Radon

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Leroy
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Radon

Post by Leroy »

In our homebuying adventure, I got an education on radon. Our house was high based on two inspections, so we had a system installed. Spendy little deal, $1,650, but our readings went to a good level so that's ok.

Anyway, I read that the north central US is one of the worst areas for this stuff. Apparently, a few zillion years ago, glaciers came down from Canada and drug a bunch of uranium from the dirt to us. Thanks Canada! So not only does Canada give us a 55 yard line, crappy hockey teams, change that you can't use and dumb accents, but this crap too. Uranium breaks down and makes radon. And we had it. Pretty bad. The guy said it was like smoking two packs a day. My understanding is probably off, but I know more than I did three months ago.

The more you know, the more you know.

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mikechamp
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Re: Radon

Post by mikechamp »

Radon is definitely something to take seriously. For more info, including a county-by-county breakdown, click here:

https://www.epa.gov/radon/epa-map-radon-zones

I know a woman who was struggling to get pregnant. She worked in a building with high levels of radon. After she stopped working in that building for a couple years, she was able to get pregnant... twice. We would later buy that building from a (different) woman who would go on to die from cancer about a year after the purchase was finalized.

During the pre-transaction inspection, the inspector waved the radon flag. The (now deceased) owner paid us to deal with it. A morbid form of irony.

And it may just be contractor supply & demand, @Leroy, but we only paid about ~$900 to get it mitigated. Yes, that was 2 years ago, but I don't think that service has gone up ~80% in the past 2 years.

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Leroy
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Re: Radon

Post by Leroy »

I am not really worried about the cost. I am just glad we went through the steps and got it taken care of. And my research started with that map you posted.

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G. Keenan
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Re: Radon

Post by G. Keenan »

So how does this system counteract the radon?

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Leroy
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Re: Radon

Post by Leroy »

I will explain it from what I remember, not nearly as well as it was explained to me, but whatever.

They dig a hole through the basement concrete, then take a bunch of dirt from under the house, maybe a 6x6 area. Then they put something like a plate over this. A pipe is run up through this plate then and in our case goes up inside the house to the roof. Most of the pictures I saw have this pipe on the outside, but I guess this worked best. Apparently, the object is to create a suction that pulls radon from the air, brings it to that underground area and vents it to the top. My redneck thought is just blow a fan out a window, but I guess that doesn't work. An electrician was required so I guess there is some type of fan somewhere to create the vacuum, but I'm not sure where that is.

The EPA says the maximum level you should have is below 4, but even that isn't great. 2 or below is recommended. We went from a 6 before we moved in to a 12 after we moved in, and now our average is 1.6.

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mikechamp
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Re: Radon

Post by mikechamp »

It doesn't counteract it. Rather, it vents it out, from the ground below to the air above the roof, via a pipe. A chimney of sorts. And there is a fan that runs 24/7 to make that happen.

Without that system, the radon gas seeps into the house, then into the occupants.

So you could say: silent, but deadly.

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mikechamp
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Re: Radon

Post by mikechamp »

Leroy wrote:
November 30 22, 1:57 pm
The EPA says the maximum level you should have is below 4, but even that isn't great. 2 or below is recommended. We went from a 6 before we moved in to a 12 after we moved in, and now our average is 1.6.
This is an important point. Radon levels can change over time, so just because you get a test that reads 3 on a particular date, doesn't mean it will be 3 in a year or two.

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Leroy
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Re: Radon

Post by Leroy »

Yeah, we will probably test on New Year's for a couple of years. A home test that includes lab fees is under $20, while the pros charged $400.

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G. Keenan
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Re: Radon

Post by G. Keenan »

Wild stuff, thanks.

On that EPA map, most of central and northern Illinois is in the red, but the Chicago metro area is orange, so lower levels. That's weird, no? The whole region was glaciated, so why the difference? If an area is more developed, with more soil excavations over time, lots more basements being dug out, etc., does that mean that more of the irradiated soil has been removed already by human activity, compared to a a rural area?

HOW FAR DOWN DOES THE RADON GO?

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Leroy
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Re: Radon

Post by Leroy »

It's hard to get to an answer. There is a town 30 miles from here that was built on top of a coal mine. The houses there are very bad for radon. Something about the coal and uranium and radon and things. So it almost seems disturbing it allowed it to sneak into the homes that are there. But I have read where there is a lot of digging or development, a lot of the gas has already been disturbed and put in the air. It also depends on type of soil. Maybe a new home in that town wouldn't have a problem, but the old ones do. Heavy clay tends to hold radon down, sand or gravel allows it to escape. Florida hardly has any problem I guess because they have a layer of limestone that keeps the gas underneath because the gas can't penetrate that.

Like I said, all of this is stuff I didn't know in September. My head may explode.

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