Do you guys know anything about Radon gas?
We did two short term tests here and they both came out the same. 7.7 rads, with the maximum safe level at 4.0.
Obviously we need to take this further. Our house is a
ranch style on a radiant heated slab. Anyone have any
experience with this stuff?

Why were you even doing the test?

All they do to get rid of it is install a vent into the foundation. I don't believe they have ever linked any illness's to it, but it is in the same family as radiation. At my brothers house they cut a 3" hole in the slab and used pvc to vent it outside. Which a house can have it one year and gone the next.

It comes from a certain type of clay in the soil. Usually seeps in thru basement walls. Slab? Maybe the heat has something to do with it. It's overblown IMO just like lead in toys, mercury, etc.

Daughter and SIL had an issue with Radon after they bought their house. They had a company come in and they put in what ended up looking like a sump pump hole and pump to pipe the gas out from under the basement floor to vent it outside. I guess it works, but when we finished the basement it was a PITA to work around.

We had the test done when we bought our house and our radon levels are higher than recommended. In long term exposure it will cause cancer. Comes naturally from the ground. Remedy is as stated above, a vent fan from the basement. We got a $1000 rebate from the seller so we could do it, haven't gotten around to it yet.

http://www.epa.gov/radon/pubs/citguide.html

http://www.radon.com/radon/radon_EPA.html

Matthew

37pc here. Started working on a reduction plan 15 years ago. 13 years ago, I finally conquered it.

I have a basement, with a sump system for around the foundation (underneath the concrete floor).

My first attempt was to seal the floor where it it meets the walls, and seal the sump pump area, using a submersible pump.

This lowered the reading to 27 pico curies.

Next, I installed a fan in a vent tube (4 ") and continuously siphon air from underneath the slab/floor.
This got the reading down to 2.

Our house sits on top of a lannon quarry slab (ex-quarry),
and the gas continuously leaks out of the rock formations.

On a side note, EPA studies indicated a reading of 4.4 is equal to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.
My nieghbor, who doesn't smoke, has just recently undergone Chemo and radiation for lung cancer. She never smoked in her life (nor her husband), and she's lived in the house for 15 years knowing her count was above 20.
Sad situation.

Mike - for your vent fan, did you go through the sump pump well or dig a new hole on the floor? I plan on doing mine in the spring.

Matthew

I bought a solid cap/cover for the sump well, sealed around it with silicone. drilled a 4" hole for the fan tube, as well as a 1.5" hole for the pump. I put a check-valve on the pump tube so that I wouldn't suck in outside air. The fan sits outside the house, right above the sill plate, and I ran a 4" pipe up 3 feet above the fan with a rain-block cover over it. Building codes say the vent should end 3 ft above the lowest eave, so I'm in violation of that code, but what the heck, it was a DIY for me.

My father hade someone put his in 10 years ago (Identical setup), except on top of the fan, in place of a 4" tube, they used a normal down spout tube from a rain gutter.

Usually, any plumbling supplier will carry this stuff.
I got mine from a local jobber. The fan I bought from a place in Va., Infiltec.com.

Quote:

We did the test out of frustration. I'm not gonna outline the probs here, but we've had a houseful of ailments in the past few years, mostly suffered by our kids. My daughter especially has such low resistance that she reacts to almost every flu shot she's had to get.(I can't talk my wife out of getting them). When she goes thru her period she's down for a week and barely makes it thru school. She has other issues she was born with as well, and we've been wondering if our home's environment was a contributing factor to the problems. My son also has issues, but not as severe. My wife and I also have had some health related issues. So we started to wonder if our home is affecting all of us.