Neighbors Feuding Over Lead Paint -- Health Concerns Raised As Remodel Stirs Up Dust

A narrow alley - and a lot of bad blood - separate two old houses and two young families on Seattle's Queen Anne Hill.

One family has moved out, at least for now. Each family says the other has been threatening and abusive. Each has hired a lawyer.

This neighborhood beef isn't about wild parties or an overgrown yard. It's about children and lead-based paint.

Susan and John Fleagle say paint stripping over the past month on the exterior of the 80-year-old house next door has turned their home into a house of horrors, a two-bedroom, one-bath hazard to the health of their 2-year-old twins.

Their evidence? Laboratory analysis of soil and dust samples they took inside and out. Several experts agree the lead concentrations in the samples, if accurate, are cause for concern.

Lead-based paint can retard the intellectual and physical development of small children if swallowed or inhaled.

"I don't want stupid children," Susan Fleagle says.

Her neighbor on West Raye Street, Christopher Norberg, says he and his painter have taken reasonable precautions to keep paint dust from spreading. He questions whether any significant amount has wafted across the alley.

He says samples taken by the Fleagles don't exactly come from an unbiased source. And he notes - correctly - that no government agency has told him he's doing anything wrong.

"They've really become somewhat hysterical," Norberg says of his neighbors.

Government officials and private consultants who work with lead don't know where the truth lies in this dispute. They don't know, for instance, whether the Fleagles collected the samples properly, or what the lead levels were in their yard and home before sanding began next door.But they do agree that, unless it's done right, removal of old paint can expose people to dangerous concentrations of lead, a threat many people aren't aware of.

"It's fairly common that people who want to do a good job painting end up making the house a hazard for every child who ever lives in it," says John Roberts, a home-toxins consultant.

Most houses built before 1960 were covered with paint containing 30 to 40 percent lead. The federal government banned lead-based paint 15 years ago, but its legacy persists in millions of houses.

Children under 7 are particularly at risk, the state Health Department says. Long-term exposure to even low concentrations of lead can cause irreversible learning difficulties, mental retardation, delayed neurological and physical development.

Susan Fleagle may know more and worry more about lead than most parents of toddlers. She's a professional potter, and knows that lead in some glazes can cause problems.

A few years ago, when she and her husband considered repainting the exterior of their house, they learned enough about the potential threat of exposure to lead-based paint to opt for vinyl siding instead.

Then their daughter, Anna, was born with lung problems. Fleagle says she's become almost fanatical about keeping the house dust-free.

The Fleagles knew Norberg and his wife, Elaine Boel, were considering repainting, and had advised them of their concern. The day the painters began stripping in mid-September, Boel left a note with the Fleagles' baby-sitter, apologizing for not providing more warning, and suggesting they might want to keep the children indoors for a few days.

When the Fleagles arrived home, "the paint dust on the garbage can in the alley was so thick you could write your name in it," Susan remembers. They moved in with John's parents that night. Two weeks later the Fleagles collected samples of garden soil and dust from a concrete walkway on the alley. When the results came back Oct. 5 from Prezant Associates, a Seattle laboratory that does chemical analysis, "That's when we really wacked out," Susan says.

The garden soil registered 480 parts per million lead, nearly double the level at which the state Department of Ecology normally requires clean up of hazardous sites in residential areas, according to the lab report. "If you're going to plant a garden, a level like that isn't a good thing," Roberts says.

When the Fleagles took more samples a week later, the lead level in the garden soil was up to 1,500 parts per million. Dust samples from two more sites outside had even higher concentrations.

Dust in the well between the window and storm window in their children's bedroom registered 960 parts per million lead. That's higher than you'd expect "unless there's a foundry right next door," says Mike Watson, the Environmental Protection Agency's regional toxicologist. And it suggests the house probably needs a professional cleaning before the children move back in.

Norberg says he told the painters not to sand on windy days, and made certain they spread tarps on the ground to catch falling dust and chips.

The Fleagles say that didn't always happen. They shot a home video Oct. 6 that shows work under way on the wall nearest their home with no tarp beneath - and a coating of dark dust on their front window sill. The state Health Department recommends that surfaces be sprayed with water before sanding to reduce dust. Norberg says he's not sure that's been done.

The agency also recommends against using heat guns to vaporize old paint. They can generate dangerous fumes. The Fleagles say they've seen one in use next door.

Norberg says he doesn't know about that. The contractor, Paradis Painting, did not return several calls.

Susan Fleagle says she's probably spent the equivalent of four full days on the phone, trying to get government agencies interested in her situation. Norberg calls it harassment, "a smear campaign."

Officials from Metro and the state Department of Labor and Industries visited West Raye Street earlier this month but did nothing: Labor and Industries said it lacked jurisdiction and Metro saw nothing illegal going on while officials were there.

The Puget Sound Air Pollution Control Agency recently took samples from both properties. If they match, spokesman Kent Swigard says, action could be taken under a regulation that prohibits anyone from generating pollutants that affect another's life, health or property.

"But we were called in after the fact," Swigard says, "and that makes it difficult."

Congress last year passed legislation ordering the EPA to define by next April just what level of lead in soil and interior dust is dangerous. After October 1996, all contractors who engage in remodeling work that may disturb lead-based paint must be certified and trained to government specifications.

That's fine, Susan Fleagle says, but it comes too late to help her.

Last week Larry Stumpf, who works for a lead-abatement company, toured her home and told Fleagle that, if the lead concentrations in her samples are correct, she'll probably need to spend $30,000 to make the house and yard safe again.

The Fleagles have hired Prezant to take more samples, to resolve any doubts. If cleanup is needed, they say Norberg and Boel should pay the bill.

Every surface must be washed and rinsed twice, Stumpf told Fleagle. The garden must be torn out, every household item with a nonporous surface scrubbed.

Those with porous surfaces must go, Stumpf advised - even the kite on the wall above the twins' beds.

-------------------------------------- ADVICE FOR SAFELY REMOVING LEAD PAINT --------------------------------------

The state Health Department says lead in paint doesn't vaporize and presents little health hazard if it's intact and isn't heated to high temperatures.

Problems arise, however, when the paint flakes or is ground to dust, especially in home-renovation projects.

If you're considering stripping old lead-based paint on the outside of your house, the Health Department offers the following recommendations:

-- Don't use heat guns. They vaporize lead, which can be easily inhaled, even through masks.

-- Spread polyethylene sheeting on the ground out from the foundation. Tape and weight the edges.

-- Cover windows, doors and vents with plastic.

-- Spray the surface with water to reduce dust, and don't scrape or sand on a windy day.

-- Collect dust, paint chips and other debris in plastic bags at the end of each day and dispose of them in accordance with local waste regulations.

-- Keep children and pregnant women away.

Lead-based paint isn't the only source of lead in household dust. Air pollution and household chemicals also contribute.

For more information on household-lead exposure and how to reduce it, write or phone the Washington state Department of Health, Office of Toxic Substances, P.O. Box 47825, Olympia, WA 98504-7825. Phone (206) 586-5403.