Check4Lead is a business dedicated to safe construction practices. Millions of people across the US are affected by the presence of lead, and without the proper procedures, your family could be at risk too.
We only work together with companies providing EPA-approved lead test kits. It is our goal to expand our product offering and helping ensure the safety of both professionals and families.
We encourage you to follow our blog where we post informative content as it relates to dealing with lead. We also encourage you to check out EPA’s lead section, which includes their pamphlet on keeping your family safe.
We have been in the business of helping businesses, homeowners and people otherwise dealing with lead testing actually complying with important EPA regulation since 2007, why we can frankly say that we believe we know what we are talking about.
TD Lead LLC,
800-336-3909
info@check4lead.com
122 E Chatham St #301
Cary, NC 27511 USA
Why is this an issue we care so deeply about?
If you start looking around, you will find that even if the use of lead paint for homes was banned in 1978, the exposure to the material is still very real, with people being exposed through a variety of different sources, some of them including the old homes that they may live in. If you live in old public housing, such as some of those in the Bronx, there is a very pervasive threat of lead exposure and the many different health effects that it brings along with it. If you have some spare time on your hands, we encourage you to read more about the situation in the Melrose housing in the Bronx. Fortunately they are finally taking measures to remedy the situation.
We have made a very substantial FAQ that address a lot of the common questions we get answered, where you can also get an impression of why we stand so firm on the topic as we do.
There are many negative consequences of lead exposure, especially if it happens over the span of months or years, but any exposure will lead to the buildup in the body, and can have devastating health consequences.
While it is still significantly a risk for homes that were built before the ban went into place, it is still very much something that people need to be aware of because you might very easily end up ordering something from abroad that contains levels of lead a lot higher than what is allowed in the US. If you are buying either spices, kids’ toys or other products when you either go abroad, or if you buy them where they have been shipped from abroad, you do risk significant lead exposure, as those objects have often been found to not comply with US regulation.
Who should make themselves more educated on the topic, and why is our recommendation what it is?
We actually encourage everyone to become more aware of the dangers of lead exposure, whether you live in a home that was built back when it was used in paint or not, as the exposure to the material is dangerous no matter how old you are.
There are however reasons why we do believe that some groups of individuals ought to be especially aware of the legislation as they are significantly more likely to be impacted by its presence than other people are.
People with kids
Lead exposure in kids is especially harmful, especially if your kid is younger than 6 years old. It can have devastating effects on your kid’s developmental abilities, both mental and physical and while you may not live in a home that is supposed to have lead in it because of when it was built, there is still the risk that the soil around it has substantial levels of lead in it because of what was built in the earth prior to you building your home there.
Abatement is important in homes, and you surely don’t want to be planting a vegetable garden, or engaging in other activities that may further expose you or those you love. If you start planting vegetables in contaminated soil, those vegetables will soak up part of the dangerous substances and you’ll be digesting them as you eat the fruits of your labor. Given the inherent health risk especially associated with kids, that is the reason why we encourage families to be especially aware of the consequences.
There are other sections that will be elaborated on in the section on why contractors need to familiarize themselves with the EPA’s RRP regulation.
If you are either a contractor or doing home improvement work
Home improvement and remodeling work that is done on a building that was built before 1978 is required to abide by the EPA’s RRP rules, which requires extensive testing of surfaces that have paint that may be affected by the remodeling work.
If you are either a contractor or someone engaging in such activities as covered by the RRP, you will want to comply with the regulation they have provided as you are otherwise potentially exposing yourself to not just a great deal of financial risk, but you may also be putting your health on the line if you don’t get the necessary training and certifications to know how to safely handle lead paint, which could lead to the same health effects that other adults are at risk of if exposed to lead.
If you are about to start working on a wall that needs to be sanded down before you can do to it what you want, and you start sanding it down not knowing there’s lead in it, you are suddenly unleashing an army of lead dust particles that can enter your lungs and accumulate in your blood, and in the worst case scenarios, it can even be fatal. If that isn’t enough to convince you you should ensure compliance with RRP regulation, then knowing that you may risk very substantial fines if you don’t comply with the regulation may otherwise convince you that you need the certification to know how to appropriately deal with the improvement of old buildings.
