I've been looking at homes for sale and came upon one that is condemned because it was used as a meth lab. The little research I've done shows that there are certified contractors who can inspect and correct the conditions to make a structure habitable. Anyone have experience with this? What chemicals remain in the structure, how to be sure it is safe, etc? The house needs work, just from observation, but looks like a good candidate for rehab.
I dont know anything about meth labs, but I'm sure the police or other law enforcement people have removed all the drugs and/or materials used to make the stuff. That leaves nothing to cleanup, except the reputation of the house. A good scrubbing, some paint, and friendliness to the neighbors should do the job.
Just my opinion.
The chemicals that are used in making meth seep into the wood, carpets, soil, etc. If interested, here is a website outlining the problem.
I know a couple have been declared the functional equivalent of brownfields where the house had to be torn down, trucked off to a haz mat landfill, and a lot of the dirt around the house removed.
Since you don't know anything about meth labs you shouldn't be saying that YOU think just scrubbing and painting is enough to clean up the TOXIC waste residues which are deposited on EVERY surface by the vapors given off by the cook is enough to declare the property "clean"... The proper response is dictated by how long the meth lab was in operation and how high the residual concentration of toxic chemicals at the site... For a lab used only once or twice perhaps removing all fabrics/carpets from the house and scrubbing/painting as well as having any HVAC ductwork professionally cleaned would suffice but if the lab was in operation long enough so that the soils around the perimeter of the house have dangerous levels of chemicals present then the structure is not worth saving and all the contaminated soils would have to be removed...
Kurt Ullman wrote: ~ I know a couple (houses) have been declared the functional ~ equivalent of brownfields where the house had to be torn down, ~ trucked off to a haz mat landfill, and a lot of the dirt ~ around the house removed.
A process that the entire USA will be undergoing before too much longer...
I hate the kind of chemo-phobia engendered by sites like this.
I'm a retired chemist, in his seventies, in good health. If chemicals were this bad, I should have been long dead by now.
In fact, my graduate adviser, in his eighties, just got out of jail last year after conviction 20 years ago of running a meth lab.
Considering the community where this home is located, I have my doubts that the lab existed on the property for very long. That said, I did more searching and found the regs for cleanup in my state...property must undergo very specific sampling and testing before and after cleanup, same for disposal of materials removed. Cleanup must be by cert. contractors, although the law allows the owner to participate under supervision by the contractor.
Little bit here:
Considering all of the gov. agencies involved in the meth problem, it has to be a hugely expensive problem....the local gendarmes grab a lab about every week or so around here.
wrote
Totally wrong.
"Oren" wrote
There are many homes in rural Oregon that have been torn down and 6 to 12 inches of topsoil removed in order to decontaminate the property. You're absolutely right; it's expensive and there are plenty of problems with reusing a former meth lab property.
A crime scene is a crime scene. They obtain evidence they need and run yellow tape around the site. It is up to the owner to remedy the situation.
I often wonder if things don't get blown all out of shape. If you read some of the dangers of the broken CFL lamps , they would not be allowed in the US either.
All the chemicals I see listed are in common use every day. Except the lithium.
Not just meth labs.
Homes use for marijuana grow-ops usually have substantial internal dammage and problems.
And I'm sure that most buyers have access to police reports (because police departments are monetizing their crime and incident data) and buyers will check to see if the property has a history with the police.
Real estate disclosure laws in your area might compel you to make the buyer aware of the home's history. Disclosure laws such as urea formaldehyde insulation, asbestos (etc) are being updated to include meth labs and marijana grow ops.
I looked at a list of all of the chemicals on one website, and I have used all of them (unmixed :o). Before I narrowed down the search to my state's regs, I saw several sites that suggest chemicals used for clean-up. Bleach was one; Simple Green mentioned on several sites.
"Norminn" wrote
On NPR there was a story about the man in Japan who had the misfortune of being caught in both the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He is now in his 90s and shows no signs of cancer, leukemia, or anything else. But that is still no reason to go poking around a nuclear reactor or a nuclear waste dump.
Some homes have been torn down because it was less expensive to rebuild than to do an environmental cleanup.
Thus the reason landlords do such extensive background checks these days on potential tenants and anyone who will be living in a rental (criminal background, renter check, driving record [DUI], credit, etc.)
Just mold cleanup can cost thousands of dollars. And I saw an asbestos cleanup of a business cost $1M! (That is MILLION!)
They totally seal off the building so no air can escape, then go to work on a building wearing space like suits, etc. Big bucks!!!
I would RUN from anything like that. Look at the following...
Hmm. There's at least ONE group of people that wouldn't mind the house was a former meth lab...
Is there a residual odor? I've asked around [sheriff's dept, incarcerated individuals, neighbors, etc] and no one will either confirm, nor deny that a meth lab stinks and you can smell it in the neighborhood.
I ask, because several times at night I've smelled a strange smell lingering in the air and am VERY concerned.
It's so wrong you can't even categorize it as to how wrong - off the scale.
Time the cost of cleanup is factored in, they could give the house away and it wouild still be a losing game.
Harry K
Harry K
If you are unsure, no amount of money to be made can make up for the risks = for the future owners or tenents. Our economy if full of companies making m= oney, by using unsafe, or unproven, yet epa approved, chemicals, and techno= logies. Just start reading MSDS(material Safety Data Sheets) just because e= veryone uses paint, and people aren't being carted off to the hospital in d= roves the day after they paint, doesn't mean we aren't already being carted= off in droves with all kinds of cancers, and unheard of diseases.=20
I am not saying your trying the quick way. This topic is just something I l= ead things back to because it's one of my soap boxes.=20
Lastly, buy only zero-voc paint from a company that you can trust, that use= s specific zero-voc tints. Normal tint, in zero- voc paint is......... Sherwin Williams gladly gave me the MSDS sheets on their new zero-voc paint= . I have been having a tremendous difficulty getting the msds sheets on the= ir TINT. Getting the run around.=20
Can paint off gass toxic chemicals for up to 3 years after applying?=20
Well, if you don't know FOR SURE, Do we have any business using regular pai= nt in homes and businesses, with our family's health at risk?
That's it. I am not done, but I am ending my post. :) have a great, prosper= ous, blessed week.
Gabriel DeLapp
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