Radon + Crawlspace?

10 years ago

We are having our 1 year old house in Central VA inspected for radon.
Should have had it done when the floors were open but now we move forward.

If radon levels come back high & our crawlspace is already conditioned & sealed - I believe a Crawlspace Sub-Membrane Suction method is suggested.

Where a thick plastic sheeting is laid onto the crawlspace gravel floor & sealed tight to the walls & then a suction tubing will be installed into that sheeting & a fan will suck that out a pipe.

Question: can that tube/pipe be run out the crawlspace wall & then up the side of the house - so how high does it need to be vented up in the air?

I see it recommended as high as possible but I am really really wanting a minimum length guide if possible.

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Comments (5)

kudzu9
10 years ago
It's recommended by the EPA that radon vent pipes need to be at least 2 feet above any opening such as a door or operable window. Can you run it up the inside of a wall, such as a garage wall and then penetrate the roof, or bring it through the wall up by the peak? Also you could simply box it in on the outside with siding and paint the box to match. An alternative would be to run a shallow trench away from the house, bury the pipe, and have the end terminate just above the ground at least 10 feet away from the house.

However, I suggest you don't worry about the fine details too much until you get back a result that confirms an actionable level (almost all houses have at least some trace, detectable radon.)
pbx2_gw
Original Author
10 years ago
@ kudzu9 - thanks for he feedback.

I guess stupidly I am worrying about aesthetic before any true results have come back. ETA is Monday for that.

Our house has a foam roof line, so I am a bit worry about punching any holes in it.
& the garage is detached.

We'll let you know about results when it happens.
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kudzu9
10 years ago
Not stupid to think about it a little...I do that, too. I just don't plan out all the details until I know I absolutely have to. Please post back when you hear what the results are.
pbx2_gw
Original Author
10 years ago
Well our radon readings came back today:

2 readings over a 4 day period resulted: between 4.2-4.3 pCi/L in our first floor.

We have a sealed crawl space - which I am wary of it being tampered with but looks like i will need to because of the radon remediation techniques I've read about so far.
kudzu9
10 years ago
Well, it looks like you are just over the threshold for what EPA calls an actionable level, so the bad news is you will want to do something, but the good news is that should be a fairly easy level to mitigate down from. I suspect, given your concern, that even if it came in at something like 3.0, you would choose to address it since radon levels aren't a pass-fail situation.

However, you might want to ask the radon mitigation folks if it would be possible to try their lowest cost option, and only do more if that didn't get you down to the level you desire. Radon is pretty easy to reduce, so good luck with this.