By Sarah Glorian

My household is in the process of concluding a yearlong odyssey of mind-numbing home repairs (including more than a few days of volatile organic compounds or VOCs exposure). I intended to write this column in January, which is National Radon Action month. Alas, I was still too busy being an unintentional general contractor. In the past year, we have had, at last count, more than 10 contractors, plus various subcontractors at our home. Historical homes have many things in common with the mythical Pandora’s Box—and alas, our 1925 home has not disappointed.

Our story begins in January 2017, when I naively read somewhere it was National Radon Action month and purchased a $14 radon gas test kit on Amazon. Based on my growing understanding about radon, most homeowners should NOT experience the comical, absurd (and expensive) trials and tribulations that unraveled for us over this past year—most of which were unrelated to the radon issue and merely occurred as this initial radon project unfolded.

However, I share this as many in Grays Harbor live in older homes that lack vapor barriers and have limited to no foundation or older hand-mixed foundations (like ours). If you are one of these homeowners, you should strongly consider testing your home for radon.

What is radon?

Radon is a radioactive gas. You cannot see, smell or taste radon. It is naturally occurring and found all over the U.S. Radon remediation is common and often required in certain regions and states. Radon comes from the natural decay of uranium found in nearly all soils. It moves through the ground and water and can enter through your home’s foundation into the air and build up inside. Any home may have a radon problem, including new or old homes, well-sealed or drafty homes, and homes with or without basements. However, I expect around here, the worst culprit would be older homes like ours. Radon from soil is the main cause of radon, but it can come through well water or even building materials used to build one’s home.

Is radon dangerous?

Yes. While smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer and second-hand smoke the third leading cause of lung cancer, radon is the number one cause of lung cancer in non-smokers and the number two cause for smokers.

Radon is expressed in picoCuries per liter of air, or “pCi/L” and a Curie is a unit of radioactivity equivalent to 1 gram of radium and the prefix “pico” means a trillionth. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says no radon exposure level is safe. However, the average indoor radon level is 1.3 pCi/L, and an average of 0.4 pCi/L of radon is naturally occurring in the outside air.

Most homes today can be reduced to 2 pCi/L or below.

The EPA recommends remediation if the home’s radon level is 4 pCi/L or higher.

Based on maps and spreadsheets on the EPA site (albeit somewhat contradictory data), both sources show Grays Harbor County and surrounding counties are not in a geographic and/or geologic region where high radon levels would be expected. In contrast, Clark, Klickitat, and several northeast counties are where radon remediation is common.

And yet, our basement had consistent levels 35 to 40 pCi/L, and as the gas rises to the main floor where we primarily live and sleep, it was 12 to 15 pCi/L. Needless to say, in addition to obvious and serious health concerns, with this knowledge comes new obligations. That is, we would not be able to sell our home in the future without legally being required to disclose the radon issue, which would likely cause our property value to go down significantly. With the remediation system installed, we have successfully mitigated this health hazard.

There are reputable radon remediation contractors in the Spokane and the Portland area who will travel to this region to do the work. We hired a reputable contractor from Portland. A typical remediation should cost $2,000 to $4,000. One of the most common remediation systems involves placing a pipe about two feet down into the ground under your basement floor (or tying it in to a sump pump). An enclosed fan draws the gas out of the ground up through the pipe and out above your roof (four feet above the highest window). Once installed, the fan runs 24/7 for the life of the home. Minimal electricity required; we have the more powerful fan it draws very little electricity.

The levels in our home are now within acceptable ranges. It was recently certified with more stringent tests (not the $14 kits) with all certified results at less than 1 pCi/Lin the basement—hooray!

For more information about radon, go to:

https://www.epa.gov/radon

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