February Job

I had the opportunity to install this radon system recently. It was different from past jobs in that the appearance of the system had to match the home and be unobtrusive, so we painted the outside part to match the house.

I had to exchange my usual 20 ft. ladder for a 24 ft. model, to reach to the high roof.

This smaller Bosch hammer drill was a lifesaver, as far as drilling perfect holes in the brick for the pipe anchors. My large hammer drill would have broken up the brick.

Finished Product

Indoor Section

Radon Communication Test

I did initial testing Saturday to determine if it would be possible to mitigate a large home by utilizing a subslab radon system. This is where we drill one hole (1") where we insert an industrial vacuum nozzle, and then drill a smaller hole at the other end of the house. We then turn on the vacuum cleaner and then go to the other hole where we hold a smoke-stick over it, to see if smoke is drawn into the hole. A positive test means we probably have good air flow beneath the concrete slab.

Failing the Smoke Test

Passing the smoke test

Draining Excess Water

I had installed a huge radon system in the summer, which spanned the width of this home. Due to the route of the pipe between the walls, I did not have the luxury of angling the pipe toward the floor opening to drain excess water from condensation near the fan. As a result, water was building up in the pipe beneath the fan housing, resulting in reduced efficiency.

As a solution to the problem, I built a one-way drain valve (Dranjer) into a section of pipe, and installed it beneath the fan housing. So far, it's been working very well!

Article of the Day

Article Link:

6 Must-Do Tests for Every Homeowner

Recent Newspaper Articles

Here is a recent article on radon from the Tennessean: Free Test Kits

Failed Cases

Here are pictures from one of the few radon cases in 2010 we could not fix. In this instance we sealed the dirt floor, then sealed the stone wall and used one of our biggest fans. This was about 8 days of labor and hundreds of $ in materials. Radon levels remained unchanged. Result? The client received a full refund. Final solution? The homeowner himself simply installed a heat recovery ventilator in the living space. Radon problem solved and an expensive lesson for us.

 Formerly bare dirt.....and not the radon source

 Let's seal this leaky stone wall........

A few days later-sealed, but radon levels were unchanged....

Day 9: Complete system removal and refund

Block Wall Suction

Sealing the Edges of the Vapor Barrier

We just finished yesterday with a combo vapor-barrier with block-wall suction. There was a large, exposed dirt area in the basement, and radon levels around 8 to 10+ pCi/L. A lot of these houses built around the early 1900's have dirt floor basements. I guess that was normal for that time period. We must have used 60 feet of pipe, as we had to vent a concrete barrier wall on the far end of the basement, and place another pipe under the white vapor-barrier on the end closest to the exit point through the exterior wall:

"Block Wall Suction"


Vapor-Barrier Penetration


Vacuum Indicator


Finding a Way to the Outside


Success!