Moved into new (to us, built in 1980) house 2 years ago. Installed an Airthings radon meter a year ago. Levels get up to 400 Bq/m3 when all the windows are closed. Finally had a radon mitigation system installed. Will hopefully get to much safer level below 100 Bq/m3.
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Anyone want to explain how these work? Radon’s a nonissue where I live so I never gave it a second thought.
Put a pipe into the space under the foundation of the house. It’s not a huge void, but whatever space is there will have a mix of normal air and gases like radon.
Hook up a fan to the pipe. It pulls gas out of that space, pushing the radon out into the yard where it can dissipate into the neighborhood instead of reaching a higher concentration inside your house.
Hmm, I wonder if new builds have radon-collection trenches dug before they pour the foundation. It would make sense vs. retrofitting a fan system, but it would add some cost for the extra digging and making sure you don’t just fill the mini trenches with your concrete pour.
Yes, all new construction is required to have a service port installed in the slab so a system can be added easily in the future if required.
Never seen that, but I’m in NW Florida and originally from Tulsa. No radon issues to speak of, especially down here where we don’t have any rocks bigger than pea greavel.
So how does that single port hoover up all the radon, or at least a significant part of it? Still a little lost on that bit. And how does it get through a concrete foundation in the first place? That ain’t sidewalk concrete they pour, it’s thick and fine.
There is always a layer of crushed stone under the concrete slab, so the one port can pull air from underneath the entire slab. Air can always find a way through the concrete, the sump pump pit is a huge hole through the slab that also needs to be sealed.
A large portion of Canada is basically built on solid granite with little dirt. Our own house needed blasting through rock to dig the foundation.
Curious what folks’ thoughts on fan placement are. U.S. code doesn’t allow them to be installed in a basement—they must be outside or in and attic so the the positive pressure side is outside of living spaces.
My fan is outside in Minnesota. I made it a contingent on buying since the seller didn’t want to budge on price.
Came here to say this. If there is a leak after the fan, radon will be pumped into the dwelling. Fan should be outside or in vented attic. Exhaust vent must be away windows or vent-intakes and above roofline. Minimum clearances vary with jurisdiction. But it’s generally a bad idea to put the fan in-doors.
This is always how it is done in Canada. Probably better for the fan if it’s not sitting in -40C.
It gets cold where I live, but it’s never been quite that cold! Roughly -15 to -30C most years.
I figured. Pretty sure Canada allows direct venting as well rather than piping to the roof eave.
Yes, we do. Just has to be outside the house.
Ours dropped from about 150-300 to 10-30, so hope it goes well for you all too!
Radon is no joke. My best friend (who died, see my past post if you want) had an old house with air radon levels far beyond the healthy level. He had cancer multiple times, but of course no one can say if it’s related.
Still, I’d always recommend taking measures.
on.
I had one installed last year sometime.
I went from 300Bq/m3 to less than 10. The thing is great.
Great until you see your neighbour flying through the neighborhood while shooting laser from his eyes, while you’re struggling to open a jar.
Wow! Hopefully I see results that good.
New construction last year - tested shortly after moving in at ~2500 Bq/m³ ಠ_ಠ
Wired in the fan and now it’s typically reading between 4 and 20 Bq/m³ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )So…could you microwave your food by just putting it on the counter? Did your pets count as night lights?
Holy crap!!
I see a few people have installed them in this thread. About how much does a system run cost wise?
Depends on many factors. If there’s an available sump pump, a radon lid is around $150. A fan is around $150. Between $100 and $300 for pvc, depending on number of elbows and distance. Assuming an open electrical breaker is available, and again depending on distance, $100 to $200 for electrical. $15 for a manometer. $20 for pvc cleaner and cement. $5 for tube of acrylic caulking. Total for parts, assume $500 to $850.
Wothout a sump well, save $150 on lid, but x3 or x4 the pvc. Roughly $300 to $1000. Rental of a Hilti and diamond holesaw bit to add vents to corners of slab. So maybe $300 or so. Total around $600 to $1500, give or take.
This is just parts. Labor will be $1k to $4k depending on location and complexity. If you can do it yourself, it’s a significant savings. With an available sump well, it’s an easy to medium difficulty project. Without one, it gets significantly more complicated.
$1000-$2000
Wtf? You can buy some PVC pipe and a fan for like $50
You can, but it also usually requires drilling through the concrete slab in your basement, and through an outside wall to your house.
