Haydee's Blog

About my house and lead paint and lack of decisionmaking process:

I live in a 5-bedroom, 3 bathroom "coop" house that also has 3 cats (1 is mine) and 6 chickens (I am vegan and probably should eat eggs, but I don't...I couldn't anyhow, since the people I talk about below eat all of them)...I have Multiple Chemical Sensitivities- please do read about it: http://www.disabilitystudies.com/MCS_Reources.htm

My roommates moved into this house in March of '03. The landlady made it
clear to them that there was indeed lead paint in the house. They didn't
test the house or the kids at that time. There are now two kids, aged 18
months (there were three until mid-Dec, but they moved to rural Hawaii!
lucky!). One of the kids is in a play group with a kid who apparently has
really high lead levels and may have brain damage (?) as a result (?).

Anyhow, so this one family got their kid tested and she is at the high end
of average. One day last week they just suddenly started painting their
rooms (they have 2 rooms plus a giant closet). Ok, so I slept at my
boyfriend's house for 2 nights. Then I come home late on Sat. night and
they are painting their room, which is next to mine, at 12:45 am! My door
is open!! What the #$#@$!!?? Boy, did I freak out. The main way my
boyfriend can tell I'm reacting to something is cuz I get really
angry and cry a lot.

I slept at my house the next night, which was a mistake- I was mostly
scratching my eyes all night. Then they
tested for lead some more and found it on a windowsill and in their
closet. They gave a few days' notice but no opportunity for feedback for
painting the windowsill or wall or whatever (last night) and the closet
(right now).

So the other kid got her lead tested (they don't have insurance,b ut they
have Medical or something) and it is higher than the first kid's. there
is lead on the floor in her room, and there is lead on the floor in our
back entryway (which is also the pantry and the hallway to one bedroom and one bathroom). Our housemates plan on us just going through room by room ("your floor probably has lead, too, Karen") and taking turns sleeping in
the extra room (they didn't test the floor in there, btw). Apparently the
County will come out and look at the house, because of the Medical, but it
is not clear what they can do.

I am angry and hurt that they think that slapping some chemicals around
the house is going to make things better. I have heard that there is a
very specific paint that you are supposed to use, and I am not clear on if
that is what they are using. It looks like house paint, that's all I
know.

I feel like I should almost try to sublet my room or something while all
this painting is gone. But then again, I also want to move. but I don't
have any money. What do you guys think I should do?

there is a woman whose room is only $40 per month more than mine, and she
is moving out in about a month (maybe two). I could almost switch rooms,
except that she painted her room when she moved in, and I am pretty sure
she didn't use low-VOC paint. (My room was painted in July with
supposedly low-VOC paint and I couldn't be in here with the door closed
for 2 weeks, fortunately that was before I moved in).

I try to point out that the chemicals in the paint affect me and my cat a
lot, and that MCS is kind of a cumulative thing so it's going to make me
sicker every time they paint. They insist that it affects their kids
more, but I don't see their kids reacting as strongly as I do (the one
whose rooms were painted this week was a bit sick for a couple of days
mid-week). I'm getting cold and cough, and it's kind of hard to separate
the symptoms from asthma, etc.

Also I have had to go to the store to buy Propulsid because my heartburn
has been so bad, mostly from the stress. Ugh.

Does anyone have any advice or stories about what has worked for them with lead paint? Let me know!