3 ms·

I'm in the middle of moving from Texas to New England. In Texas, Radon is such a "not a problem", that I've never considered it before our move. In New England,

I'm in the middle of moving from Texas to New England. In Texas, Radon is such a "not a problem", that I've never considered it before our move. In New England, our basement tested above the "safe" limit (iirc, 4 somethings), so we are having a venterlator installed for ~$1.4k. In the south, Radon "can" be an issue, but it simply isn't an issue. In New England, it is often an issue.

NotYourLawyer 3y ago
Nobody in Texas has basements.
__MatrixMan__ 3y ago
Heavy metals in the nearby earth are the obvious parameter here--you need something to decay into radon for there to be radon. But I think another factor has to do with the water table. In some places the water table rises high enough to flood basements, so you don't usually have basements at all in those places, and subsequently you don't have large reservoirs of radon adjacent to living spaces. I know of some people here in CO (where we have decaying granite in the soil) that don't have a basement and still need a radon ventilator, but it's not very common.
simcop2387 3y ago
My understanding on why this is, is because in New England there's a lot more granite in the ground. Granite is particularly annoying in that respect because the trace amounts of, i think, uranium and radium that the rock concentrated when it was formed will give off the radon gas when they decay.
- eichin 3y ago
  and that can mean high outdoor radon levels... a home inspector back in early 2000 told me about a seller sneaking back in and opening basement windows to attempt to pass a radon test (sensors left in the basement over the weekend.) The inspector caught it but let the test run to completion - at which point it failed anyway because the adjacent "forest with exposed granite rocks" was a fine natural radon source...
Merad 3y ago
> In the south, Radon "can" be an issue, but it simply isn't an issue. There's more to the south than Texas, y'know. I can't recall if radon tests are required during a home inspection here in NC, or just highly recommended, but when I was buying a house last year I toured several homes that had radon mitigation systems installed.
myself248 3y ago
See my other post in this thread, active ventilation is the last resort if passive methods don't get results. Perhaps in the middle of a real-estate transaction it's easier to just pull the trigger on the sure-fire method and get it over and done with... ...but if you ever get annoyed by the whir of the fan, unplug it for a month and do an alpha-track monitor. (Or get a continuous monitor, they're cheap now!) There's every chance that simply having the cracks caulked and the piping in place, might do the trick all on its own, with no need for active depressurization.

NotYourLawyer 3y ago

Nobody in Texas has basements.

__MatrixMan__ 3y ago

Heavy metals in the nearby earth are the obvious parameter here--you need something to decay into radon for there to be radon. But I think another factor has to do with the water table. In some places the water table rises high enough to flood basements, so you don't usually have basements at all in those places, and subsequently you don't have large reservoirs of radon adjacent to living spaces. I know of some people here in CO (where we have decaying granite in the soil) that don't have a basement and still need a radon ventilator, but it's not very common.

simcop2387 3y ago

My understanding on why this is, is because in New England there's a lot more granite in the ground. Granite is particularly annoying in that respect because the trace amounts of, i think, uranium and radium that the rock concentrated when it was formed will give off the radon gas when they decay.

eichin 3y ago
and that can mean high outdoor radon levels... a home inspector back in early 2000 told me about a seller sneaking back in and opening basement windows to attempt to pass a radon test (sensors left in the basement over the weekend.) The inspector caught it but let the test run to completion - at which point it failed anyway because the adjacent "forest with exposed granite rocks" was a fine natural radon source...

Merad 3y ago

> In the south, Radon "can" be an issue, but it simply isn't an issue. There's more to the south than Texas, y'know. I can't recall if radon tests are required during a home inspection here in NC, or just highly recommended, but when I was buying a house last year I toured several homes that had radon mitigation systems installed.

myself248 3y ago

See my other post in this thread, active ventilation is the last resort if passive methods don't get results. Perhaps in the middle of a real-estate transaction it's easier to just pull the trigger on the sure-fire method and get it over and done with... ...but if you ever get annoyed by the whir of the fan, unplug it for a month and do an alpha-track monitor. (Or get a continuous monitor, they're cheap now!) There's every chance that simply having the cracks caulked and the piping in place, might do the trick all on its own, with no need for active depressurization.