• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
methodshop

methodshop

tech news, reviews & how to's

  • Trending
  • Latest
  • Tech
    • Apps
    • Internet
    • Software
    • Security
    • Games
    • Advertising
  • Life
    • Entertainment
    • TV & Film
    • Music
    • Health & Science
    • Family
    • Social Media
    • Food
    • Style
  • Learn
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • News
      • Business
      • Crime
      • Politics
  • Fun
    • Featured
    • Humor
    • Holiday

Home : DIY & Tutorials : Radon Gas Removal: 6 Things You Can Learn From My Radon Mitigation Emergency

Radon Gas Removal & Radon Mitigation
Radon Gas: The Silent Killer

Radon Gas Removal: 6 Things You Can Learn From My Radon Mitigation Emergency

My radon gas test results were toxic. I was in the middle of a radon mitigation emergency and needed immediate radon gas removal from my home.

December 13, 2015 by jayfrankwilson
FacebookTweetPinLinkedIn
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • My Toxic Radon Gas Levels
  • 01) Buy A Radon Gas Test Kit ASAP
  • 02) Call Your State Radon Office With Your Radon Gas Test Results
  • 03) Hire A Radon Mitigation Contractor To Facilitate Your Radon Gas Removal Efforts
  • 04) Patch Holes, Cracks & Gaps
  • 05) Reduce Negative Air Flow
  • 06) Buy A Digital Radon Gas Detector
  • Learning From My Radon Gas Mitigation & Radon Gas Removal Experience

While buying a carbon monoxide detector at my local hardware store, I saw a home radon gas test kit on sale. I knew radon gas was bad, but not much else. So I bought a radon test kit just to have some peace of mind. Glad I did. After smoking, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, and my radon gas test results were toxic. I was in the middle of a radon mitigation emergency and needed immediate radon gas removal from my home.

6 Things You Can Learn From My Radon Mitigation Emergency … #radon #radoninspection #radongas #radonmitigation #radonlevels

Click To Tweet

My Toxic Radon Gas Levels

The average home basement has a radon level of 2 pCi/L or lower. My basement had a frightening radon level of 23.3. Just breathing the air in my house was the equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. Not a good situation for anyone, especially a home with small children. Radon gas kills 58 Americans every day. I didn’t want my family to be a radon casualty statistic. I had a radon gas removal emergency.

Radon Gas Kills 58 Americans Per Day - Radon Gas Removal &Amp; Radon Mitigation
Radon gas kills 58 americans every day.

And it’s not like I live near a copper mine or somewhere potentially dangerous. Radon gas is everywhere. Radon is an invisible and odorless naturally occurring gas that seeps out of the earth. The negative pressure in our homes and apartment buildings acts as a funnel that pulls the gas out of the ground and into our living areas.

Here’s what you need to do a protect your home from radon gas and facilitate any necessary radon gas removal.

01) Buy A Radon Gas Test Kit ASAP

A home radon gas test kit is cheap ($15-$40). It’s worth the peace of mind that it will give you and your family. Radon test kits usually range between $10-15 dollars and include the laboratory test fee. The kits are basically just a small box of activated charcoal that you leave on the lowest level of your house for a few days and then mail to a lab.

The radon gas test kit will come with instructions that you should follow exactly. But they usually will tell you not to put the kit directly on the floor and not to mess with or move the kit during the test.

We paid for a home inspection before we bought our house but unbeknownst to us, it did NOT include a radon gas test. Now I know better. Always get a radon gas test before you move into a new place. It might save a life.

02) Call Your State Radon Office With Your Radon Gas Test Results

Once you get your radon test kit results, call your State radon officer to discuss them. Contact info for local radon representatives for every US state and territory can be found on EPA.gov’s website. Your state radon representative will be able to help interpret your results, provide insights relevant for your neighborhood, and recommend a Radon Mitigation Contractor to help you.

Don’t feel too bad if you have a high radon level. According to this radon map on the EPA’s website, most states north of Arizona to North Carolina have an average radon level of 4 or higher (shown below in RED).

