Craftsmens Guild Lead Contamination

Some photos of demolition and after, work done by Craftsmen's Guild of Cupertino, CA, contractor license #507159. Subsequently, we found paint chips that tested positive for lead in our soil where our toddler likes to play. A lead assessor found lead-containing dust in the some ducts of the heating system installed by Craftsmen's Guild, including the duct in our baby's room.

Click on any photo to see larger version. Contact me for full-resolution. We have more photos, but these are representative and show the key points that I think are relevant.

7 Aug 2009: Debris falls. All the walls and ceiling were plaster from 1930. A small section of remaining plaster tested by XRF showed lead paint. Outside, on the left of the image, I (Ania) am sitting about 6 months pregnant. In the background on the right, Matt Amini (the GC) observes. In the foreground, knob and tube wiring indicates age of house.

7 Aug 2009: Same as above, except the photo of Matt Amini is more clear.

7 Aug 2009: Workman doing demolition. Knob and tube wiring indicates age of house.

7 Aug 2009: No tarp on the ground outside. Bits of debris are visible directly on the soil in the full-resolution image.

Below are photos from shortly after the demolition.

15 Aug 2009: Post-demolition. Bits of debris are visible sitting directly on the soil, in front of our vegetable garden.

15 Aug 2009: Watering line missing its end cap. We hadn't expected workmen in our vegetable and flower garden.

15 Aug 2009: Scrapes the length of the house, the aftermath of pushing the debris from the back of the house, down the driveway, into the front, with a Bobcat.

13 Aug 2009: The Bobcat that pushed the demolition debris from the backyard, along the driveway, into the front. The shovel is where a lime tree was growing... until demolition day. The remaining tree is a lemon.

Below are photos from July and Aug 2010.

24 July 2010: Paint chips found by Ania in about 15 minutes near the steps leading off the back porch, a very convenient area to let our baby play.

31 Aug 2010: Ania tested the paint chips from our yard for lead, using a kit bought at Home Depot.

31 Aug 2010: Paint chips clearly test positive (dye turned from yellow to red or pink).

Craftsmen's Guild acted as general contractor. They subcontracted the actual demolition work to Beringer Construction, lic#CA689445, William Schulba, 408-881-0512, P.O. Box 6676, San Jose, CA 95150-6676, beringerconst@comcast.net