If a basement is sealed can it still test + for radon?

[46erjoe]

Just bought our home 4 months ago. It tested positive for radon (but just barely). The seller agreed to install an active radon reducer fan-type. It runs all the time, sucking air from under the basement slab. After recent testing, the radon leven was very very low.

I see is that there are many large cracks in the floor. Around the outside edge runs a gap at least a quarter inch. Then there are several shrinkage cracks also very large.

If I were to seal every one of these cracks with urethane calk and thus make the basement airtight, would the radon problem go away?

Or can radon leach through concrete block and floors? I sure would like to shut off that noisy 24-7 fan and convert it to a basement bathroom vent to the outside.

[trader4]

If you could cure radon with a caulk gun, do you think people would be installing systems like the one you have?

[buffalobill]

[nicksanspam]

It might, if there were a vapor barrier under the slab.

Sure, but you might put poly film on the floor with carpet over that and poly film on the walls with foamboard over that.

Nick

[Ether Jones]

If the radon level was "just barely" over limit with large cracks in the floor, then yes, sealing the large cracks thoroughly will very likely reduce the radon level below the EPA recommended remediation level.

Are you a non-smoker? Do you spend only occasional time in the basement? You could just turn the fan off and stop worrying about it. Impartial researchers and medical people with no monetary incentive to fuel the scare campaign are skeptical of the radon hysteria.

[mm]

Is this a case where a squirrel cage fan would be better because it is, aiui, quieter? Or is their capacity too low? Or some other problem.

[Jay Stootzmann]

If you have a sump pump the radon can leach in via the sump pump pit.

Sealing the cracks can help but it probably wont get you as low as the 24/7 fan you have now.

[46erjoe]

The installers sealed the sump pump well with urethane foam.

What I hear you folks saying is that yes, radon can pass through walls and floors... bend steel with his bare hands, and who ...

Radon evacuation systems suck!

On Fri, 23 Jun 2006 09:11:57 -0600, "Jay Stootzmann" wrotF:

[Ether Jones]

If the radon level was "just barely" over limit with large cracks in the floor, then yes, sealing the large cracks thoroughly will very likely reduce the radon level below the EPA recommended remediation level.

Are you a non-smoker? Do you spend only occasional time in the basement? You could just turn the fan off and stop worrying about it. Impartial researchers and medical people with no monetary incentive to fuel the scare campaign are skeptical of the radon hysteria.

[tmurf.1]

The radon should be well below 4 pc/l If not you should fix it and just get a quieter fan. Remember, the fan may be an anoyance but radon can kill you. Caulk if you need to but can you afford to be a skeptic??

[Ether Jones]

Says who? The radon remediation industry?

Do a little research. Follow the money.

[nicksanspam]

So you might buy a few test kits and turn off the fan, then run it 12 hours per day if it's more than 4, then 6 if it's less than 4 or 18 if more, and so on. With noise as the issue, you might replace the fan with a long-life light bulb at the bottom of a tall chimney.

The EPA says a non-smoker continuously exposed to 4 pCi/l has a lifetime risk of dying of lung cancer of 73 in 10,000, ie odds of 139 to 1. At 1.25 (close to the 1.3 average indoor level) it's down to 23/10K, ie 435:1. At 0.4 (the average outdoor level), it's 23/100K, ie 4,348:1. So why stop at 4? Will an electronic air filter help? The EPA plans to do more research on that.

The NSC gives 2:1 (men) and 3:1 (women) odds for contracting heart disease,

3:1 for contracting diabetes, 228:1 for death as a car occupant, 1,310:1 for death by medical complications, 4,857:1 for death as a bicyle rider, 12,417:1 for legal intervention involving firearm discharge, 55,597:1 for death by legal execution, 56,439:1 for death by lightning, 286,537:1 for ignition or melting of nightwear, 372,498:1 for death by contact with venemous spiders, 413,887:1 for death by flood, and 1,241,661:1 for death by contact with venemous snakes or lizards.

Nick

[Ether Jones]

The key word there is "continuously". Unless you sleep in the basement and plan to stay in this house for 30 years, I wouldn't worry about 4pCi/l

BTW, are all of EPA's other recommendations sensible and unaffected by politics and money?

[nicksanspam]

and plan to stay in this house for 30 years, I wouldn't worry about 4pCi/l

I would, based on the death statistics.

Dunno, but it seems to me this standard should be tightened, based on the risk and the cost of the fix.

Nick

[Ether Jones]

Figures don't lie, but liars can figure.

Follow the money.

Perhaps we should pass a national law requiring all automobile drivers to wear crash helmets, based on the risk and the cost of the fix.

[nicksanspam]

The lifetime odds of dying from radon at 4 pCi/l (139:1 for a non-smoker) are about half the odds of death in a car (228:1), so it's strange that we've spent double to avoid auto deaths, as PE Drew Gillett points out...

The EPA is apparently still looking into electronic air cleaners, which can't reduce the gas concentration but can reduce the solid daughters of radon particles in house dust that get into our lungs and cause problems. I like the Envirosept charged-media filter, which uses a lot less power (under 2 watts) than a HEPA filter.

Nick

[hallerb]

If your a smoker you dont care about your health or early death!

True radon makes lung cancer more likely if you smoke

but smokers dont care....

or they wouldnt smoke.......

ANYONE WHO SMOKES TODAY DOESNT HAVE THEIR HEAD SCREWED ON RIGHT1

[nicksanspam]

We've been discussing NON-smokers, who are about twice as likely to die of lung cancer than in an auto accident, with odds of 139:1 vs 228:1, in a house with a radon mitigation system that maintains the indoor level at the EPA-recommended max pCi/l limit.

Based on death statistics and Drew's description of how the 4 pCi/l limit was picked, it seems to me that homeowners should try harder to achieve lower radon concentrations, in order to reduce this serious risk.

Nick

[hallerb]

go check the info, the rate of lung cancer for smokers in high radon are like 4 times either smoking or radon. combo rate is bad but smokers are risk takers to begin with and really dont care.

sadly till they get cancer and are dying...

thus my on comment rant about smokers

[Ether Jones]

It's not a "serious risk".

Results from Radon tests performed in the basement are not indicative of Radon levels in the rest of the house.

Unless you live in the basement, and plan to stay in the house for 30 years, find something else to worry about.