Making yard safe for toddler?

[Anonymous]

We're closing on our first home next week and from all appearances it seems the back yard has been used as an auto shop. We've seen several broken down vehicles (car, motorcycles), lots of old tires, and car batteries as well as broken glass, pieces of metal, screws, and various boxes and containers of who knows what. There's a small concrete pad but the yard is mostly dirt and grass. We expect the large items to be gone before closing but we don't expect all the little bits and pieces (and who knows what else) to be cleaned up. We have a toddler, and want it to be a safe place for her to play. We're hoping a rake will catch a lot of the mess. Then what - inspect the yard carefully and pick up by hand what the rake doesn't get? Would a shop vac be a safe alternative? Do we need to worry about things that may have spilled and seeped into the ground in terms of being a safe surface to play? We hope to do some landscaping out there next year, and a box garden with a few veggies, but otherwise don't plan to do too much digging. Any ideas/advice/encouragement are appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Buy a metal detector--you can find a relatively cheap one at Home Depot and sweep the yard.

[Anonymous]

You absolutely need to be concerned about what has spilled and seeped into the ground (and not only contact through play, but also tracking into the house). I'd be very concerned about the soil being contaminated. Between oil, lead, and god knows what else, you could be buying a hazardous waste site.

Have you gotten the soil tested? And what about lead testing for the house? Lead poisoning is absolutely no joke and has lifelong consequences for children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You absolutely need to be concerned about what has spilled and seeped into the ground (and not only contact through play, but also tracking into the house). I'd be very concerned about the soil being contaminated. Between oil, lead, and god knows what else, you could be buying a hazardous waste site.

Have you gotten the soil tested? And what about lead testing for the house? Lead poisoning is absolutely no joke and has lifelong consequences for children.

I think you're over reacting, pp. the soil outside has nothing to do with the inside. Also, here in the DMV pretty much all soil is "contaminated" from car exhaust and rain run off.

Seriously, teflon is detected in breast milk b/c we cook with it and even slather cars in it. Chemicals are everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You absolutely need to be concerned about what has spilled and seeped into the ground (and not only contact through play, but also tracking into the house). I'd be very concerned about the soil being contaminated. Between oil, lead, and god knows what else, you could be buying a hazardous waste site.

Have you gotten the soil tested? And what about lead testing for the house? Lead poisoning is absolutely no joke and has lifelong consequences for children.[/quote

OP here. I hadn't thought about soil testing but that's something we can look into. As the other poster said, chemicals are everywhere, but maybe wouldn't hurt to find out what's in the yard to decide how to handle it.

We're having some lead paint remediation done in the basement where the lead paint is flaking. We assume there is lead paint elsewhere in the house, as with most of the pre-1970 homes in this area, and are aware of the precautions. Thanks for your concern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buy a metal detector--you can find a relatively cheap one at Home Depot and sweep the yard.

Thanks for the idea!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You absolutely need to be concerned about what has spilled and seeped into the ground (and not only contact through play, but also tracking into the house). I'd be very concerned about the soil being contaminated. Between oil, lead, and god knows what else, you could be buying a hazardous waste site.

Have you gotten the soil tested? And what about lead testing for the house? Lead poisoning is absolutely no joke and has lifelong consequences for children.

I think you're over reacting, pp. the soil outside has nothing to do with the inside. Also, here in the DMV pretty much all soil is "contaminated" from car exhaust and rain run off.

Seriously, teflon is detected in breast milk b/c we cook with it and even slather cars in it. Chemicals are everywhere.

Actually, the soil outside has everything to do with the inside because it gets tracked in. Car exhaust and stormwater runoff are in a different category than potential contamination from motor oil, lead from batteries, etc.

On your second point -- you make no sense. Just because our environment is already contaminated, we shouldn't worry about additional contamination? Ask the parents in Flint, Michigan how they feel about it.

General background levels of pollutants are worrisome, but there are steps we can take such as not cooking in Teflon pans, not buying canned foods with BPA linings, not heating food in plastic, not using plastic water bottles or baby bottles. Buying a house with potentially contaminated soil outside (and potential lead paint inside) without doing due diligence ahead of time to find out the level of contamination, if any, is a really dumb idea for a number of reasons. There's the health issue, there's the potential expense of remediation, and there's the potential for a massive drop in home value.

[Anonymous]

Yes, pollutants can be tracked inside, but lead poisoning from inside a home comes from chipping paint. Yes, get the soil tested, but if high levels are detected, don't grow things you will eat in it. Bring in new soil for this:
https://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/soils/lead-in-home-garden/

[Anonymous]

A metal detector might help. I'd do a container garden so you aren't actually planting in the ground. You could add more dirt so the top layer is more trustworthy.

[Anonymous]

Buy a large magnet on a stick and use it to get up small metal objects.

[Anonymous]

If your backyard isn't too big and you want a fix for a few seasons you could rake up the junk and carefully clean up any nice-ish grassy area. Then lay landscape fabric over any areas you aren't so confident off, and cover it with a thick layer of mulch. You can put a play structure or sandbox or whatever on the much area and feel confident that whatever is below the fabric will stay there.

[Anonymous]

Keep an eye on the backyard after rain - new things might be brought to the surface. Our backyard was all ivy, weeds, and prickers when we bought the house. We cleaned it all up and planted grass, but things emerge from the soil after rains in the hilly part of the yard. I keep finding broken shards of glass in one area - I planted some ground cover there so the kids won't play there.

[Anonymous]

If the agreement was that the junk be removed before closing and it is not, don't close till it is.