Meth House....Burn it? (Probably not huh?)
 

There is a lot right outside of the city limits of the town where I live that has an old dilapidated house on it. Rumor has it that it is (or at least was) a meth house. The thing is over 100 years old and is pretty much falling down around the ears of the guy that lives there.

How this relates to me......

DH and I are looking for a lot outside of the city limits (we live w/in them) where I could build a chicken coop (poultry is illegal in town) and have a larger squash patch, etc (I love squash, but it doesn't fit into my tiny city garden very well). I am pretty sure we could get this place for fairly cheap. DH is on the fire co and occasionally they will do a 'training burn' of a condemned house. We could do that with this house, were we to acquire it.

However, I can only imagine that--if we did that with this house--the ashes, etc would be very toxic, right? I wouldn't want that in my squash patch, or as the soil in my chicken yard....Is that the case? I just didn't even know where to begin looking into this issue and thought someone here might be able to point me in the right direction.

I am not particularly attached to this lot or anything, so no biggie if it doesn't work out. It IS too bad for it though, because there are some gorgeous huge cottonwoods on it, and plenty of water (which is a rarity in these parts...). I would love to be able to get that eyesore off of there and clean it up. But not if it is going to be extremely expensive--or toxic.

Anyway, thanks for any ideas!!

Erin :)

If you think they have been cooking meth in it RUN AWAY!!! The government looks at almost everything used in cooking it as being a HAZMAT and if you own it you are on the hook for the clean up. A very few states have funds that can be used for the clean up but IIRC the paperwork and time to the get funds can be crazy

Erin either way it would be toxic. We had a local fireman that lost 40% of his lung function due to a meth house burning.

Was it a meth house in the sense that they cooked meth there, or just that vagrants went there to do meth?

I'm sure one of the more religious posters can offer an appropriate bible passage, let me just say that fire is cleansing. I personally doubt the ashes will be any more dirty than any other ashes.

I think it's considered too dangerous to burn down meth houses because of lethal gases. If a meth house here catches on fire by accident the entire neighbourhood will be evacuated until all danger is over. Firemen here HATE having to put out meth house fires! Here when a meth house get destroyed by the city the house gets bulldozed down and all crushed up, an excavator loads all the debris into containers and it all gets taken away to be disposed of safely. The concrete and soil beneath and around the house also gets excavated and removed.
.

what is IIRC?

IIRC - If I Recall Correctly

Yep, sounds like it isn't something to even mess with then. The fireman lost 40% of his lung function :help:?! WOW....That worries me for DH, because occasionally they get called out to structure fires. Might not know until too late what was burning!!

I'll have to find out a bit more about the place. That it was a meth house might just be one of those small town rumors, started because it looks so run down. But there are other spots not very far away that would avoid that whole mess, so that will probably be what we do. Thanks for your input everyone!!

Erin

This may help.
 

This site may help you find out if the house is on a clandestine laboratory register.

http://www.dea.gov/seizures/index.html

The tailer house behind the house my daughter lived in during college was discovered as a meth lab. It was hauled away. If they find a meth lab in a motel room it is locked forever. My brother works for a co that cleans up meth labs in the cities, they make big bucks. I don't think I'd burn the house before finding out what was going on inside first.

"Rumor has it"?

God help us all if you get a hold of some real facts. Till then hold the matches.The run down house might be owned by the old guy who lives there. He may be negligent, lazy, or just plain poor. Who knows? He may also be an eccentric millionare. Why not stop by and talk with him? It might be fun. :)

Why are millionaires eccentric and us poor are just crazy?

Whoa!!!
 

The house we live in now had a meth lab in an upstairs bedroom at one time. You need to check to be sure it was actually a meth house before you do anything. What happens after that depends on how much meth and for how long.

Here is what happens in TN. Once house is known to have been used to cook meth, that house is determined by the health dept to be uninhabitable. Then to make it able to be lived in again - all soft surfaces have to be removed - drapes, carpet, wall paper, etc. Kitchen counters, linoleun. Everything has to go. The duct work has to be replaced or cleaned by professionals - following the proceedures for cleaning a meth house. Furnice/AC units have to be inspected. The entire house has to be repainted on the inside. There are probabaly other things they have to do too- depending on the situation. When it is all finished, the health dept comes in again and if the house passes inspection, it can be opened again for people. However, remember this all depends on if they cooked it for a month for their own use or had a big lab for 20 years that they sold meth from. Many of the ingredients for meth are what you would find on store shelves. Personally, I wouldn't let a brake fluid spill and a box of cold medicine stop me from buying a property. But I wouldn't buy a property that I didn't have full confidence in either


I would think you could put in a contract to buy that you want the place inspected for meth with the sale being contingent on the outcome. I would defintely check with my county or state health department for the law concerning a meth house. But please check about this before you make any decisions. What is common knowledge out there isn't always true.

most of the hupla over meth contaminated houses and such is hype from the cops and fire dept to make thier job look more dangerous

I say get a good deal on it and burn it. if you dont someone will

I agree. Everything is promoted to be dangerous nowadays. Some of the stuff in meth is ordinary things that have been around households for years. Burn it.

Gollly geeee. If meth houses are all hype ..... How come it causes brain damage in children/adults that live in houses that cook meth???

Yes, individually the ingrdients are not dangerous, but when cooked together they are. The fumes that permeates the walls, floors, etc. is what is toxic.

As far as the house you are considering buying - get the facts, then make an informed decision.

