Radon mitigation

[imashooter2]

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

Those systems work by creating negative pressure to pull indoor heated / cooled air through the same cracks and leaks in the foundation that would allow the gas into the home.

[Wayne Smith]

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

Aahh, Gear, you don't live around here! If I had a basement I'd have a swimming pool under my house. OTH, we are above a couple of miles of sandstone so there is no possibility of radon, so my geologist wife tells me.

I have to play in the garage.

[44man]

Radon can vary in a few miles. The source is underground of course.
Testing is real cheap.
Some worry about casting and lead but it is such a small concern compared to radon.

[MT Gianni]

30 miles from me are 4 or 5 old mines. They are now "health mines' where folks come and pay from all over the world to spend a week in a radon rich environment. They leave feeling much less pain than what they arrived with.

[richhodg66]

Well, the crew is coming Monday to install the mitigation stuff. Says it'll cost about $950 so the seller's offer to pay $600 will take care of most of it. Part of the cost is for a monitor to make sure it keeps doing what it's supposedto be doing.

I never smoked, but I think it's been proven thatit is definitely a contributor to lung and other types of cancers. Maybe the combination of smoking and radon exposure is what causes lung cancer?? Not real sure, but I want to take any reasonably prudent measures. I don't want to live to be 100, but I sure don't want to spend my 70s battling lung cancer.

[shooter93]

Radon is pretty much everywhere Gear.....but if your soil or underlying layers aren't rocky it's generally not a problem. A lot of limestone in my area so many people have it in the basement only. Where I built it was 4 feet of topsoil and 10 feet of clays. You could put all the rocks from my foundation in a 5 gallon bucket so no trouble. Like I said if there is clean stone under the slap a very simple pipe system will work well.....where else does a shooter play Gear????.....my loading room is on the second floor next to the master bedroom. I can cast there using a window fan but I usually cast in my shop. My wife doesn't shoot but she understands an addict.....smiles.

[shooter93]

One more thing Rich....I don't know how high your readings are or if radon is common in your area but if you're on a well you may want the water checked too if that's the case. Ingesting radon doesn't apper to cause trouble but there are studies being done on the effects of breathing in steam such as showering.

[richhodg66]

No well, it'll be in Topeka. Much as I never thought I would, I'm moving from the sticks into a city. Gotta be closer to the job, but the house I'm in is payed for and I should be able to spend the time and money to do some renovations and such to it and move back into it after second retirement in 15-16 years, at least that's the plan for now. I am kind of looking forward to it, all my loading for a long time has been in my non-climate controlled barn which is a real challenge at certain times of the year. This new house has the basement and a screen porch in the backyard for casting, so I will be a lot more comfortable doing it. It will have less space for motorcycles, but I think I can still deal with it.

The radon rating was 14 when he took it during the inspection. The EPA says 4 is the highest safe reading and most say that's really too high, so yeah, it was a problem.

[rexherring]

Radon is a common gas here in this end of our state. I work for the health department as an Environmental Health Practitioner and get weekly calls on it. Seal all cracks in the concrete with a poly caulk if you can get to the cracks. Dig a hole in the corner as if you would a sump pump, a perforated pipe in the hole (usully 4 inch pvc)and surround with rock, seal the hole up and vent it to the outside. Install an efficient exhaust fan on the pipe that you can get online for this purpose. It will pull the radon out from under the cement slab and will also help remove moisture in musty basements. It will take some time for it to start drying out the subsoil under the cement slab but it will.

[L1A1Rocker]

As I recall, radon was not an issue until we switched to energy effecient "green" houses.

[tall grass]

richhodg66

Doc Fatley, professor of chemistry at Kansas State, told us in class that you would have to get down and suck the air right off of the floor to get radon poisoning, it is that heavy (just like mercury and lead fumes). I'm not saying that radon isn't a problem but knowing that it is heavy will help to know how to manage it best. I wonder how much the clothes dryer mitigates.

Jim

[Charlie Two Tracks]

I have thought about getting our house tested but didn't know what I would do if it tested positive. I have an old brick walled basement..........

[MT Gianni]

If you plan on selling and know that you have had radon issues you must disclose the facts as you know them. If you don't know what you have you cannot be held liable.

[rexherring]

richhodg66

Doc Fatley, professor of chemistry at Kansas State, told us in class that you would have to get down and suck the air right off of the floor to get radon poisoning, it is that heavy (just like mercury and lead fumes). I'm not saying that radon isn't a problem but knowing that it is heavy will help to know how to manage it best. I wonder how much the clothes dryer mitigates.

Jim

The radon tests that we do, are taken from a normal bed height because it's based on an 8 hour exposure for max levels, so it's hard to believe the floor sucking issue. Some levels are very high in our area due to shallow lignite coal veins that can contain uranium. Radon is a gas produced by the decay of said uranium in higher than normal amounts. The under floor method I mentioned does effectively remove the gas as I've seen in test results here. The US standard here is a max of 4pL but in Canada they have a max of 10pL so don't figure as to which is an acceptible level.

[tall grass]

rexherring

My comment deals with the specific gravity of elemental gases of lead, mercury, uranium which are all heavier than air. Thus it should pool in low places. If you are getting it at the bed levels there has got to be a lot of radon. You know I just hate it when a discussion gets to this point and I have to actually have to look up and see how much heavier is radon than air? I wonder if it is in one of the CRC hand books at the library. We seem to have our share of it in this part of Kansas. Not much coal but plenty of limestone. Would be interesting to see what it tests in different levels in a basement.

Jim

[rexherring]

tall grass, I didn't mean it to sound like I dissed you on that. Yup, heavier than air but it disperses throughout a home due to normal air movement and forced air furnaces and central air systems.

[zxcvbob]

I am not an expert, but I don't trust anybody with the words "mitigation" or "abatement" in their names. Just sayin'

Radon is heavier than air so the highest concentration will be in the basement near the floor (that's where it's coming in anyway) But if you don't get rid of it, it will diffuse into the rest of the house too. Do you have a sump in the basement? A tiny fan to suck out the air in the sump and vent it outside shouldn't be all that expensive and is probably all you need.

If you're buying the house this should be the seller's problem not yours -- or at least the settlement price gets adjusted at closing.

ETA: the system Rex described in #29 should work great. But if you have a sump pump already I think you can utilize that instead of digging another hole. It might not be as effective, but it probably doesn't need to be.

[shaune509]

As stated in post #30 we have gone from one problem ie air leaks-must be pluged to a new problem, remove radon and add air to air exchangers to bring in fresh air. We also did not have the problem with mold that we now have before 'house wrapping'.
Shaune509