Radon gas in basement workshops

[John Kelsey]

Anybody know anything about radon gas in a basement workshop? A dude in our club recently had surgery for lung cancer, the docs told him it might have been caused by radon gas seeping into his basement shop, they said radon exposure is the second leading cause of lung cancer, after cigaret smoke. Do y'all think it's necessary to hire a radon mitigation contractor? Or is it good enough to seal holes and cracks, and ventilate the workshop to the outside?

 

[GRJensen]

You can buy a radon detection kit at most home centers ... that would tell you if you have a problem or not. The start at about $15 and up.

Where I live (NE of Green Bay, Wisconsin) radon mitigation systems are required due to the nature of the escarpment we are built on. We have two systems in our basement.

 

[Dan Stromberg]

Depending on the part of the country, yes, it can be a problem.

A good radon contractor will start with a radon test (a box they leave in the basement for a couple of days, then measure what has accumulated.) If they're reputable, that may be as far as it goes if there is no problem.

I don't know what you have on your basement floor, but don't forget that concrete is porous - radon gas can seep through.

In my last home it was an issue... the contractors ended up digging to run an active line outside from under the house.

Dan

 

[Roger Wiegand]

If you've got radon you should address the problem. It's a serious, cumulative, and persistent problem. Lots of methods for remediation, what to do will depend on your specific situation. It can be as easy as epoxy paint on the floor, or as complex as trenching in pipework to permit ventilation under the slab. Testing here is mandatory on the sale of properties, but test kits are cheap and readily available at any time.

If you're building new it's a trivial expense to run some pipe under the basement slab to allow ventilation. It's a shame that it's not routinely done in parts of the country where radon is a common problem.

 

[John Torchick]

Note the word "might" which raises more questions than gives answers. Think of all the vapors one is exposed to each day.

 

[Roger Wiegand]

Here's a good representation of relative risk from various levels of radon exposure. https://health.mo.gov/living/environment/radon/riskcharts.php

This is a case where the risk is quite clear and quantifiable, we understand the mechanisms pretty well, it's easy to measure whether you have a problem, and mitigation is quite straightforward. Would that all environmental hazards were so clear cut!

Of course no one can pinpoint the exact cause of a given tumor, nor say which individuals in a population will be afflicted, but radon is one of the best established cases where exposure at a given level will result in excess cancers at a known rate in a population. Unfortunately this is because the effect size is pretty large.

 

[Dave Fritz]

We have a mitigation system installed. There's a gauge in the basement that tells us if the unit us running or not. It pulls gas from under the slab out through a stack in the roof. They of course sealed all the cracks and seams. It's been zero since. Sort of amazed at how long the fan in the stack has lasted. I keep checking and it keeps on going.

 

[Kirk Amidon]

A radon system provided me with one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed. Had a mitigation system consisting of 5" PVC piping and a fan, which had a very tall - 2 story stack where it stood 3 or 4 feet above the room at that house. I noticed the indicator showed the fan was not working. Called the contractor and they showed up to take a look. Showed them the basement and the location of the fan.

After verifying the power etc., they started on replacing the fan. As I walked around the corner, I saw the apprentice jump backwards, falling over himself in his haste to depart the area, while letting out a blood curdling scream. Turned out the root cause of the fan not working was a petrified squirrel. Said mummy had apparently fallen onto his foot. The main tech and I got a good laugh at the apprentice's reaction. For the rest of the installation, he got a lot of ribbing from the main tech.

They did add a mesh cap to the vent pipe, which I can recommend, for a number of reasons.

 

[Dean Center]

John, the originally identified area of concern for radon was the Reading Prong. In Pennsylvania.

We have a significant radon problem in our area, and it's very interesting to read that people in widely separated areas of the country do too.

For those who want to test, you may be able to get an inexpensive test from your local health department. There are several methods of testing, with longer duration tests probably more reliable than the shorter ones, but the shorter ones are reasonable screening tests. Personally, I would be cautious about relying on a mitigation company to do the test--they have an inherent bias in favor of finding, and fixing, a problem.

Curiously, this is a situation where an old, leaky house is an advantage. The more the air in your house turns over, the less the radon accumulates. Since maybe the late 1970s, houses have been built much tighter, to conserve energy, with the unfortunate consequence of trapping more air and increasing radon levels.

It's a little like dust collection and respiratory protection. It's a very sneaky problem and you don't know you've got it until someone gets cancer. Check your local health department or extension office to see if radon is an issue in your area and get a test. It's cheap and the potential harm is considerable.

PS It's not just the basement. The radon seeps up from the ground, but it gets all over the house.

 

[Tim Tucker]

As radon is now considered #2 or #3 on the cause of lung cancer...it is worthwhile to test and monitor. We had 45 pico-curies per liter of radon - in a new construction, ultra watertight and insulated concrete walled basement. The Federal standard fro required radon abatement is 4 pico-curies per liter. I was shocked and frustrated -due to my ignorance about radon. So, I read everything I could and set upon installing a sump, radon fan and piping to remove it from under the slab. *BUT* I also installed a full time digital monitor in our bedroom, which is on the main level of the house where we spend most of our time - as well as in my basement, actually in the lathe room - because it is curtained off and sort of "sealed" from the normal airflow of the rest of the basement. Here is a link from Amazon for radon monitoring devices. I like this company as their system is a bluetooth signal - and I can look at the readings on my phone easily. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Radon+monitoring&ref=nb_sb_noss_2