Lowering Radon Levels in Your Home

Lowering the levels of radon in your home can reduce the risks that radon poses to your health. The lowering of high radon levels requires a great deal of technical knowledge and special skills. A Radon Mitigation Contractor should be used for treating a high level of radon.

Radon gas can penetrate houses from many sources. The primary way that radon enters a house is through the foundation, crawl space, or basement by a variety of avenues:

• Cracks in floors
• Cracks in walls
• Drains
• Sump pumps
• Exposed soil
• Water supply
• Construction joints
• Gaps in suspended floors
• Loose fitting pipes

It is impossible to radon-proof a home, but it is possible to reduce the level of radon. There are several methods that can be used to reduce lower levels of radon in your home. The one most often used is a vent pipe system and fan that pull radon from beneath the house and vent it to the outside. This system is called a Soil Suction Radon Reduction System. Sealing foundation cracks and other openings makes this kind of system more effective. This is also a much more cost-efficient method. You can also use this method in homes where there are crawl spaces. You may think that caulking the cracks and the openings in the basement floor alone will stop the radon from entering the house. Unfortunately, it only takes enough unsealed cracks in the caulking to equal a hole 1/2" in diameter to let all the radon back into your home.

As a word of caution, cigarette smokers should keep their exposure to radon as low as possible. People who smoke are shown to have a health risk eight times higher than non-smokers.

The cost of mitigation to your home can run anywhere from $500.00 to $2500.00.