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Sometimes it's messy

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By Natalie
Our perfect little infant daughter has an elevated lead level.

When we painted the interior we actually moved out of the house. When we returned, the crew had cleaned and Harris and I then spent three days cleaning. Of course there was lead paint - that's why we were painting all the trim.

After we confirmed Margot's lead level, we set about a full wholesale cleaning of the house. We have a grid of ceilings, walls, floors, literally every surface in our house needs to be HEPA vacuumed and then wet washed. This is in addition to the HEGA filter we run upstairs and the two Trane Clean Air Effects units we had installed with the HVAC last year. We are on a mission to get the dust out of our house. It's not just about being neat and tidy, it's about neuro-cognitive effects for our daughter.

So on Saturday, when we woke up and I looked at the areas inside where they had completed touch ups and saw a fine layer of dust I literally lost it. I sat down on the bed and just started sobbing. I shut the door and just cried on the bed for half an hour. All the work was for nothing.  We needed to start over. Margot's lead level was just going to keep getting higher until we have to take more aggressive action to lower it.

Harris pointed out that we were almost there. He pointed out all of the amazing work that's been done on the house. He pointed out that we have mostly a home now, not a collection of rooms that can't be accessed due to hazards or deterioration.

I'll see it again soon I'm sure. Right now I just see a needling punch list of things I wanted complete last month.

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