If you don’t comply with the regulation you are usually fined $10,000 per case, although up to $17,834 per case for RRP violations, which should convince you that paying the fee necessary for getting the certification is definitely a worthwhile investment.
If you are an every-day adult
The consequences of lead exposure are severe, especially if they are extensive with exposure ranging over a longer period of time. While you may not immediately be in the most exposed group since you’re not a contractor remodeling old homes, or a family that has kids that are especially at risk, it’s good to know of the dangers of buying things from abroad where you aren’t sure about how those things were in fact produced.
Thinking twice before you buy your niece a toy from abroad is a good idea and could just help you be a better uncle.
While we understand that this may be painting a very gloomy picture of the situation, the reality is that many kids show up at the doctor with elevated levels of lead in their blood, which will have devastating effects on them, and several exposures to lead still exist, why we at least want to educate you so you know what you should be aware of.
If anything, we hope that this may have given you some interest in pursuing further reading on our blog, where we post a lot of information regarding lead testing and EPA news.
Some of our resources to help you out
We understand that the first step to better help you limit your exposure to the dangerous heavy metal is in making sure that you have the right access to information. Admitting that it has previously been fairly difficult to find out a bunch about what your various rights are, we set out to change that and hopefully create more transparency in the market, which we hope will also ensure that lead poisoning will eventually become the non-issue in society that it deserves to be. There are still way too many people, both old and young, that are affected by the health consequences that stem from the exposure, why it simply is so important that you accurately use the lead paint testing kits that have been made intentionally to not just document the presence of lead, but also ensure that the right steps are taken when its presence is discovered. Additionally, it is important that if you are testing yourself for the presence of this heavy metal, that you only use the test kits that have in fact been approved by the EPA. If you go on Amazon, you can easily find a bunch of test kits that will claim they can test, but the issue is there is absolutely no proof that they do what they’re supposed to, and they will also not be able to provide the ample documentation needed when you are performing home improvement work.
While we believe that our users are smart ones and that they have the best intentions at heart, we also know from all the data that we collect on the site that it is very easy for users to get discouraged from accessing additional pages on the site. While we have done everything possible in order to make it easier for you to easily navigate the site, including making links that will take you to the different pages that may be good for you to continue on, we also know that it’s easier to include a little bit of information on why you should read the various articles that we have spent a lot of hours writing.
These articles include some of the most relevant ones that you may have an interest in, as well as some of the most popular ones that will help you get started. Additionally, if you have any good ideas on topics for us to write more about, please do write to us and we can see if we can put an article like that in the pipeline.
In addition to making it this far on the page and reading who we are ad what we are about, we encourage you to reach a couple of pages that involve getting to know us better, so that we are also able to provide a better service for you. For instance, for those specific topics, we very much encourage you to both read our terms and conditions as well as our privacy policy pages that are crucial on our site. We have put a great amount of consideration into those pages and do believe it’s a good place for you to start if you haven’t yet familiarized yourself with who we are.
You may be so lucky as to visit this page at a time in the future when Covid-19 is no longer a consideration that you and your business have to deal with, but at the time of this writing which is August 2020, we are unfortunately still dealing with the repercussions associated with this horrible illness (hopefully it will pass soon!), and we have created a very thorough piece of content that helps you better understand how we believe the Covid-19 rules should be understood, although a lot of the information that we have included in that article will also be relevant in case there’s another catastrophe of some sort, flooding included.
Another resource we would definitely like to point out is the one that we have written on the issues associated with lead poisoning, especially when it comes to exposure in inner city public schools which are commonly more affected than other areas for a number of reasons. We strongly believe this is a very specific example of environmental racism that unfortunately affects the lower income communities more than higher income ones, and these communities are simply historically more minorities than they are white. If we don’t recognize it as a problem, it will not be dealt with. So if at all you are in a position to influence public policy making and you believe this could be a problem that affects your area, do something about it.
