Wherein Ozan learns that there's lead contamination on almost every wall in our apartment.
So Wednesday, just as Aydin and I were zipping away to JFK to board a flight to Charlotte to catch a connection to Wilmington, Ozan was up in the apartment with the congenial, articulate, and quite compassionate lead assessor, Luke Gray. A father and neighbor, Luke also went through a lead contamination experience with one of his own children. I wonder if that's what prompted him to become an assessor? On any other day I would have inquired but I was too rushed, throwing things into a suitcase with one hand while holding onto Aydin in the other (so as not to touch anything). The sight of a strange man taking CSI-ish samples and wearing plastic bags to cover his shoes really brought home the gravity of the situation (like we didn't think it was serious enough). He told us the apartment was very clean, not at all typical of a 16 reading. We thought that was reassuring. We thought it meant that maybe it was a one-time exposure. Who knows, maybe it hadn't even happened at home? We were cautiously ... well, optimistic isn't really the word. We were just trying to take things one step at a time so as not to completely freak the f- out.
The health inspector was scheduled to come first thing Friday morning. Luke Gray advised, like the doctor, a thorough cleaning and suggested going ahead and fixing any nicks in the wall where paint might be compromised (very few overall, in our apartment). We weren't really aware of what we were dealing with until Thursday night, when Ozan and I placed separate calls to Mr. Gray. He made so much sense, explaining that while it's a parent's instinct to very reasonably want to locate the source of exposure, the single most important thing is to eliminate exposure points. So Ozan did as advised, hoping that the inspector would find out that it was the leg of an antique desk, or maybe a toy... something that could be discarded immediately and let us fly back home.
But then the health inspector showed up with his gamma-ray pointing gun. And where did he find lead? Frigging everywhere. Almost every wall, even ones we painted when we moved in three years ago. Especially the one with the hairline crack on it. Even more so the door frames, with their 7-inch molding on all sides. Not to mention the window frames. Oh, sweet Jesus, there was a lot of lead and there's no way a repainting was going to fix it. As he marked each offending wall with a big "L" (so Ozan tells me), he explained that the old rules called for repainting each year. But landlords weren't complying so the state made the laws more strict: the only way to fix it was to tear out all the molding in the apartment and put sheet rock up over all the offending walls.
HOLY SHIT.
When Ozan called me, he was very upset. We were worried about what the landlord would think. We have a very good relationship with our landlords. They live upstairs! They take care of Kitty when we go out of town. We send them their mail when they go to Maine every summer. They are our neighbors and share a mutual love of the house in which we live, despite the building's not-so-graceful parts (like the hallway and its decrepit plywood staircase). They are also older, retired, and the building in now their primary source of income. At the same time, though, it's our DAUGHTER. It's her HEALTH. Did they know? Could it have been prevented? Why weren't things done, like repainting every year? We had lots of questions, we had many emotions. It was not going to be easy telling them the big news. And again, Ozan was going to have to handle it alone. Just to emphasize how much of a week from hell this has been, the landlords were scheduled to drive back from Maine TOMORROW.
We decided that they needed to be told as soon as possible, to give them time to digest the news. Ozan called them earlier tonight. The reaction was ... resigned. They say they will not be able to afford the improvements. Of course, the state has mandated the renovations and will send their own people in (at the landlord's expense) if the landlord refuses to fix the exposure points. So now it looks like our landlords are going to have to sell the building. And it looks like, once again, we're moving. Anybody want to rent an apartment to us? We're looking for a nice 3 BR with W/D, DW, 1.5 baths, and outdoor space in the Cobble Hill area.
Have I said HOLY SHIT in this post yet?
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