Lead dust sucked into HVAC system for weeks
Tl;dr our contractors did zero containment during demo, while running our HVAC, and now our entire house and HVAC system is full of lead dust. We have two kids under 4, one in remission from cancer. What do we do now?
Hi everyone. We bought a home built in 1860 and started renovations on the kitchen and bathrooms last year with a general contractor. We were not living in the home during renovations. We have a one year old baby and a three year old in remission from liver cancer, who also has kidney damage from all the chemo (lead would hit kidneys hard, among the other effects), and were very worried about lead containment.
Unfortunately no containment measures were used and the whole house has lead dust, including all bedrooms and the HVAC system (they kept it running during demo and never cleaned up). We had a professional deep clean and then an environmental specialist came to test. Several hundred times the safe limit in our HVAC system and bedrooms. Another deep clean, another test. Still too high.
We had ServPro come clean every inch of the vacant home over four days, including HVAC system (and recirculate the air) before we had to turn over the keys to our old home and move everything in. Lead tests came back STILL too high in the HVAC system and our baby’s room, and higher than we’d like everywhere else.
From my research it seems like weeks of sucking up lead dust has made it permeate the whole system and it will just continue to be a source of lead for our whole home.
We are staying with family in the meantime, but what is the best path forward? Replace the entire HVAC system? Ductwork too?
Thanks for any advice you can give. We’re a bit lost.