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Radon - anyone have experience? Fact/Fiction/Mitigation

Gingerbeard Man

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Fornicate around and findeth out.
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CDC and EPA states (take that with a grain of salt) anything over 4 pCi/L (picoCuries per liter of air) would be cause for concern and recommends mitigation. We had a test done on our house and it tested at 4.1 pCi/L. The test was performed while it was raining outside and as I understand it, that can affect the readings and show higher. They say it's the second leading cause of lung cancer next to smoking.

Radon seems to be common in Georgia with houses that have a basement. The moisture and humidity increase deterioration of organic material. Radon, as I understand it, is the off gas of deteriorating Uranium. It's basically a radioactive gas. Under a foundation, that gas gets trapped and eventually makes its way into your house by way of any cracks. Radon tends to settle in the lowest point of the basement as it is heavier than air. However, it seems to be easily distributed throughout with any air movement.

I ended up buying a connected constant Radon monitor and am shocked to see that at its peak I am seeing 11.1 pCi/L and seems to level out throughout the day at 6, regardless of weather.

I have scheduled a contractor to come out and install a mitigation system. If you have not seen this before it's basically a series of 3" PVC pipes run from a hole in your basement foundation to a fan located outside with the PVC pipe extending above your roof line by no less than 12" to avoid Radon leeching back in through an open window. Fan runs 24 hours a day. Basically it's function is to create vacuum under your foundation and pull the Radon gas up and out before it leeches into your basement.

gas.jpg



Anyways, point of this post was to bring awareness and ask if you've had first hand experience with it? This is my first rodeo with it so I have only topical knowledge of the subject. The project to install a system like this seems fairly straightforward. Being that it's dealing with holes in the foundation and in the side of my house, I going the contractor route. Quotes have been from $1500 to $3000. National average is $1500 so I'm not even considering the $3000 option.
 
in for info....We've had 3 cats die since we moved in this house, so I'm looking at everything....
This is the sensor we bought.
Download the app, plug it in at the lowest point in your house (inside) and it will give results within an hour and keep monitoring 24/7.

I figure this mitigation system is worth it simply because I work in the basement and I care what my family is breathing in as well. If it's circulating with our HVAC, it could be problematic for all of us.
 
I don't know anything about this but interested to see what others say.
I didn't either. I'm originally from Utah. I assume it's not as prevalent there and not discussed as much due to the lack of humidity.

 
CDC states (take that with a grain of salt) anything over 4 pCi/L should be cause for concern and recommends mitigation. We had a test done on our house and it tested at 4.1 pCi/L. The test was performed while it was raining outside and as I understand it, that can affect the readings and show higher. They say it's the second leading cause of lung cancer next to smoking.

Radon seems to be common in Georgia with houses that have a basement. The moisture and humidity increase deterioration of organic material. Radon, as I understand it, is the off gas of deteriorating Uranium. It's basically a radioactive gas. Under a foundation, that has gets trapped and eventually makes its way into your house by way of any cracks. Radon tends to settle in the lowest point of the basement as it is heavier than air. However, it seems to be easily distributed throughout with any air movement.

I ended up buying a connected constant Radon monitor and am shocked to see that at its peak I am seeing 11.1 pCi/L and seems to level out throughout the day at 6, regardless of weather.

I have scheduled a contractor to come out and install a mitigation system. If you have not seen this before it's basically a series of 3" PVC pipes run from a hole in your basement foundation to a fan located outside with the PVC pipe extending above your roof line by no less than 12" to avoid Radon leeching back in through an open window. Fan runs 24 hours a day. Basically it's function is to create vacuum under your foundation and pull the Radon gas up and out before it leeches into your basement.

View attachment 3910678


Anyways, point of this post was to bring awareness and ask if you've had first hand experience with it? This is my first rodeo with it so I have only topical knowledge of the subject. The project to install a system like this seems fairly straightforward. Being that it's dealing with holes in the foundation and in the side of my house, I going the contractor route. Quotes have been from $1500 to $3000. National average is $1500 so I'm not even considering the $3000 option.
Let us know who you use and what the reduction is. I’ve been monitoring mine since July. Ranges from 2 to 13 with the average at 7. I was quoted $1500 when I bought the house but figured I’d monitor it before forking out money.

From what I read it does cause lung cancer but over many years, like smoking cigarettes.
 
Let us know who you use and what the reduction is. I’ve been monitoring mine since July. Ranges from 2 to 13 with the average at 7. I was quoted $1500 when I bought the house but figured I’d monitor it before forking out money.

From what I read it does cause lung cancer but over many years, like smoking cigarettes.
Will do. Wednesday is the day and it's going to be $1500 +/- $200 depending on complexity. So I just budgeted for $1700 since I rarely encounter someone willing to go less setting those expectations.

Our daily average over the last two weeks has been 8 pCi/L.

I have recently had family and friends end up with varying types of cancer so I may be a little hypochondriac on the subject but want to make sure we are breathing clean air. I don't have any Radon monitors upstairs but have installed air quality monitors throughout to help aid in knowing where possible trouble spots are and when to change the HVAC filters.
 
This is the sensor we bought.
Download the app, plug it in at the lowest point in your house (inside) and it will give results within an hour and keep monitoring 24/7.

I figure this mitigation system is worth it simply because I work in the basement and I care what my family is breathing in as well. If it's circulating with our HVAC, it could be problematic for all of us.
Unfortunately these sensors are not reliable and are not recommended by professionals. The only way to get reliable radon concentration data is to perform short-term (48-72 hour) or long-term (approx 3-months) testing and submit the tests to an accredited laboratory to verify the levels of radon in your home. Source: I am an environmental consultant and I perform these studies for clients regularly.
 
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