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Permalink Reply by Kathryn on March 8, 2011 at 2:56pm

Erik,

 

  I'm a Realtor and have had to do Remediation in quite a few properties over the years.  It generally can cost from $800 to $1200.  If you have an existing sump pump and want the pipe to run up the side of the house on the exterior it's at the lower end of the price scale.  If you don't have a sump hole already existing and they have to dig one and then if you opt for hiding the pipe inside the interior walls and up and out through the attic roof it should be at the higher end of the scale.   Also make sure you use a reputable company licensed to do the work and whom will guarantee the fan motor and the retesting levels to below 4.0.  EPA recommends that you use a certified or qualified radon mitigation contractor trained to fix radon problems.   Hope that helps.

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Permalink Reply by rr on June 21, 2011 at 4:34am

Erik

if you own a sfh in ld, you probably already have the remediation pipe built into your house.  it is standard for most builders in this area to have the pipe pre-installed.  look for a 4" capped PVC pipe running up next to your furnace flue.  it tops out in your attic where it is also capped.  ours had a big R written on it.

a remediation specialist can use your sump or drill into your foundation, connect the pipe, add (recommended) an exhaust fan in your attic and you're good to go.

there are some remediation "experts" in the area that prefer to add a new pipe outside your home... because it saves them the trouble of connecting pipes in an inconvenient location (your utlility or furnace closet).  don't do it, it looks terrible and doesn't work any better than using the built-in pipe -- if you see any homes (there are quite a few in ld) with 4inch pvc pipe going up to the roof line that's what it is.

if for whatever reason you don't have an interior pipe, a good radon remediator will give you options for hiding most of it inside.

last, check with your builder.  if you bought new, some builders will pitch-in for the remediation costs-- since it is something almost impossible to prevent prior to building your home. 

one more thing:  4.0 is too high. that is the maximum recommended for a real estate transaction.  2.0 is the EPA recommendation if you are living in the dwelling (i know, makes no sense).  I would target 1.0 or lower, which is generarlly possible.

if you need a referral to the guy who did remediation in 4 houses on our street, let me know.

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Permalink Reply by happydaz on July 6, 2011 at 3:30pm

I was wondering about radon -- as I've seen many houses in Lansdowne with those external round / tube things coming out of the side of their houses and up to the roof.

 

Is there a "DIY" kit to check - or should you go right to the pro's for a test?

 

 

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Permalink Reply by happydaz on July 6, 2011 at 3:31pm

@Erik - how did you know you had high radon levels?

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Permalink Reply by Mike Rosen on July 20, 2011 at 11:46am

Hey Erik -

 

Just saw this post and I'm sure you've probably already fixed your radon problem but I thought this information might be useful to others in the same situation.  My family and I live near the Potomac Club and I had our house tested shortly after moving in last year.  We tested at 24 pCi/L and the EPA recommends remediation for any reading above 0.4 pCi/L.  Needless to say we researched and contact several remediation companies and had it fixed and then retested immediately.

 

I wrote an article in the Lansdowne Connection earlier this year and posted the same information on my blog (see link below).  See the section at the bottom of the post called "Radon Resources" for some links to additional information and the company that we used for the remediation (I highly recommend them).

Radon Blog Post

http://blog.providentteam.com/2011/01/is-the-air-in-your-home-givin...

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Permalink Reply by Mike Rosen on July 20, 2011 at 12:02pm

@happydaz - I'm assuming you were talking about a DIY testing kit rather than the remediation part.  I would definitely defer to a professional for the actual remediation.

 

You can get pretty inexpensive charcoal test kits here and they are highly rated for accuracy - http://www.rtca.com/product.asp?prodID=10&catID=.  They cost about $45 dollars and you leave them in your basement for 2 days and then send them off to a lab for the test results.  The lab tests are included with the $45 purchase price.

 

You can also have a professional come out to do a digital test which will be a little more accurate and give you hourly readings but it will cost a lot more (4 or 5 times more than a charcoal canister).  If you're looking to have a digital test let me know and I can send you contact information for the person I used.

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Permalink Reply by rr on February 5, 2012 at 2:07pm

you can also buy an electronic radon meter... (google it) for around $100. I've tested mine and it is consistently within about 10% +/- of the charcoal or cylinder test kits.  Benefit is that after a few days of warm up time you can get ongoing constant readings of your radon levels.  And if you want to do a calculation like I did below, you can move it into your bedroom for a few weeks of readings.