Map Of Radon Levels In Usa - Radon Gas Removal &Amp; Radon Mitigation
Red = 4+ pci/l, orange = 4-2 pci/l, yellow = 2 or lower pci/l

03) Hire A Radon Mitigation Contractor To Facilitate Your Radon Gas Removal Efforts

If your home tests at 4 picoCuries per liter (pCi/L) or above, then you should get a couple of bids from a local radon mitigation contractor. Your radon gas removal needs to happen as soon as possible. Ask for recommendations from your State’s environmental or health departments when you call them to discuss your radon test results. The state recommended contractors will already be cleared by the National Radon Safety Board (NRSB) or the National Radon Proficiency Program (NEHA-NRPP) for radon mitigation.

What should you expect from a radon mitigation contractor? They will typically drill a 6-8 inch hole in your foundation to create an easy escape point for the radon gas. They then will cover that hole with a special radon fan. Attached to that fan will be a pipe that runs through the inside of your house and out either your roof or a side of the house away from any windows.

Radon Mitigation: Radon Fan Vent On Roof
A radon fan roof vent installed by a radon mitigation contractor.

Exact costs will vary from state to state and home to home, but on average you’ll probably get a bill for around $1,000-3,000.

My radon mitigation contractor ran a vent from my basement, through my garage, through the 2nd-floor utility room, through the arctic, and then out the roof. It took him about 7 hours.

04) Patch Holes, Cracks & Gaps

Do you have cracks in your foundation or cement floor? Drafty basement windows? Uncapped sump vents? What about gaps in the concrete around pipes or windows? If so, then you should seal them all ASAP with a product like SEAL-KRETE or a concrete bonding adhesive.

You want to prevent radon from finding ways to seep into your house. Fewer holes and gaps are better.

How Radon Enters Your Home - Radon Gas Removal &Amp; Radon Mitigation
How radon enters your home

05) Reduce Negative Air Flow

Part of your radon gas removal efforts should be stopping radon gas from even entering your home in the first place. Negative airflow, or pressure, in your house, is when more air leaves your house than is added. It can have many positive aspects including naturally cooling your home. When hot air rises throughout your house and back outside, cooler air from your basement or your first floor will get sucked up and carried through your house. Although this is good for cooling your home in the summer, when the air contains radon gas, it can actually be a bad thing.

Try holding a tissue next to the bottom edge of your basement door and see if it blows out. If you have a drafty basement door, then the radon gas can get pulled upstairs and throughout your home.

Since discovering radon gas in our home, I’ve sealed drafty basement windows with plastic window shrink film and better insulated our interior basement door with weatherstrips.

06) Buy A Digital Radon Gas Detector

Similar to a smoke or carbon monoxide detector, a radon gas detector will alert you if radon levels reach dangerous levels. Unfortunately, radon gas detectors aren’t usually sold at hardware stores likes Lowe’s or Home Depot yet. But radon detectors can be easily purchased online for around $100-$200. It felt very good to watch my radon gas levels drop from 20+ to 1.9 over a few days after I had a contractor help us with our radon gas removal.

Safety Siren: Pro Series 3 - Radon Gas Detector
Digital radon gas detectors: $100-$200

Make sure you read the reviews before you buy a radon gas detector. They aren’t as simple as installing a smoke detector. Some radon detectors require several days to calibrate or need to be serviced on a regular basis.

Learning From My Radon Gas Mitigation & Radon Gas Removal Experience

If you suspect that you might have a radon gas issue then buy a radon gas test kit and start researching radon gas removal ASAP. I’m really glad I saw that radon test on sale in the hardware store. Hopefully, this info on my radon gas mitigation experience helped. Please learn from my mistakes and keep your family safe from radon gas. Good luck!

