Mitigation

Is Radon Mitigation Right For You?

Has your home been tested?  If not, test.  The only way to know if radon levels are elevated inside your home is to test.  If they are not elevated, mitigation may not be needed.  If levels are elevated, mitigation has proven to be the most successful way to reducing levels inside your residence. 

Research by public and private agencies, years of extensive hands-on mitigation experience, and long-term follow-up studies on the durability of radon mitigation systems have formed a strong knowledge base of proven mitigation techniques for homes, schools, and commercial buildings. The techniques are straightforward and, for a typical single family residence, can be done in one day by a qualified contractor.

Radon reduction requires more than just sealing cracks in the foundation. In fact, caulking and sealing of foundation openings, on its own, has proven not to be a reliable or durable technique. However, sealing is done in conjunction with other mitigation steps.

Active Soil Depressurization

Active soil depressurization (ASD) has proven to be a cost-effective and reliable technique for radon reduction, by collecting the radon from beneath the building before it can enter. The systems can be simple or complex, depending upon the design of the building. Operating costs of the fans are minor, due to their low power consumption (typically less than 90 watts per fan).

The system draws the radon-laden soil gas from beneath the foundation and exhausts it outside of the building, far enough away from windows and other openings that it will not reenter. The system typically consists of a plastic pipe connected to the soil through a hole in a slab floor, through a sump lid connection, or beneath a plastic sheet in a crawl space. Attached to the pipe is a quiet, continuously operating fan that discharges the radon outdoors.

The system design is a function of the construction of the home, rather than the radon concentrations in the home. A home with more than one foundation can present challenges to collecting the soil gas from under all portions of the building. However, trained mitigation contractors can sometimes connect multiple systems together so that only one fan system is required.

Your Style of Home Determines Mitigation Techniques

Your house type will affect the kind of radon reduction system that will work best. Houses are generally categorized according to their foundation design. For example: basement, slab-on-grade (concrete poured at ground level), or crawlspace (a shallow unfinished space under the first floor). Some houses have more than one foundation design feature. For instance, it is common to have a basement under part of the house and to have a slab-on-grade or crawlspace under the rest of the house. In these situations a combination of radon reduction techniques may be needed to reduce radon levels to below 4 pCi/L.

There are several methods that a contractor can use to lower radon levels in your home. Some techniques prevent radon from entering your home while others reduce radon levels after it has entered. The EPA generally recommends methods that prevent the entry of radon.

In many cases, simple systems using underground pipes and an exhaust fan may be used to reduce radon. Such systems are called "sub-slab depressurization," and do not require major changes to your home. These systems remove radon gas from below the concrete floor and the foundation before it can enter the home. Similar systems can also be installed in houses with crawl spaces. Radon contractors use other methods that may also work in your home. The right system depends on the design of your home and other factors.

Sealing cracks and other openings in the floors and walls is a basic part of most approaches to radon reduction. Sealing does two things: it limits the flow of radon into your home and it reduces the loss of conditioned air, thereby making other radon reduction techniques more effective and cost-efficient. The EPA does not recommend the use of sealing alone to reduce radon because, by itself, sealing has not been shown to lower radon levels significantly or consistently. It is difficult to identify and permanently seal the places where radon is entering. Normal settling of your house opens new entry routes and reopens old ones.

Visual Inspections

Any information that you may have about the construction of your house could help us determine what is the best system for your house. I perform a visual inspections of your house and design a system that is suitable. 

How Much to Mitigate my House?

There is no set in stone pricing for how much a home costs for radon mitigation.  The average mitigation cost is typically $800 - $1200, although the price could be as low as $800 or over $3000.  Ultimately, the size and design of your house will be the major factor in how much a mitigation system will cost.  Some houses allow for systems to be hidden inside the residence, keeping the aesthetics of the house as pleasing as possible.