Lead Renovation Containment, Clearance, and Records
The 6 ft work area, the 8 ft vertical, the 6-mil drop, the shrouded HEPA vacuum, the clearance numbers in micrograms per square foot, and the record set a certified firm keeps under the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule.
Interior work areas extend 6 ft in every direction and 8 ft up. Floors get 10 micrograms per square foot at clearance, carpets get 100, and every other surface gets 400. Clearance is required for floors, carpets, interior windows and sills, and demolition or structural repairs.
How the math works
- The work area (40 CFR 745.83 and 745.85): the renovation area extends 6 ft horizontally in every direction from the point of renovation, and 8 ft vertically, with visible barriers and signs. The 6 ft is measured in all directions from the disturbed surface, so a window, a door, a baseboard run, and a floor patch all carry their own 6 ft, and the barrier is placed before any dust is made.
- Drop and containment (745.85(d)): 6-mil plastic covers the work area floor and extends 6 ft beyond the work on every side, is taped and sealed at the seams, covers and seals furniture, fixtures, and floors that stay in the area, and is 8 ft up the vertical surfaces. Full containment for demolition, structural repairs, and work that floods the room with dust: sealed room, plastic to the ceiling, a taped entry seam, and negative air through a HEPA scrubber.
- Filtration (745.85(e) and (f)): wet methods to keep dust down, a shrouded 8 in HEPA vacuum with a self-contained bag for the cleaning sequence, HEPA air scrubbing for demolition, structural repairs, and full containment, and no unshrouded vacuum, no dry sweep, no compressed air, and no heat gun over 1,100 F.
- Clearance (745.125(a)): floors 10 micrograms per square foot, carpets 100 micrograms, interior windows, window sills, and door friction surfaces 10 micrograms on the surface and 100 on the friction line, and all other surfaces 400 micrograms, by dust wipe analysis in a lab that reports to the method. A failed reading means re-clean and re-sample, and the work area stays in containment until the pass.
- Certification and records (745.81, 745.89, 745.113): a certified firm with a certified renovator on covered work, the Renovate Right brochure delivered before work starts, signs and barriers on site, and the record set kept 3 years: the firm certification, the renovator cards, the training records, the brochure delivery, and the containment, cleaning, and clearance documentation.
How big does an RRP work area have to be?
Interior work areas extend 6 ft in every direction from the renovation, and 8 ft up the walls. On a 12 ft by 10 ft room the boundary is a 24 ft by 22 ft area, which is 528 sq ft, and the barriers and signs go at that line. A single window, a door, and a floor patch each carry their own 6 ft in all directions, and a 6 ft by 6 ft barrier on a wall is a work area.
What are the clearance numbers in micrograms?
Floors 10 micrograms per square foot, carpets 100, interior windows and window sills 10 on the surface and 100 on the friction surface, and every other surface 400 (40 CFR 745.125(a)). The lab reads a dust wipe sample by the method it reports, and three samples cover a floor type.
When is a clearance test required?
Clearance is required for work on floors, work on carpets, work on interior windows and window sills, and demolition and structural repairs. A job that touches any of those four categories ends with the dust wipes, the lab analysis, and the pass before the containment comes down.
Does my contractor have to be lead certified?
In target housing, which is housing built before 1960, and in a child-occupied facility, the work needs a certified firm with a certified renovator on site, and the Renovate Right brochure delivered before the work. Minor repairs under 6 sq ft per interior room and 20 sq ft per exterior are exempt, and demolition, a replacement, and a multi-component job are not minor.