Just to be clear. EPA does NOT recommend remediation for a reading of 0.4 pCi/L.  0.4 pCi/L is the average reading OUTSIDE (probably a little higher here in virginia).  You will never be able to do better than that.  EPA trigger levels are 4 pCi/L (10 X the outside rate) for real estate transactions and 2 pCi/L (on the lowest living area of your home; this is 5X the outside rate).

As per my earlier post, both of these are too high.  Get it down to below 1 pCi/L.  You can do a quick back of the envelope exposure calculation by getting your basement measurement and then rationing your time.

If you are at 1 pCi/L in your basement your first floor is probably about 1/3 lower, we'll say 0.7 pCi/L, your upstairs floor is about 1/3 lower again (0.5  pCi/L).  then run the numbers.

if you spend 8 hours/day in your bedroom at 0.5

and 4 hours on your first floor at 0.7

and 2 hours outside at 0.4

and 2 hours in your basement at 1.0

and 8 hours at work (assume .6 in your office building)

that gives you an average exposure of 14.4/24  or 0.6 pCi/L.

in short, your likelihood of getting lung cancer is 50% higher than if you breathed fresh air all day long.  That's a price I'm wlling to pay for indoor plumbing.  You can see that if your home levels go up much above 1 then you are dramatically increasing your chances of lung cancer by 100+% (effectively more than doubling your risk).  At the EPA trigger level of 4  pCi/L you would be effectively 10 times more likely than your clean-air breathing neighbor to get lung cancer.  Might as well take up smoking.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Erik on February 6, 2012 at 12:38am

Sorry all
Haven't been checking the blog

Yes I still need some remediation contractor referalls

Thanks in advance

rr said:

you can also buy an electronic radon meter... (google it) for around $100. I've tested mine and it is consistently within about 10% +/- of the charcoal or cylinder test kits.  Benefit is that after a few days of warm up time you can get ongoing constant readings of your radon levels.  And if you want to do a calculation like I did below, you can move it into your bedroom for a few weeks of readings.

Just to be clear. EPA does NOT recommend remediation for a reading of 0.4 pCi/L.  0.4 pCi/L is the average reading OUTSIDE (probably a little higher here in virginia).  You will never be able to do better than that.  EPA trigger levels are 4 pCi/L (10 X the outside rate) for real estate transactions and 2 pCi/L (on the lowest living area of your home; this is 5X the outside rate).

As per my earlier post, both of these are too high.  Get it down to below 1 pCi/L.  You can do a quick back of the envelope exposure calculation by getting your basement measurement and then rationing your time.

If you are at 1 pCi/L in your basement your first floor is probably about 1/3 lower, we'll say 0.7 pCi/L, your upstairs floor is about 1/3 lower again (0.5  pCi/L).  then run the numbers.

if you spend 8 hours/day in your bedroom at 0.5

and 4 hours on your first floor at 0.7

and 2 hours outside at 0.4

and 2 hours in your basement at 1.0

and 8 hours at work (assume .6 in your office building)

that gives you an average exposure of 14.4/24  or 0.6 pCi/L.

in short, your likelihood of getting lung cancer is 50% higher than if you breathed fresh air all day long.  That's a price I'm wlling to pay for indoor plumbing.  You can see that if your home levels go up much above 1 then you are dramatically increasing your chances of lung cancer by 100+% (effectively more than doubling your risk).  At the EPA trigger level of 4  pCi/L you would be effectively 10 times more likely than your clean-air breathing neighbor to get lung cancer.  Might as well take up smoking.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by cls on February 6, 2012 at 5:09pm

Radon Control Professionals:  

2510 Soapstone Drive  Reston, VA 20191-3715

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Permalink Reply by Erik on February 8, 2012 at 8:04am

If anyone else has any other radon cotractor referrals can you please post them

Thanks everyone

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Permalink Reply by Mike Rosen on February 8, 2012 at 9:44am

We used Radon Abatement Services - www.radonrepair.com - 301-718-6200. Highly recommend them - professional, prompt and high quality workmanship when they worked on our house.

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