Radon in Fulton County (Atlanta: 2015, how much, houses)

[mjedwards409]

My wife and I just went under contract to buy a two story slab home built in 2015. The home is in 30318. Right now we are trying to decide if it's worth springing for a few hundred more $$ for a radon test with the inspection. Thoughts? How common is radon in these parts? Thanks for any feedback!

[flamadiddle]

Built in 2015? I wouldn't bother. You can buy a cheap self test kit at home depot. I did this and found negligible levels of radon in my home.

[mjedwards409]

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

Built in 2015? I wouldn't bother. You can buy a cheap self test kit at home depot. I did this and found negligible levels of radon in my home.

Good catch. Built in 2005. Can't find where to edit.

So, same question but built in 2015?? Thanks!

[bu2]

Originally Posted by mjedwards409

Good catch. Built in 2005. Can't find where to edit.

So, same question but built in 2015?? Thanks!

Atlanta sits on granite and has lots of basements. Its a good investment to get it tested.

[LovelySummer]

Whoa. Say more about this. What is the significance of the granite/basement combination?

Originally Posted by bu2

Atlanta sits on granite and has lots of basements. Its a good investment to get it tested.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by LovelySummer

Whoa. Say more about this. What is the significance of the granite/basement combination?

Granite rock naturally emits some amount of radon. With basements, you may have exposed soil, which will let more in. If you have good filtration of air, its not an issue.

We have some of that in our basement and had a higher than acceptable level of radon (not extraordinarily high, but higher than you want to live with). With central air installed in the finished part of the basement and sheeting on the other part, the level got well below average for Atlanta, which tends to be relatively high.

[Thulsa]

Originally Posted by bu2

Granite rock naturally emits some amount of radon. With basements, you may have exposed soil, which will let more in. If you have good filtration of air, its not an issue.

We have some of that in our basement and had a higher than acceptable level of radon (not extraordinarily high, but higher than you want to live with). With central air installed in the finished part of the basement and sheeting on the other part, the level got well below average for Atlanta, which tends to be relatively high.

In addition to what you said, crawl spaces are also not good if under the house has exposed granite.

We were looking for houses some time ago in Atlanta, found one we liked and paid to have it tested twice due to al the exposed granite under the house. The level was high, and the changes of lung cancer soar if you are also a smoker.
The EPA used to have a chart to calculate your chances of getting lung cancer versus the measured level and how much you smoked. For that house, the chance for my wife (who was a smoker back then) was 15%. For comparison, Russian roulette has odds of 18% for the undesired outcome.

It can be mitigated with a ventilation system, but that's something that does not help resale value.

[LovelySummer]

Oh my. I had no idea. This is very important information. Are maps able to be purchased that indicate the locations in the metro that are sitting on granite or is it pretty much the entire metro?

I guess this is one of those cases in which it is better to NOT have a basement?

Interesting bc the OP is asking about a house on a slab so guess no basement does not address the problem altogether.

Originally Posted by bu2

Granite rock naturally emits some amount of radon. With basements, you may have exposed soil, which will let more in. If you have good filtration of air, its not an issue.

We have some of that in our basement and had a higher than acceptable level of radon (not extraordinarily high, but higher than you want to live with). With central air installed in the finished part of the basement and sheeting on the other part, the level got well below average for Atlanta, which tends to be relatively high.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Thulsa

In addition to what you said, crawl spaces are also not good if under the house has exposed granite.

We were looking for houses some time ago in Atlanta, found one we liked and paid to have it tested twice due to al the exposed granite under the house. The level was high, and the changes of lung cancer soar if you are also a smoker.
The EPA used to have a chart to calculate your chances of getting lung cancer versus the measured level and how much you smoked. For that house, the chance for my wife (who was a smoker back then) was 15%. For comparison, Russian roulette has odds of 18% for the undesired outcome.

It can be mitigated with a ventilation system, but that's something that does not help resale value.

Actually we have exposed granite rather than "soil," in the unfinished part of the basement, but granite is under the soil here in Atlanta. I think we got the level down to something like .7 when the average in Atlanta is 1.1. We didn't need the ventilation system once we installed central air.

[GatorATL]

I recommend having the test done. Mold as well. Get a survey done. Due diligence is about arming yourself with as much information as possible.