Radon / Basement Cracks

[john]

I finally got around to stripping my basement floors in preparation for hardwood vinyl flooring. I also did this to try my best with filling in the cracks to reduce my radon levels. My levels last year were around 4.0.. Now their around 8.0. I understand that this may not reduce the levels significantly, but its my last attempt before calling in the professionals. I have Radiant Heating so if they were to install a Radon system, they'd have to do it solely outside.

I took pics of my cracks. Most of the seem to be around 1/32 of an inch. The biggest one (and only 1) is 1/16 of an inch. So they dont seem to be too big at all. I was surprised by this. My house was built in 93. I was expecting much bigger cracks. Could these small cracks really cause these kinds of Radon levels?

A pic of the was the smallest one which was around 1/32 of an inch.

this was the biggest one around 1/16 of an inch -

There were several other cracks aswell within that range. From 0 to 1/16 of an inch.

Im guessing all I should use is Concrete Crack Filler? That paste type stuff... Since the cracks dont seem to be big enough for the polyeurothene caulks ? Is there a minimum (inch wise) in which polyeurothane caulks should start being used?

thanks much , John

[hallerb]

. =EF=BF=BD I was

EVER ANY moisture troubles in that basement?

Wood and moisture even just just high humidity are a bad combo. the time to address this is before putting down a nice floor.

[hallerb]

1. =EF=BF=BD I was

seal not only cracks in floor but around top of basement walls..

I would fill cracks then get retested before putting down floor, assuming home passes radon test.

unless your number plummmets to under one, given its a living space I would get it ventilated.

[Caesar Romano]

On Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:07:33 -0500, "john" wrote Re Radon / Basement Cracks:

Why wait? Money is not important when your family's health is at risk. Go for the peace of mind.

[john]

yes, only when there is a ton of rain. (5 inches a day or something simaler) The eastern end of the basement gets wet.

The basement walls are walled up (sheetrocked) and painted.

[hallerb]

putting wood on a floor with a known water problem is dumb, sorry its blunt but true.

before putting down wood floor you HAVE to fix the water problem!!

Another thing all the nails and screws holding the walls up are radon leak points and you have no access to them.

so get the water problem fixed permanetely

get the radon exhaust system installed. have ingress egress windows or a door installed

then wait till after a big storm to confirm water problem is gone before putting down wood floor.

water will just ruin wood, waste of time and money, sorry

sorry your trying to do this problem backwards.

[Mark]

I think he is talking about the tops of the cynder-blocks where there may be open channels all the way down through the wall..

Mark

[john]

Is there some kind of tape to put on the very small cracks? (the ones that are like 1/32 inch big) I feel like concrete paste would be useless here.

[hallerb]

any penetration of the floor or wall is a radon leak spot. think of 2 by 4s nailed or screwed to concrete floors, furring strips on walls, all of these are totally inaccesible, behind drywall. and many cracks will crack again.

the tiny ones you open up undercut, and seal.

but unless you fix moisture water issues all the time and effort and money put into that spiffy new wood floor will be ruined in the first major storm...

[john]

I got the water issue under control.

but the concrete is solid around the tiny ones.... why break up the concrete for that?

Alot of these small ones I doubt are even cracked all the way down to the dirt. might just be cracked near the top.

[john]

HallerB , the more I think about it the more your solution sounds like the right now. A little tiny strip of concrete paste would be useless against those small cracks.

So I need to cut open the cracks a little more , ey .. do u recommend any tool to make this go quicker? All I could think of off the top of my head is a hammer and pick / screwdriver.

[Caesar Romano]

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:37:39 -0500, "john" wrote Re Re: Radon / Basement Cracks:

Now you've got the right idea.

[john]

anyone ever try "Low-Pressure Concrete Crack Injection" ?

[Caesar Romano]

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:46:27 -0500, "john" wrote Re Re: Radon / Basement Cracks:

A friend of a friend tried it. He said it works great.