Radon Gas? Is this common? (sales, real estate market, new home)

[FL little foot]

After we signed to build a new home in Wake County, the sales rep stated that there has been Radon Gas found in the neighborhood. We were told if in our inspection the Radon Gas shows up they will install something that stays on your property to remove it. Does this sound right? Is this common? Our agent asked if this was found only in the crawl space homes. She said it was found in both crawl and slab homes. But not all of them. If it was found in quite a few then why wouldn't it be in all of them? Does Radon gas pick and choose?

[mm34b]

Sounds right.

Radon problems are more common in the state's Mountain Region, but every home should be tested regardless. It's cheap if not free.

Basic Radon Information - http://www.ncradon.org/basics.htm

N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)

[MI-Roger]

The gas eminates from naturally decaying radioactive deposits deep in the ground, and travels to the surface by flowing through cracks in the underlying rock or through pockets of porous soil. If one house in a neighborhood has it all homes should be tested, but not all will have it.

The most common remediation method is to connect a vertical vent pipe to the foundation drain pipes (or sump pump pit), and place a powered fan in the the vertical vent. If you have ever seen a 3-inch diameter pipe running from ground level to above the roof on a house, and this pipe has a 10 to 12-inch diameter "flying saucer shaped" object located somewhere near it's mid-point, then you have seen a radon remediation system. The small fan runs continuously to pull all gas up to the atmosphere where it gets diluted to safe levels.

Simple system, not very costly or intrusive, but the fan needs to be isolated from the house so that any vibration is not detected indoors - particularly if the fan is located near bedrooms.

[FL little foot]

Originally Posted by MI-Roger

The gas eminates from naturally decaying radioactive deposits deep in the ground, and travels to the surface by flowing through cracks in the underlying rock or through pockets of porous soil. If one house in a neighborhood has it all homes should be tested, but not all will have it.

The most common remediation method is to connect a vertical vent pipe to the foundation drain pipes (or sump pump pit), and place a powered fan in the the vertical vent. If you have ever seen a 3-inch diameter pipe running from ground level to above the roof on a house, and this pipe has a 10 to 12-inch diameter "flying saucer shaped" object located somewhere near it's mid-point, then you have seen a radon remediation system. The small fan runs continuously to pull all gas up to the atmosphere where it gets diluted to safe levels.

Simple system, not very costly or intrusive, but the fan needs to be isolated from the house so that any vibration is not detected indoors - particularly if the fan is located near bedrooms.

Do you think this would cause a problem at re-sale time?

[MI-Roger]

Originally Posted by NC little foot

Do you think this would cause a problem at re-sale time?

A few very timid buyers may wince, but I would think most buyers would be glad to know the naturally occuring situation was detected and corrected.

Hopefully some of the Real Estate professionals who post here regularly can offer their factual experiences.

[Moonwalkr]

Radon mitigation should drop your radon levels to EPA-safe levels. If it's a problem in your area then everyone's in the same boat. It's only a problem if you don't mitigate it and spend significant amount of time in the lowest area of your home (basement or crawlspace).

I don't believe it's a problem for re-sell, otherwise the real estate market would suffer tremendously especially in some of these high radon states.

[sacredgrooves]

1- Does radon pick and choose? Yes. Just the other day I tested a house that was no more than 300 yards from another house I had tested the prior week. The prior house had a level of over 12 pico curies (EPA action level is 4.0) and the most recently tested house had a .6 level.

2- The next buyers will almost assuredly care. Personally, I think the radon issue is a little overhyped. If you have a 10 as opposed to under 4, then you still are pretty safe from the effect. Now, if you have a 50, then yes, it can greatly increase your odds of lung cancer. The EPA rates this with the thought that you are in the environment 24/7 with no changes to the levels. In truth levels can bounce all over the place from hour to hour. When we perform a test, we run the hourly results through EPA software and it gives an average reading, then breaks it down hourly.
As a future home seller, the radon awareness of buyers will almost always bite you.

Here is the link to the EPA radon site for any more info you would like to know.

Radon | Indoor Air Quality | Air | US EPA

[FL little foot]

Well that was very informative, thanks.