But if you burn the house, the floors and walls are gone. There is no doubt breathing meth fumes is not good for you, but any burning house gives off noxous fumes from plastics and other things. As far as meth cooking causing brain and lung damage, I'm sure it could if exposed long enough. We have a few meth cookers around here who have been caught several times and served time in prison for it. Their lungs and brain seem to work fine. Everytime the cops get after them for stealing ammonia, they seem to run like the wind. :p It is nasty stuff, but I would not be a bit afraid to burn the house and use the lot.

your local fire department should have enough sense that they should know it would be illegal to burn this house.
Meth labs are a costly exspene and are regulated under the EPA. You must have the proper authority's remove all toxic chemicals. its treated as a toxic chemical dump basically. Your DH should know this if hes fire department personal. Your county could be help liable as well as certain individuals who start the fire. Its a very expensive clean up procedure.
I would recommend against it.

Yes and many of the things we have all around our house are not safe in their natural state.
But the problem isnt the regular house hold items all around the house the problem is when bubba starts playing chemist in his back room.
Many of the chemicals bubba is playing with are not safe to mix and it changes the chemical make up of these items into things that arent so safe to be keeping around the house.

LOL :p. Yep, more--accurate--information is definitely in order here (which is what I was alluding to when I said "I'll have to find out a bit more about the place. That it was a meth house might just be one of those small town rumors, started because it looks so run down.") ;).

I just wanted to know whether it was even worth the hassle, given the possibility that it MIGHT have history as a meth house. When I tried to google it, I just got a bunch of sites decrying the use of the drug....not what to do about the aftermath of the labs. Thought I might be able to get some input here from someone that had (unfortunately) experience with the subject.

Anyway, thanks the words of advice all. Good food for thought.....

Erin :)

Ask your husband if he has ever been in a fire in a house with pvc pipes or siding or air conditioning

pvc poly vinal cloride = cyinide gas when burned

R22 refrigerant when burned =phospate gas =very close to zicron B (the gas nazis used to kill in the concentration camps)

so all house fires are very toxic i would not figure it would be that big if a deal to burn a meth house ,provided all the equiptment and waste had been removed , i wouldn't stand directly down wind but then you shouldn't do that with any fire

i used to work for a pluming company when the pole building we were based out of burned with racks and racks of pvc pipe 70 some firemen went to the hosp from cyinide poisoning , one symtome is thru the roof blood presure and heart racing

my understanding is if you get enought it looks like you had a heart attack well i guess you would be having a heart attack just an atificialy induced one.

Why would it be illegal to burn down? It's not illegal to sell it. I can understand if the chemicals are still in the building, yes, of course it's not legal, but if the house is empty, what's the issue? The amount of toxins let into the air from the meth cooking is minor compared to all the toxins in the building itself from the construction process.

Most houses around here that were real meth house, actual cooking of the product, are either stripped to the studs and rebuilt or burned down by the local fire departments for practice. I even know of one that did start on fire during the cooking process and the Fire Department saved it and someone came in and fixed it all up and is living in it. Of course these houses were all used short term, most meth cooking labs don't stay in one place to long.

That's interesting. Everything I've seen and heard from that police's side looks mighty different. My husband has been with the NY State Police for 20 yrs. The crimes get more and more violent all the time. They can't even get people to come on the job any more and are making it more attractive for people to stay just to get people to do the job. Most of the guys can't wait to retire. I think they lost 6 Troopers last year, most of them to gunshots. I just talked to a judge this morning who has been working his job for 30 yrs (he's also a log buyer and we just had a few acres logged) and wondered if he knew my husband (he does). He is amazed at the changes in that time. He says it used to be local people he would see in court. Now they are people coming out of the cities doing drug crimes in his area. He's seeing more violent crimes and younger people doing them. My husband locked up an 18 yr old kid last week for LIFE for a violent rape. He went in today on a day off to write up a major sex abuse case (4 yr old) while yesterday's interviews are still fresh in his mind (too fresh since he didn't sleep much last night). That is not abnormal any more and we are in a rural area. Some people need to wake up and smell the rotting flesh. We aren't living in the 50s any more. There's more of this stuff going on than a lot of people realize.

Except that FBI national crime statistics don't seem to bear that out. Oh the media hypes everything through the roof but whether anything is getting more violent is questionable. If you go through the data and eliminate certain demographics our crime rate is quite low.

Frankly I'm more afraid of the police than I am of criminals. Criminals don't have the force of government behind them. Criminals generally don't run around dressed like ninjas kicking in doors tossing in flashbangs and shooting innocent people dead in their homes. Criminals usually don't pull you over under authority of law and then threaten and intimidate you. Criminals aren't too difficult to deal with because they don't have the power of the state backing them up. It's no longer Officer Friendly who helps you when you need assistance it is a uniformed thug on a fascist totalitarian power trip who is out to harass you at every turn and do bad things to you. Coming from a family of policemen and sheriffs and the like that saddens me to the core.

But I guess it's all for the children that makes it ok. Or is it to make us safe from terror? Or terrorists? I didn't get the Homeland Security NannyState memo this week.

It's all about money, lots of it. :)

Meth fumes are flammable or else they would not start so many house fires. So, when you burn the house, of course the meth fumes will be burned up. I'm in the heart of meth country and they do not tear down meth houses. The specially trained cops come with their hazmat suits and haul the stuff away from the lab, and the house is returned to the owner, unless the owner is involved in the meth business. Also, whoever posted that motel rooms are sealed forever if meth is cooked in them is wrong. I can show you some right now that are rented every day.