Everything You Need to Know To Protect Your Family from #RadonGas

Click To Tweet

Related Articles:

  • Vampire Electronics That Still Cost You Money While Turned Off
  • How To Find The Exact Latitude and Longitude of Your House
  • 250 People Pick Up An Amish Pole Barn And Take It For A Walk
  • Mac vs PC: How To Convince Your Boss You Need A Mac At Work


FacebookTweetPinLinkedIn
Category: DIY & Tutorials, Health & Science, Technology Tag: cancer, Carbon monoxide detector, charcoal, environment, gas, Lung cancer, National Radon Safety Board, picoCuries, radon, Radon Contractor, radon detector, radon fan, radon gas, radon gas detector, radon inspection, radon levels, Radon Mitigation, Radon Mitigation Contractor, radon mitigation system cost, radon test, radon test kit, radon testing, real estate, United States
Previous Post:5 Tactics to Help Make Your Holiday Office Party Amazeballs5 Tactics to Help Make Your Holiday Office Party Amazeballs
Next Post:You know you’re overfeeding your dog when….dat dog

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sidebar

Popular Posts

  • Job Automation Using ChatGPT Could Make These Jobs Obsolete - Is Your Job On This List?Job Automation Using ChatGPT Could Make These Jobs Obsolete – Is Your Job On…
  • 18 Weird Facts About Sea-Monkeys You Won't Believe Are True, Including Their Connection To The Ku Klux Klan18 Weird Facts About Sea-Monkeys You Won’t Believe Are True, Including Their…
  • 7 Pictures Of Naked People Captured By Google's Cameras7 Pictures Of Naked People Captured By Google’s Cameras
  • Top 200 Nielsen DMA Rankings (2023) – Full ListTop 200 Nielsen DMA Rankings (2023) – Full List
  • The Surprising Story Behind The NBC ChimesThe Surprising Story Behind The NBC Chimes
  • 20 Famous People Who Are Members Of The Sleepless Elite20 Famous People Who Are Members Of The Sleepless Elite
  • How To Change The Default LG TV Home Screen To Live TVHow To Change The Default LG TV Home Screen To Live TV
  • Is Your Hatch Restore Already Registered? Here's How To Fix It And Unregister A Hatch Restore.Is Your Hatch Restore Already Registered? Here’s How To Fix It And…
  • The Best Caddyshack Quotes: 30 Famous Caddyshack Quotes That'll Make You LaughThe Best Caddyshack Quotes: 30 Famous Caddyshack Quotes That’ll Make You Laugh
  • What Comes After A Trillion? - Here's A Chart Of Enormous Named NumbersWhat Comes After A Trillion? – Here’s A Chart Of Enormous Named Numbers

Categories

Tech That Died - Tech Graveyard

RIP: Remembering The Tech That Died In 2022

It’s been a wild ride for tech in 2022. We’ve seen the rise of new gadgets, platforms, and services, and the demise of some of the biggest names in the industry. From the shocking death of a beloved tech giant to the sudden closure of a popular app, here are the biggest tech deaths of 2022 that left us all reeling. Get ready to take a trip down memory lane and pay tribute to the tech that died in 2022.

The Official ChatGPT Detector Sucks: 5 Reasons Why OpenAI AI Text Classifier Is Basically Worthless

The Official ChatGPT Detector Sucks: 5 Reasons Why OpenAI AI Text Classifier Is Basically Worthless

As the hype around generative AI tools continues to rise, some critics are demanding that the creators of these tools to create detectors.

Recent Posts

  • The Official ChatGPT Detector Sucks: 5 Reasons Why OpenAI AI Text Classifier Is Basically Worthless
  • Is Robot Religion The Next Phase Of The Artificial Intelligence Evolution?
  • RIP: Remembering The Tech That Died In 2022
  • 25 Inspirational Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes
  • Job Automation Using ChatGPT Could Make These Jobs Obsolete – Is Your Job On This List?

Jump to comments

About

MethodShop’s mission is to entertain, inform, and sometimes gross you out. MethodShop has affiliate relationships, so we may get a small share of the revenue from your purchases. Items are sold by the retailer, not by us. All prices are subject to change.

Latest

The Official ChatGPT Detector Sucks: 5 Reasons Why OpenAI AI Text Classifier Is Basically Worthless

The Official ChatGPT Detector Sucks: 5 Reasons Why OpenAI AI Text Classifier Is Basically Worthless

Robot Rabbit - Robot Religion - Jewish Robot

Is Robot Religion The Next Phase Of The Artificial Intelligence Evolution?

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest
MethodShop Animated Zoom Icon
  • About
  • Submit
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Store

Copyright © 2023 MethodShop · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc.