Radon (Madison: how much, homes, purchase)

[FlyersFan]

Originally Posted by E Limestone Dude

Would it be too difficult for a do it yourselfer like me to mitigate in a slab home?

Basically I need a jackhammer or something to get through the slab to the gravel. Then put a pipe up through the roof. I think I could do this if my test comes up bad.

Two ways to do this.......from a suction point in the floor on the interior of the house or from a suction point through the foundation on the exterior just below floor slab level. Your better using a rotary hammer and drilling a 4" diameter circle of 1/2" holes then using the chisle to punch it out. If you need more specific information DM me.

Mike

[FlyersFan]

Originally Posted by Mawoods

Madison County Extension has the tests for $5 and you send it off for results. REasonable to me. The new guidelines state that anything above 2.7 is considered high. Very curious how this effects so many of us.

Not sure what hat you pulled the 2.7 pCi/L number out of but its wrong. The federal EPA guideline is 4 pCi/L. Each state then adopts the EPA protocol and follows that as its guideline. They "recommend" that any house 4 pCi/l or above be mitigated.......they say "consider" mitigation for 2 pCi/l and above. "Consider" means if you personally are unhappy with that reading then you should take steps to reduce it, however, don't expect the seller to fix it if its a real estate transaction. Hope that explains things.

[FlyersFan]

Originally Posted by ionlife

Wonder what the homeowners did here all those years ago before all these tests came about? Like what about mold--that's the big money for people to cash in on, or damp crawl spaces--What did people do back in the old days, when many were in the house, and the people could see the steam/dew/water condensation pouring down their windows and into the ground? And the discoloration on their sidings? Did they all die from mold issues? Probably not.

No.....they and their children just suffered due to their ignorance......

[Mawoods]

Flyersfan I am referencing the newspaper article on the new UN - WHO guidelines for radon. There is a link to it on this thread. The new number is much lower than the old accepted one.

[FlyersFan]

Originally Posted by Mawoods

Flyersfan I am referencing the newspaper article on the new UN - WHO guidelines for radon. There is a link to it on this thread. The new number is much lower than the old accepted one.

First......I have never heard of this "WHO" that you refer to but I can state without reservation that they don't make national or state policy on accepted radon levels !!! The Federal EPA sets the accepted level....which is 4.0 pCi/L and can be verified by checking the EPA link under Citizens Guide To Radon" provided by LCTMadison on the second post in this thread.
The problem here is that this WHO wrote an article and clearly doesn't understand the EPA terminology !!! WHO claims that mitigation should be CONSIDERED at 2.7 but that number hasn't changed and isn't actually the correct number !!! The EPA standards reads that mitigation should be CONSIDERED when your radon level is between 2 and 4 but the EPA RECOMMENDS the house be mitigated when your radon level is 4.0 pCi/L and above. To clarify......they don't recommend mitigation at 2.7....they say consider it.......consider and recommend are two different terms with two different meanings. The line in the sand here is 4.0 ......if your selling your house and the test is 3.9 you have no obligation to do anything but if its 4.0 or over you'll have to mitigate the house for your buyer....its that simple. This WHO you refer to has no idea what they are talking about and should be brought to task for spreading misinformation.

[tammie2]

WHO is the world health organization. The are part of the UN(in case you haven't heard of them, that is the united nations).

Taking them to task could prove quite difficult. I don't believe it will be long until the EPA does deflect to them, so you can thank mawoods for the heads up

[FlyersFan]

Originally Posted by tammie2

WHO is the world health organization. The are part of the UN(in case you haven't heard of them, that is the united nations).

Taking them to task could prove quite difficult. I don't believe it will be long until the EPA does deflect to them, so you can thank mawoods for the heads up

Again.....the information posted is misleading......there is no actual conflict of information and standards......its the way it was presented in the post and the lack of description between "consider" and "recommend".......any actual guideline of 2.7 doesn't exist......the Federal EPA says "consider" between 2 and 4 and uses the term "recommend" when 4 or over. Being a radon mitigator I would love to see the standard dropped to 2 or the mentioned 2.7 as my business would double but its just not going to happen. One of the main reasons being 4 is considered an "achievable" number when mitigating.....the plain truth is that numbers lower than 4 may not be "achievable" when mitigating in some situations.....depending upon sub-slab soil situations soil may be too dense to ventilate enough air from under the slab to remove enough radon to get the number down to 4.

[ionlife]

Originally Posted by tammie2

WHO is the world health organization. The are part of the UN(in case you haven't heard of them, that is the united nations).

Taking them to task could prove quite difficult. I don't believe it will be long until the EPA does deflect to them, so you can thank mawoods for the heads up

My grandfather was a biologist for the World Health Org back before the second world war in Egypt... dad was born in Alexandria... then the war ... talk about a step back in history for us seeing WHO on an AL forum post.

[Mawoods]

GOOD GRIEF FLyersFan!!!!!! All I asked about in the original post was if anyone had seen the article with the new findings by the WHO and had anyone had issues with radon in MADISON, AL???

And I guess it is us stupid southerners who have to tell you what the UN and WHO stand for. Pretty standard stuff for any newspaper reader. ALSO, I would think that since this is your field of expertise, you would be getting the lastest research and findings and would know about this article before it appears in a little southern town's newspaper.

BE NICE!!!

[Diffy Q]

I have read and seen news reports about granite countertops emitting radon. In one case, the kitchen registered 100 pCi/L. Granted, this may just be a marketing tool by the quartz-composite countertop manufacturers, but IMHO I think there is probably some truth to it.