Radon mitigation

[richhodg66]

Long story short, I'm in the process of buying a nice house close to where I work now and in the course of the home inspection I payed for, it came out that it has high radon readings.

Now I'm not the type to fear every little thing that comes along, but I've heard and read enough about this stuff and plan to be in the house about 15-16 years so I'm concerned. The guy who did the inspection gave a rough estimate of between $900-$1250 on fixing the problem if I hire someone out to do it. As I understand it, it really is drilling into the gound and installing a vent fan and pipe to kind of create an overpresure to route this stuff out of the house which seems straightforward enough.

Does the cost estimate sound about right? The owner has offered to put up $600 against the cost of doing it (quite frankly, I could afford to do it and like the house well enough that I most likely would), but I seriously doubt he's gonna get it sold with the problem, in fact, the VA still needs to do their appraisal and a high radon reading if they test for it would most likely be a show stopper.

Thoughts? I've only ever bought one house in my life and that was 18 years ago. I'm not in the construction line of work and really don't know a lot more about this than just what a few quick google searches has revealed.

[WILCO]

http://www.epa.gov/radon/pubs/consguid.html

http://www.fixradon.com/techniques.html

Who pays for radon mitigation?: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load...519277.html?19

http://www.radonrepair.com/faq/

http://www.wpb-radon.com/radon_FAQ.html


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[Ickisrulz]

Is the house in Colorado? 20 years ago the USAF did a service wide radon assement. The only high readings were in Colorado Springs and Denver.

[44man]

The stuff is a big problem. There are many places in VA with the stuff and one house I looked at had a fan blowing up out of the basement into the rest of the house----NO WAY.
I bought a house in the eastern panhandle of WV and ran a test. I found no Radon at all.
The radiation will give your family cancer.
The price sounds good to me but make sure it is enough work to do the job. It might cost more to do it right so please research the fixes.

[richhodg66]

Thanks for the responses. The realtor has a guy who does this work, so I'm gonna get him in there and give me a no kidding answer about cost.

I really do think the seller ought to foot the whole bill for this, but I also don't want to cut my nose off to spite my face and lose the house over a few hundred bucks.

This house we've been living in for the past 18 years has never been tested that I can recall, now I'm kinda worried.

[Wayne Smith]

It is a problem in New England. It is released from the rock under the house, you cannot remove the source. Other than a sheet of lead under the house (how long would that last for any of us??) diverting the flow is the best solution.

[375RUGER]

I don't know how you are supposed to "fix" radon. It is a naturally occuring gas that comes from the earth. If it is in the house-open the doors it will leave. It has a high affinity for synthetic fabrics, cotton not so much.
Since it usually comes in through the basement, they only reasonable way to get it out is to exhaust the basement and should keep it out of the rest of the house.
Opening the house for a few days should be enough to get it out of the carpets and other synthetic stuff it can attach to.

[Bad Water Bill]

If you own a house and want to sell it YOU must make it sellable.

If you do not or can not afford to fix the problem YOU lower the price.

[shooter93]

A couple things you need to know first , and some things depend on the age of the house.......are they reading the basement and the first and second floors? It is not uncommon to have high readings in the basement and upstairs test virtually nothing. If you're not using the basement much if nothing else this would give you some time to install a system..... Secondly....find out what was used beneath the basement slab. For years we've used nothing but clean 2B stone. If that was used then basically you drill one or two holes (this depends on the size of the slab) for a 4 inch schedule 40 pipe to go into, it has to enter the stone base. You then run the pipe up the wall installing a fan that fits the pipe along the way and exit the house at the appropriate place. this will cause a negative pressure under the slab which is generally enough to mitigate it. If the stone under the slab is crushed fill or no stone at all this complicates the matter. Those estimates are about wht it runs around here but if you're handy it's not that big of a job. I hope I explained this well enough and it helps.....also...again around here....it is common for the seller and the buyer to split the cost as it's not required that the buyer fix it.

[imashooter2]

No way would I buy a house where I had to pay a grand to install a system to pump my heated / cooled air out into the environment for the 15 years I planned to live there...

[richhodg66]

The reading was in the basement. With what the owner is paying the cost of the job for me will be minimal. Got in touch with the best guy in Topeka for doing this according to several people in the business so it's gonna get done.

The basement of this house is awsome and is where I'll be doing all my reloading and gun work so it's important to me. I plan on spending a lot of my free time down there.

[montana_charlie]

The realtor has a guy who does this work, so I'm gonna get him in there and give me a no kidding answer about cost.

I won't have a soil test done by a guy who sells fertilizer ... and if the realtor chose the guy who did the inspection, I would get a second opinion on that radon test.

CM

[Superfly]

I need to get my house tested Has anybody else done a home test???

[richhodg66]

The home inspector was a guy I chose, realtor had nothing to do with it, in fact, she didn't even know I had called him and ordered it. The guy and his company have a good reputation in town and he was very thorough and systematic.

Not real sure about the home tests and as I'm learning, a lot of things can affect readings. It's apparently common enough that I think it a good idea to check out a place you're gonna live a while.

[geargnasher]

I just read the other day that radon gas is the #1 known cause of lung cancer in the US. If that's true, I wonder why all the hoopla is directed toward the smokers......

Anyway, radon seems to be nasty stuff, I hope it works out for you. I cracked a big grin when Shooter93 mentioned the possibility of you not spending much time there. A boolit caster/reloader buying a house with a basement? Where else are you supposed to play????

Gear

[MT Gianni]

No way would I buy a house where I had to pay a grand to install a system to pump my heated / cooled air out into the environment for the 15 years I planned to live there...

To do it right you pump air out of below the basement slab floor, not heated or cooled air.

[Bad Water Bill]

I just read the other day that radon gas is the #1 known cause of lung cancer in the US. If that's true, I wonder why all the hoopla is directed toward the smokers......

Gear

They need a whipping boy.

Many years ago I was in the waiting room when a MD told the parents their 9 year old son had lung cancer with 6 weeks to go.

That is impossible said the mother. We will not even associate with anyone that smokes.

The DR looked her in the eye and said "Mam we really do not what actually causes cancer, smoking is only one thing we are looking at."

Just look at all of the taxes they can add onto a pack of smokes because the smokers can not fight back.

If more information was made available about Radon many towns might not be able to sell even one house.

[waksupi]

I recently had a bit of experience with this. My mom was selling a house, and needed the testing done. The realtor wanted over $1000 to get it done. I did some checking, and found there are test kits available from the county for around $15.

[geargnasher]

They need a whipping boy.

Many years ago I was in the waiting room when a MD told the parents their 9 year old son had lung cancer with 6 weeks to go.

That is impossible said the mother. We will not even associate with anyone that smokes.

The DR looked her in the eye and said "Mam we really do not what actually causes cancer, smoking is only one thing we are looking at."

Just look at all of the taxes they can add onto a pack of smokes because the smokers can not fight back.

If more information was made available about Radon many towns might not be able to sell even one house.

Yep, follow the money trail to the answer.

Not living in a radon-prone area, I don't know much about it and figured it was just another moneymaker for sensationalists and insurance companies, but apparently it's every bit as much of a concern as it's made out to be or probably even worse than made out to be due to the effect on the real estate market. I even saw "radon detectors" that do constant monitoring like smoke or CO alarms in the section of my local hardware store where I buy lead test wipes. If I had a known issue with Radon I'd sure do some research and get a monitor if having one isn't part of the mitigation routine.

Gear

[Bad Water Bill]

From what I have read the best thing to do is have some sort of exhaust fan blowing basement air OUTSIDE 24-7-365.