Environmental

In New Mexico, 'adobe construction' in older homes may contain:

AHigh levels of radon from fired clay

BStraw, organic materials, and occasionally asbestos or lead in paints and mud plasters applied to the walls✓ Correct

CFormaldehyde from modern binding agents

DPCBs from electrical wiring

Explanation

Traditional New Mexico adobe homes may have multiple layers of historic mud plasters, lime-based paints, and in some 20th-century applications, materials containing asbestos or lead-based paint. Renovation of older adobe homes requires careful environmental assessment.

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Key Terms to Know

Zoning

Local government regulations that control land use by dividing areas into zones specifying permitted uses, building sizes, and densities.

Variance

Official permission to use land in a way that does not conform to the applicable zoning ordinance, granted by a zoning board when strict enforcement would cause undue hardship.

Eminent Domain

The power of government to take private property for public use, with the requirement to pay the owner just compensation.

Adverse Possession

A doctrine by which a person can gain legal title to another's land by openly, continuously, and adversely occupying it for a statutory period.