Half my time is spent cutting new frames, the other half is historic preservation work. Most of what I touch predates the 1978 moratorium by better than a century, (The current project dates to 1795) and of course often involves invading painted surfaces. (Though I never scrape or sand them - One of several reasons I never have and never will own a sander) So the new regs that kicked in on Earth Day are high on my mind...
I have to wonder how the laws of unintended consequence might fall into play. (like subsidizing every crackpot replacement window company by offering tax-credits to replace that hundred year old hand made sash with that argon-filled bugly vinyl thingy with the as yet unknown service life, or the environmental degradation being caused by new mining operations the world over in search of rare metals required for half ton Frankenstein batteries needed to power hybrid and plug-in cars) I've already seen more than once, perfectly sound and sometimes beautifully ornate 19th ca. interior woodwork removed and replaced with crappy clamshell casings and mopboards, simply because it removes the lead (and potential future liability) from the premises while disturbing it as little as possible. The irony is, it is now out there, somewhere in the world, perhaps doing far more harm, with the thousands of other similarly removed pieces in a similar condensed time frame, than had those pieces been left in place till the end of the much more time staggered service lives of the structures that housed them.
Speaking of liability, I also have to wonder (my rates A year ago now, my exploded 1000% so I can't help but) what the actuaries are now calculating in their new reg driven risk assessments and how this might affect my future rates and thusly my ability to do what I do
The cat out'a the bag is never again a pig in a poke, even if those opening the sack don't pause to consider all they are unleashing.
Some links which speak to the lead paint issue and historic preservation -
http://www.hud.gov/offices/lead/lbp/hudguidelines/Ch18.pdfhttp://www.nps.gov/hps/tps/briefs/brief37.htm
