “At the end of the project, we hired a maid service to sweep, dust and vacuum our home from top to bottom and made sure to replace the air filters in our HVAC system.”

Study up on your material selection

Harrison Barnes and his wife recently added a deck to their beach home. “My wife is pregnant and we spent around $28,000 building a giant porch overlooking the sea directly on the water,” says Barnes. “We had looked forward to this remodel for years and when the porch was complete we were very happy. Unfortunately, another contractor pointed out to us that the person who built the porch had used pressure treated lumber.”

The lumber Barnes refers to has been treated with the preservative chromated copper arsenic, or CCA. And while it extends the life of the wood by keeping other living organisms from living in it, it contains chemicals that can leech and be harmful to children and pregnant women.

“We actually took the step of removing the porch and rebuilding it to protect our coming first child,” Barnes explains. “We learned later that the baby could have experienced all sorts of issues from the pressure treated lumber’s toxins had we not taken the action we did of removing the porch.”

Industrial hygienist Chuck Whitman, father of two and veteran do-it-yourselfer, says that Barnes is right to be concerned. “Arsenic that has leeched from treated lumber can be found at high concentrations in soil under play sets, decks, and fences constructed of the treated lumber,” he says, noting that concerned parents can check out the CDC Web site (www.cdc.gov) and search for more information on CCA-treated wood.

Ashe notes that researching materials is important to the safety of any home improvement project, and pressure-treated wood is a good example. “Most engineered wood products contain poisons, so research your materials,” he says. “You can always find an eco-friendly alternative. It may cost more, but sometimes it’s a small price to pay.”

Asbestos: a common hazard for older homes

Asbestos is another hazard that was commonly used in older homes. “Many building materials made before the 1970’s contain asbestos as a fire retardant,” says Ashe. And it may be in places you wouldn’t necessarily suspect. Asbestos can be in pipe and furnace insulation; shingles, siding, and roofing; millboard; resilient flooring; the backing on vinyl sheet flooring and floor tile adhesives; patching and joint compound; and even in soundproofing and decorative materials.

Ashe says that asbestos removal should never be a DIY project, though. “Improperly tested or removed asbestos can be a far greater danger than it is undisturbed,” he says. If you suspect your home might have asbestos materials, check the EPA’s website (www.epa.gov) to make sure your contractor is in compliance with the government recommendations.

Don’t forget the ‘immediate dangers’

Of course, chemical hazards aren’t the only problems families need to be concerned with during DIY projects. Parents should always remember that while hammers, saws, and materials may not seem interesting to them, it can be a whole different story for a child.

Ashe says that avoiding these types of “immediate” injuries, as he calls them, just takes some forethought, common sense, and parental enforcement. “Injuries from these hazards can be easily avoided by using common sense, keeping a clean work environment, maintaining good communication, and setting – and enforcing – boundaries with your kids,” he says. If you are unsure about your ability to handle children during the remodel, take a page from Nancy Carr’s book and hire a babysitter – it is well worth the money, not only because it will give your children a safer environment to play in while the project is happening, but also because it will save valuable time where you might otherwise be preoccupied with the little ones.

And while there are many potential dangers in any remodeling project, most jobs can be done safely, even with little ones underfoot. “If researched and executed thoughtfully and correctly, any job you take on can be completely safe,” says Ashe. “The key to safety with any project is common sense.”

Alyson McNutt English is a freelance writer.