What 6 CCR 1014-3 actually requires, when disclosure obligations attach, what landlords owe tenants, and how a county health department order gets closed.
We are a remediation contractor. For how any of this applies to your specific transaction, tenancy or dispute, talk to a Colorado real estate attorney. What we can tell you accurately is what the cleanup regulation requires and how the remediation and certification process works.
Colorado regulation 6 CCR 1014-3 governs sampling, assessment and decontamination of properties affected by methamphetamine, along with certification of the consultants and contractors who do that work. Part 1, Section 7.0 sets the numeric cleanup standards:
| Contaminant / area | Threshold | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Methamphetamine | 0.5 µg/100 cm² | General residential surfaces |
| Methamphetamine — limited exposure | 4 µg/100 cm² | Attics, crawlspaces and similar |
| Methamphetamine — painted over | 1.5 µg/100 cm² | Previously painted surfaces |
| Iodine | 22 µg/100 cm² | Where the manufacturing method warrants |
| Lead | 40 µg/ft² | P2P manufacturing method |
| Mercury (vapor) | 1.0 µg/m³ | P2P manufacturing method |
The regulation also requires that screening-level and preliminary assessments be performed by a state-certified consultant, and decontamination by a state-certified contractor. Not every industrial hygienist qualifies — the regulation requires specific meth-lab training and experience.
In Colorado, once an owner knows a property was used to manufacture methamphetamine, or knows it is contaminated above the cleanup standard, that is a material fact affecting the property. Material facts must be disclosed to buyers. Failing to do so is a common route to post-closing litigation, and "I suspected but didn't test" is not the safe harbor people assume it is.
The practical consequence most sellers miss: remediating and certifying before listing usually nets more money than disclosing an open problem. Buyers price unknown contamination far more aggressively than remediation actually costs. Disclosing "contaminated, remediated, certified clear, here are the lab results" is a completely different negotiation than disclosing "contaminated, unresolved."
Colorado does not require meth testing in a standard transaction. It is entirely on you to ask for it. Practical guidance:
Colorado's habitability framework puts the obligation on the landlord, not the tenant. If a rental unit is contaminated above the cleanup standard, remediation is the owner's responsibility. A tenant is not obligated to pay to decontaminate a property they don't own.
For landlords, the exposure runs the other way and it is serious: knowingly renting a contaminated unit — or re-renting one after a maintenance ticket flagged chemical odors — is the fact pattern that ends property management companies. Documented remediation with independent clearance testing is close to a complete defense.
If you are a tenant: notify your landlord in writing, keep a copy, document what you observed with dates and photos, and don't clean it yourself. We will provide a written estimate you can hand them at no charge, whether or not anyone hires us.
When a property is identified as a former manufacturing site — usually through law enforcement — the local health department can issue an order. In practice that means:
Orders do not expire and they do not go away when the property changes hands. If you are buying a property with an open order, you are buying the order. Call the county health department for the specific property address before you close — it is a free phone call.
Most Colorado homeowners policies exclude contamination arising from illegal drug activity, and many name methamphetamine specifically. Landlord and dwelling-fire policies sometimes carry vandalism or malicious-mischief coverage that can reach tenant-caused damage. File anyway and find out — we provide itemized insurer-formatted documentation with every job at no extra charge.
Colorado has not adopted a numeric residential clearance standard for fentanyl the way it has for methamphetamine. Any company offering to certify a property "fentanyl-clear" to a state standard is describing something that does not exist. Where a property involves both substances, the methamphetamine standard governs and we certify to it. For fentanyl-only work we follow established occupational and industry decontamination guidance and document scope and methods in writing.
Usually not. Most Colorado homeowners policies exclude contamination from illegal drug activity, and many specifically name methamphetamine. Landlord and dwelling-fire policies sometimes include limited vandalism or malicious-mischief coverage that can apply to tenant-caused damage — it is worth filing and finding out.
We provide itemized, insurer-formatted documentation with every job at no extra charge, so if there is a claim to be made you have what you need to make it.
Every figure on this site — the rate card, the estimator, anything we discuss on the phone — is a starting point for scoping, not a quote.
Your price is confirmed after two things happen: we review your lab report, so we know the actual contamination level and where it is, and we walk the property in person, so we know what is really coming out and what condition the structure and HVAC are in. Only then do we issue a written, itemized price.
Once that written price is issued, it holds. If something genuinely unforeseen turns up mid-job — asbestos in flooring we are pulling, structural rot, undisclosed hoarding — we stop, document it, and re-quote that portion before proceeding. You will never get a surprise line item after the fact.
A typical single-family decontamination takes 2 to 5 working days on site, plus 2–4 business days for clearance lab results. Light contamination in a small apartment can be done in a single day. Full former-lab remediation with structural removal can run 1–3 weeks.
If you have a closing date, tell us the date. Our 48-hour rush scheduling exists specifically to save transactions.
Not to a standard anyone will accept. Methamphetamine residue is not a surface film — it absorbs into drywall, carpet pad, insulation and duct lining, and it migrates through the HVAC system. Household cleaners redistribute it. Painting over it traps it temporarily and it re-emerges.
More importantly, self-cleaning produces no certification. No lender, no buyer, no county health department and no tenant will accept "I scrubbed it." If the property is going to be sold, rented or occupied by your family, it needs documented clearance.
Most residential meth decontamination we take runs $2,450 to $16,200 depending on square footage, contamination level and how much porous material has to come out. A typical 1,500 sq ft home with moderate use contamination lands around $8,550 for base decon; the same house as a former manufacturing site is closer to $16,200, and a large heavy property runs to roughly $28,800.
The Colorado market average for the same work is roughly $15,000–$20,000, and severe cases elsewhere have been quoted past $100,000. We are meaningfully under that — but we are not going to pretend a former lab cleans up for pocket change.
We publish real numbers on our pricing page and run an instant estimator, because the single most common complaint we hear about this industry is that nobody will tell you a price until they are standing in your living room.
The visual, chemical and documentary warning signs of methamphetamine contamination in a Colorado property — a…
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