On top of that, you need to seal any holes that might exist in the concrete. Like around your sump or water inlet or God forbid any cracks.
Then also, you have to make sure that you know how much air the fan is pulling, and have a way to monitor the flow so you know if it stops.
In short, parts are cheap. Labor and continued safety aren’t.
Why would I pay a professional when I could do it myself for twice the price because of the never ending patches/“upgrades”?
Because not everyone is competent or willing to do the research needed.
I work with ventilation and installations and my home got around 400 becquerel. I have no fucking clue what more I can do to solve it without spending a fortune. If we had a basement I would go wild but we don’t.
Function control I would route through my home assistant server.
Edit: I think I completely missed your point when I wrote this. I need to learn to read.
You can also make your own parachute from a tarp and some paracord.
To be fair, I never heard of someone needing to fix their home build parachute nor switching to boughts one either.
The point is that when your life depends on it, you perhaps shouldn’t DIY it.
Sure, you can also be your own surgeon at home for simpler procedures like appendix removal, cornea transplant etc …
Mine was $3031 CAD to have it professionally installed and certified.
Ya, ours was right around the $3k mark. And that’s with a 5 year guarantee to keep it below 100 Bq/m3.
These are the numbers I wanted.
Our house has radon in the basement in the 300-400 range most of the time. I know I need something to clear it out, I’ve been concerned about how much it costs, so I’ve been stalling.
Luckily, all the sleeping areas are far, far, away from the basement.
I’ll start putting the $3k together to have a system installed. Luckily I can split the costs with the other people who live here and also own the house with me…
Where is it coming from?!
“Radon comes from the natural radioactive breakdown of uranium and thorium found in the earth’s soil, rock, and groundwater. As these elements decay over time, they turn into radium and then release radon gas, which seeps up through the ground and can get trapped inside buildings.”
So, a natural radioactive gas that seeps into the house through the foundation. The mitigation system puts a vacuum under the basement concrete slab and vents it outside.
Very common in Canada. All new construction is required to have a port already installed in the slab to install a system.
Here is the official map for Germany: https://www.bfs.de/DE/themen/ion/umwelt/radon/karten/boden.html (Map can be understood without knowing any German)
is it something specifics of some areas because I never heard of this?
A little radon gets produced by basically all rock on Earth, but some types (like granite) emit more than others (like limestone). In the US, it’s a bigger concern in the midwest and mountain areas than the south or parts of the west coast. You can look up EPA maps to show the areas of relative concern.
Worldwide, though… I had trouble finding much detail.
No, it happens pretty much everywhere.
We can’t get radon in NW Florida. The largest natural rocks are usually pea gravel in creek beds or creek beaches. Only exception I’ve found after hiking and kayaking all over this corner of the state are some iron ore “boulders” at a city park, which is why they built a water mill there.
If you find a rock in the woods, it’s concrete or asphalt. :)
EDIT: If you go east a good bit there are limestone caves. Pretty neat, no radon.
No, it depends on the geology. Some granitic rocks, black shales, sedimentary rocks with high concentrations of uranium, and metamorphic rocks derived from the latter 3 will have high radon. Otherwise it’s not a problem.
Odds are your local or national government has published radon susceptibility maps with detailed info.
It comes out of the ground. It’s more prevalent in certain areas. It accumulates in basements and crawl spaces and can cause lung cancer from long term exposure.
So people willingly go and live in places where deadly gas just seeps out of the ground?
You don’t live on a thin crust of a planet of molten stone?
NW Florida is mainly 1" of topsoil and then a sandy red clay mix all the way to China.
The South, except where the last of the Appalachians dip in, is basically radon free.
https://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/images2/radon-map.gif
Let us know if you find a place without any radon so that we can all move there. I hope your spaceship is big enough for all of us. :)
Aw hell no! I don’t want NW Florida flooded with humans. We have great population numbers as is thank you very much!
Seriously, we don’t have rocks. “No damn cat, and no damn cradle.”
it comes from the ground usually from decaying sources, like uranium or other heavy elements.
would have loved to have bought a town house awhile back but it had radon issues and the association was not dealing with it. Since it was a shared foundation mitigating it would be sorta drawing it in from next door and so on. maybe it could be sealed enough in the one unit but the shared nature of the building made it feel like it would be just that much more annoying.
Happy health!
