For the month of October, spend $25 at any Sherwin-Williams paint stores and get a free Purdy paint brush.  Please see Sherwin-Williams coupon for further details.

The EPA’s new lead paint rule (RRP) takes effect April 22, 2010.  Learn more at this free webinar for contractors and those that work on homes built prior to 1978 that may contain lead paint.

The one hour webinar to be held Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 2pm eastern.  Pre registration is required To register for the webinar, click here.

If you are a homeowner and your house  was built prior to 1978, there is a good chance it contains some lead paint.   Before you have any work that may disturb painted surfaces, your contractor is now required to provide you with this pamphlet available online at www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovaterightbrochure.pdf

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North Carolina is the third state in the US to administer and enforce a Lead Renovation Repair and Painting (RRP) program.  See EPA RRP and North Carolina Lead program for additional information.

From EPA.gov

The RRP program mandates that contractors working in homes and child-occupied facilities built before 1978 be trained and certified in lead-safe work practices by the state of North Carolina. Similar EPA requirements will be in place nationwide by April 2010, but the North Carolina program will operate in lieu of EPA’s program in that state, allowing for greater local oversight. EPA’s authorization of North Carolina’s program is based on the application letter from North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue and a certification from the Chief Deputy Attorney General, Grayson G. Kelley, that the North Carolina program is at least as protective as the EPA RRP program and provides adequate enforcement.

If you are doing any work yourself as a do it yourself project, there is some good information on lead paint hazards at www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovation.htm

Other details from the Environment Protection Agency:
Federal law requires that individuals receive certain information before renovating six square feet or more of painted surfaces in a room for interior projects or more than twenty square feet of painted surfaces for exterior projects in housing, child care facilities and schools built before 1978.
-Homeowners and tenants: renovators must give you this pamphlet
before starting work.
-Child care facilities, including preschools and kindergarten classrooms,
and the families of children under the age of six that attend those facilities: renovators must provide a copy of this pamphlet to child-care facilities and general renovation information to families whose children attend those facilities.

Also, beginning April 2010, federal law will require contractors that disturb
lead-based paint in homes, child care facilities and schools, built before 1978
to be certified and follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination. Therefore beginning in April 2010, ask to see your contractor’s certification.

For more tips, please visit www.HouseFixer.Info