Something In The Air
You guys know we’ve been on a recent kick to make our home greener, including getting rid of harmful chemicals around the house and starting a compost bin. But somehow we failed to mention one of the biggest things we did in the name of good indoor air quality: test our house for radon.
The deal with radon is that it’s an odorless, colorless gas that comes from the ground and can leak into your home if it’s built on a spot with high concentrations of this radioactive killer. I say “killer” because radon, according to the EPA, is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers (even more dangerous than second-hand smoke). Click the map below to learn if your county lies in the red danger zones.
After reading about radon in a magazine, Sherry suggested we do the test almost immediately after moving in over two years ago. I resisted at first - seeing it as a waste of time and money - but eventually couldn’t argue with buying this $15 test that actually took little effort on our part. So we set out the little test kit somewhere inconspicuous and 3 days later sent it in for results (using the pre-paid packaging provided in the test- easy as pie). Then we waited a few weeks for the good news that our house was under the 4 pCi/L level that’s considered okay.
That news didn’t come. Instead, our house was found to have 10 pCi/L of radon present in the air. Baaad news. More than twice the acceptable level of radon was silently seeping into our home. So we contacted a certified radon mitigation professional recommended by our local radon office. After he confirmed our results, we began the process of getting a radon reduction system installed in our house.
I’ll spare you the details of this, but basically it means that all the exposed earth in our crawl space was covered in an airtight plastic sheet to trap all the radon emissions before they can leak up into our home.
Then a newly installed piping system blows this toxic air up through our house (by way of the guest bedroom closet and the attic) and out of a new vent in our roof. Peace out, radon.
The system set us back about $2,100 (which wasn’t small beans, especially right after closing) but it works like a charm. When we retested our home after the system ran for a few months we got back a reading of 0.1 pCi/L- over 100 times less radon! It was even far less than normal outdoor air (which typically registers 2 pCi/L). We still test our house once a year to be certain that our radon mitigation system is properly functioning, and we strongly encourage all of you to do the same. It’s only $15 and it could save your life- and anyone with pups or little people should be especially diligent in the fight against noxious (and obnoxious) radon.
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Comments
Eek! Thanks for this reminder. This is something G and I talked about doing 2 years ago when we bought our current house and we STILL haven’t gotten around to it. There’s no time like the present; we will get right on it. I’m happy to hear you guys dodged a bullet and have clean, healthy, air now!
We were just talking about this with our neighbors this weekend since we have a crawlspace attached to our basement. Looks like a good kit, we’ll have to check it out! Thanks for the reminder.
We are getting a mitigation system. We home tested four years ago and the results were normal. Two homes that just sold around us had fans installed as part of the contract which spurred us to test again. Two tests later, the house tested over the normal levels. I highly recommend testing your home too.
We have a mitigation system in our home, too. When we moved in, our house had 8 pCi/L. After the system was installed, incorrectly, we retested, and the level was reduced to 6. After calling a different mitigation expert, he drilled through the basement floor, moved the mitigation system, slightly by redirecting some PVC, and we retested and our now well below 1 pCi/L. The systems work great!
Sounds weird to say this, but I’m glad we’re not the only ones who have had to install a mitigation system. When we first learned about it I couldn’t believe no one had ever mentioned it to me before. I was beginning to wonder if we had been taken for a ride. So while I don’t wish radon issues on anyone, it’s a little bit comforting to know we’re not alone in this boat.
Jason, sorry yours didn’t take on the first try but glad to know it’s working so well now.
We’d love to hear more stories if you guy have got ‘em. Here’s to healthy indoor air!
-John
It’s great to see radon awareness growing from the grass roots. I am a radon mitigation professional and constantly meet customers who hadn’t heard of radon until it came up during their real-estate transaction. Radon is real and it’s dangers are serious over long term exposure. The nice thing is that radon mitigation is a simple upgrade to your home and can give you the peace of mind that radon and other gasses are blocked and vented before they enter the house from the soil below. We would be glad to answer any of your radon questions. See us at http://www.RadoVent.com . Thank you for spreading awareness.
Our new house came back with 9 pCi/L of radon. We just met with a radon mitigation professional and are going to have to install a radon reduction system, too.