Tell me about radon mitigation

[Mama_Zappa]

@kopek

I second that the sump will get sealed. We did ours for various reasons and we’re lucky - no radon beyond what you would expect as background normal from here. I would look into…

PS – your reading is high and for the long-term health of your family you do need to address it but don’t panic yet. Readings over 100 aren’t that uncommon and I’ve heard of some over 1000. If memory serves the rule of thumb is that long term exposure over years raises your risk of some lung issues roughly 15% for every 3 picocuries over 4 (your target really is to get under 2). Right now, with the rate you have, even over the course of months — think of it as walking through a smokey dive bar. Not really a good thing but far from a reason to increase your life insurance policy.

The house I grew up in, in Pennsylvania, was similarly in a high-radon area. When we sold the house after Mom died, radon testing was required and it did indeed turn up high levels. I think we gave the buyer money back at closing so they could deal with it however they like.

We all spent a LOT of time in that basement growing up, and Mom had a home office there after we all moved out. She did in fact die of lung cancer - she smoked for 55 years, though I imagine the radon didn’t help. I haven’t lived there in nearly 30 years and I’m still alive ;).

For the OP: if you’ve got a full walk-out basement, venting might be easier (I’m guessing, anyway) since you wouldn’t necessarily have to run a pipe all the way through the house or up the outside of it to the roof. I might be wrong about that.

I had never thought of the sump pump issue, actually. I think our current house was tested before we moved in (we tested our old place a while before we sold; it’s not required per the contracts in our state).