13.2 Restricted and Prohibited Practices

Four restricted-practice rules — memorize the numbers

Quick Answer: During abatement, 40 CFR 745.227(e)(6) restricts work practices as follows: (i) open-flame burning or torching of LBP is prohibited; (ii) machine sanding or grinding or abrasive blasting or sandblasting of LBP is prohibited unless used with HEPA exhaust control which removes particles of 0.3 microns or larger from the air at 99.97 percent or greater efficiency; (iii) dry scraping of LBP is permitted only in conjunction with heat guns or around electrical outlets or when treating defective paint spots totaling no more than 2 square feet in any one room, hallway or stairwell or totaling no more than 20 square feet on exterior surfaces; (iv) operating a heat gun on LBP is permitted only at temperatures below 1100 degrees Fahrenheit. HUD's Lead Safe Housing Rule, 24 CFR 35.140, prohibits the same family of techniques on HUD-assisted housing and additionally flags charring, dry sanding, and poorly ventilated volatile chemical stripping. Those extras are HUD, not extra EPA (e)(6) items.

These are work practices, not method labels. They apply whether the scope says paint removal, component replacement, enclosure prep, or encapsulant prep. Chapter 12 already used this table when a crew wanted to torch a painted parting bead to free a window. 745.227(e)(3) then stacks every other Federal, State, and local requirement on top — OSHA 1926.62 and, on assisted housing, 24 CFR 35.140 included. Job pressure does not create a fifth exception.

Memorize this table

Open-flame includes a propane torch, a heat plate that flames, and burning or torching the film. It does not include an infrared unit or a heat gun held below 1100°F. Do not merge (i) and (iv). The 1100°F cap is not a torch exception. If the tool makes a flame, stop. If the tool is a heat gun, read the dial.

HEPA in (ii) is local exhaust on the machine, the same 0.3 µm / 99.97% definition Chapter 10 used for tool exhaust. A respirator on the worker, an air-filtration unit in the corner, or a shop-vac hose taped to a sander is not that control. Room negative air does not legalize an unshrouded grinder.

The interior dry-scrape cap is per room, hallway, or stairwell: no more than 2 square feet of defective paint spots in any one of those spaces. You do not get a fresh 2 ft² every time you turn a corner inside the same room. The exterior cap is no more than 20 square feet on exterior surfaces — a limited-spot allowance, not a whole-elevation strip and not a per-wall reset the rule never wrote.

HUD extras — same job, extra sentences, different cite

On HUD-assisted housing, 24 CFR 35.140 independently says the following methods shall not be used to remove paint that is, or may be, lead-based paint:

HUD Guidelines Chapter 12 is a documented methodology under 745.227(a)(3) for how to remove paint. It does not rewrite (e)(6), and (e)(6) does not swallow 35.140. If the unit is HUD-assisted, you obey both. If the unit is not HUD-assisted, you still obey EPA (e)(6) and OSHA; you just do not pretend EPA printed 35.140(f) inside 745.227.

Three exam pictures that fail

1. Torch to soften paint. The sash is stuck. A worker lights a propane torch just to soften the LBP so the crew can scrape. (e)(6)(i) — prohibited. Softening is still torching of LBP. Use a heat gun below 1100°F, chemicals with ventilation, wet methods, or take the component off. Historic wood is not a torch permit.

2. Needle-gun without HEPA. The crew needle-scales an LBP porch column because it feels like a chisel, not a sander. A needle gun is machine grinding / abrasive work. Without HEPA exhaust control that meets 0.3 µm and 99.97 percent or greater, it is prohibited under (e)(6)(ii). The same answer applies to a belt sander, an unshrouded angle grinder, or open sandblasting of a painted cornice. Putting a paper dust mask on the operator does not change the tool rule.

3. Dry-scrape a whole room. Interior living room, 120 ft² of deteriorated LBP. The crew dry-scrapes every wall because the mist bottle is empty and someone said 2 square feet is only a HUD number. Fail. EPA (e)(6)(iii) allows dry scraping of defective spots totaling no more than 2 square feet in any one room, hallway or stairwell. A whole room is not 2 ft². Wet-scrape, chemically strip with ventilation, use a heat gun below 1100°F and scrape in conjunction with it, or use HEPA-shrouded tools.

Worked example — 18 ft² exterior dry scrape. The rear elevation has scattered failed LBP totaling 18 ft² of spots, not a full-wall strip. Dry scraping those spots sits under the 20 ft² exterior allowance. Dry-scraping the remaining 400 ft² of intact film while the ladders are up does not. Do not treat each wall as a fresh 20 ft² budget the regulation did not write; the text is no more than 20 square feet on exterior surfaces.

Worked example — blasting a cornice with a room AFU. The specification wants the exterior cornice stripped to bare metal. The crew open-blasts without tool HEPA and points to a HEPA air-filtration unit in a nearby window. (e)(6)(ii) requires HEPA exhaust control on the blasting/sanding/grinding operation at 0.3 µm / 99.97%. An AFU is not local exhaust on the blaster. HUD Chapter 12, if blasting must be done, also expects a sealed area under negative pressure with HEPA exhaust — and that still does not replace the tool-exhaust sentence in (e)(6)(ii).

What the exceptions are not

• HEPA on a blasting tool does not legalize a torch.
• A heat gun below 1100°F does not legalize dry-scraping a 200 ft² wall away from the gun.
• The 2 ft² interior exception is defective paint spots, not any 2 ft² of intact film you felt like removing dry.
• Around electrical outlets is around the outlet, not the room that contains an outlet.
• Worker respirators, occupant relocation, weekend overtime, and a GC back-charge threat do not convert a restricted practice into an allowed one.
• Calling the work replacement or encapsulant prep does not park (e)(6). Restricted practices apply during an abatement.

Worked example — the owner is in a hurry. The GC says torching will save a day and the occupant returns Friday. Restricted practices cannot be excepted by job pressure (Section 13.3). A faster illegal method is still illegal. Change to a legal method and write that reason in the report.

Official sources: 40 CFR 745.227(e)(3) and (e)(6); 24 CFR 35.140; HUD Guidelines Chapter 12 as a documented methodology under 745.227(a)(3).