Radon in Albuquerque! (Rio Rancho: countertops, houses, neighborhoods)
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I've read that as many as 30% of Albuquerque houses have elevated radon levels, over the 4ml/pc recommended by the EPA. This is, apparently, because of a naturally high mineral content and what some geologists call "immature" soil -- whatever that means! I'm no geologist.
I'd be interested to know if there are pockets or neighborhoods where radon is a problem? Are there any published studies specifically about Albuquerque? Is fixing it as simple as ventilating your house? What is a slab fan, and do we use them here in New Mexico? If I test for radon, do the results become public knowledge? And what is the reality in terms of resale value for my house?
I just tested my house and it came in under 4.0, it was a bit higher than I'd like though. I once had a realtor tell me you're more likely to have a radon problem in Albuquerque if you have a basement or live near the mountains. If you're concerned, have the house in question tested. I think I paid $15 for the test.
I did a lot of research into the radon issue before we bought this house in the East Mountains. I insisted on a radon test before we bought, and to the former owner's surprise, this house tested as high as 9ml - crazy high, twice as high as EPA safety ratings, and more than 4 times higher than the 2ml suggested by other health studies. She had lived in the house for 10 years and never tested it; her realtor insisted that this radon reading "wasn't a problem"!
The law does not require the homeowner to mitigate a radon problem, despite the fact that it's a proven carcinogen. But in reality, would you buy a home filled with poison gas? And if you perform a radon test you are required to disclose the results when listing.
We were able to mitigate the problem by installing a slab fan, as you mention: PVC pipe is inserted underneath the slab with a fan that sucks air from the soil beneath the house and blows it out to disperse to "normal background levels" above the roof line. (The radon mitigation dude originally planned the output to be about knee-high in the yard - what an idiot.) Thus the radon gas is removed before it has a chance to work its way into the house. This worked for our home because the soil beneath the slab was loose, porous and mixed with gravel. If that soil had been hard packed, it would have been much more complicated & expensive to fix. We split the cost of this work with the seller, I believe it cost about $1,500 total.
I am astounded how few people out here even think to test their homes. It's cheap and easy to do, there are even home test kits available - though I chose to get a professional to do it. There's loads of info out there on the net, and I highly recommend any homeowner in ABQ but especially the foothills and East Mountains have their home tested.
Here's a summary of what I learned from my research:
Radon in the home is the second leading cause of lung cancer, after smoking of course. And if you smoke, radon in your home is 10 times more dangerous to your health.
Radon is common in New Mexico - but also in most of the lower 48 states except for Texas. It is a by-product of decaying granite, which contains uranium. Yes, the granite countertops in your home can also produce trace radon. But the biggest source is the soil and rock your home is built on. Even with a thick slab foundation, radon can leak into your living space.
Very few homes in NM are built with radon mediation in mind. Too bad, because the easiest, cheapest and most effective way to prevent radon entering your home is to design your home with mediation features from the ground up.
You should test your home in the winter when all your windows are shut, and you're not running your swamp cooler or fans. (This is why radon readings vary seasonally.) You want to know how bad your indoor air is in the winter when you're not getting fresh air in from outside.
Radon is unpredictable, in that you might have high radon readings while your next door neighbor has none. It varies on a house-by-house basis, not by area or neighborhood or zip code.
This is just what I recall from my research more than 2 years ago ... as I said, the health risks of radon in your home are solid, documented science with information freely available on the net. I urge everyone to look into it.
You should test your home in the winter when all your windows are shut, and you're not running your swamp cooler or fans. (This is why radon readings vary seasonally.) You want to know how bad your indoor air is in the winter when you're not getting fresh air in from outside.
I've read a few things that suggest testing in the summer too if you have refrigerated air.
Radon is definitely an issue in New Mexico and similar places with mountains and high uranium content of the surface and subsurface. Knowing a neighbor's radon level says little about your own house. I did use some of those charcoal kits over the years and always got readings between 2.2 and 3.2 pCi/L. Several years ago, I installed a permanent electronic monitor and got an average of 3.1 pCi/L over a year. I found monthly averages between 2.2 (mid-summer) and 3.9 (mid-winter). But, the 3.1 pCi/L average for a year included a lot of days opening the windows and ventilating the house...even on occasion during the winter.
Although the EPA has a mitigation threshold of 4.0 pCi/L, the WHO uses 2.7 pCi/L. Considering we have someone in the house with a compromised immune system, I decided to just go ahead with sub-slab depressurization. I had a system installed 4 months ago and it has cut the winter average in half. For what it's worth...I'm glad I did it.
Lung cancer rates in New Mexico are among the lowest in the country. I don't think radon exposure is that big of an issue here. There must be other factors at play--probably New Mexicans spend less time indoors and get more fresh air than people in other states where lung cancer rates are higher.
There is Radon more or less everywhere, and a great deal of unnecessary worry and idiot politicians setting "target levels" for homes that are absurdly low - that is where the 2/3 of homes have elevated Radon statistic comes from, Congress setting the target for homes to 0.4 pCi/L, basically the outdoor, fresh air average.
The EPA's figure of 4 pCi/L is much more realistic, given the physical properties of Radon and it's tendency to accumulate in houses as a result of those properties (mass mostly).
The mild climate of NM and the resulting tolerance for fresh air in our houses probably has a lot to do with it being not much of a problem here. Fresh air is terrible for the heating bill, but it is just what you want if you are worried about Radon exposure.
As to testing, the best method is a long term test. Those little 2 day things that you send off to a lab should not be taken as the last word, unless they are done repeatedly to establish a realistic average. I do not believe that test results are public record, unless perhaps the tests are done for a sale. Even then I doubt it.
Although professional testing is most likely to get good results, I remain skeptical of any testing done by companies that also sell remediation systems. The reasoning here should be obvious. If I were concerned about it, I would probably do both a long term professional test (long term is 90 days or more), backed up with repeated short term DIY tests.
I would not really expect any area of Albuquerque to be more or less prone to it than other areas. Too much depends on living habits and how tightly sealed a house is. I wouldn't expect the soil to produce large amounts relative to the national average (the local rock and sediments derived from it are mostly quite old), but it does tend to concentrate in ground water, so I would expect the ubiquitous ground water use to offset any lack of soil Radon production.
So much depends on variables that change from house to house, that the only way to approach the question is through careful and repeated testing.
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