Radon Levels in Maine? (vacation home, to buy, contractors)

[Spanky25]

I wanted to buy a vaca home in PA. Long story short, I found out PA had very high levels of Radon. The home we wanted to purchase, had a Radon filter attached to the house. I found all this out when I asked my R.E. agent "what is that long PVC pipe/fan coming off the side of the house".

So, my next state was a vaca home in Maine. The levels are just as high, some counties even higher. I did weeks and weeks of research, all to find out less than 10% of the homes have been tested. Speaking to various people, they never even heard of it. Radon IS everwhere, but high levels are dangerous!

Is this an issue in Maine too? Google it, you can check radon levels in your county at radon.com

Here on L.I. we DO NOT (very small levels if any) have any levels of radon. Radon is the # 1 case of Lung Cancer.

[kellysmith]

Originally Posted by Spanky25

Radon is the # 1 case of Lung Cancer.

Me thinks smoking still ranks #1! and why be afraid of a house that is properly vented for radon?

[Zymer]

Originally Posted by Spanky25

I wanted to buy a vaca home in PA. Long story short, I found out PA had very high levels of Radon. The home we wanted to purchase, had a Radon filter attached to the house. I found all this out when I asked my R.E. agent "what is that long PVC pipe/fan coming off the side of the house".

So, my next state was a vaca home in Maine. The levels are just as high, some counties even higher. I did weeks and weeks of research, all to find out less than 10% of the homes have been tested. Speaking to various people, they never even heard of it. Radon IS everwhere, but high levels are dangerous!

Is this an issue in Maine too? Google it, you can check radon levels in your county at radon.com

Here on L.I. we DO NOT (very small levels if any) have any levels of radon. Radon is the # 1 case of Lung Cancer.

Actually, it's said to be #2, after cigarettes (according to the EPA).

Radon is a naturally occurring 'noble' gas with a half-life of 3.8 days. It is only a problem if it is allowed to accumulate in a confined area. As long as your basement is properly ventilated you have nothing to worry about. (The pipe and fan is not a filter, it's for ventilation.)

If you have a super tight house that does not allow for natural air circulation, then you must ventilate artificially.

Radon is present everywhere in the world, there is nowhere you can go to get away from it (it even occurs on the Moon). In the US, the highest levels are found in Iowa and in the Appalachians in PA.

[Spanky25]

I have a wife who is BRCA1 positive (family history) for the cancer gene. I CAN NOT TAKE ANY CHANCES of anything "triggering off" (radon) that gene.
I was just wanted a vaca home, not like my job is being relocated and I have NO choices.

[Zymer]

Originally Posted by Spanky25

I have a wife who is BRCA1 positive (family history) for the cancer gene. I CAN NOT TAKE ANY CHANCES of anything "triggering off" (radon) that gene.
I was just wanted a vaca home, not like my job is being relocated and I have NO choices.

Even if you chose an area with the highest levels, if the house is properly ventilated there would be no problem. Conversely, even if you chose an area with [relatively] lower levels but the house was 'tight' and the gas was able to accumulate you would still have a problem.

I can understand your desire to reduce the risk, but making sure the house is ventilated is more effective than trying to find an area with no radon.

If you are insistent on finding an area with low measured levels, then you need to stay away from areas with granite outcroppings or granitic soil deposited by glaciers during the last ice age...maybe Florida or Hawaii?

[retiredtinbender]

Originally Posted by Spanky25

I wanted to buy a vaca home in PA. Long story short, I found out PA had very high levels of Radon. The home we wanted to purchase, had a Radon filter attached to the house. I found all this out when I asked my R.E. agent "what is that long PVC pipe/fan coming off the side of the house".

So, my next state was a vaca home in Maine. The levels are just as high, some counties even higher. I did weeks and weeks of research, all to find out less than 10% of the homes have been tested. Speaking to various people, they never even heard of it. Radon IS everwhere, but high levels are dangerous!

Is this an issue in Maine too? Google it, you can check radon levels in your county at radon.com

Here on L.I. we DO NOT (very small levels if any) have any levels of radon. Radon is the # 1 case of Lung Cancer.

It's an issue enough in Maine to have radon and radon mitigation in existing home part of the state building code. Contractors and home owners must follow this for building new and refurbishing homes. Looking at teh maps on the referenced page Maine is mostly a red state. Not much blue or green in comparison.

Maybe you should be looking at vacation homes in Vermont if this is a big issue. A lot of blue and gren there.

[Trailmonkey]

If your furnace had a cracked heat exchanger, you would replace the heat exchanger, wouldn't you? and make sure that you have a functional CO detector so you can make sure that you stay safe. Same with radon. There is no reason not to buy a house you love if it has radon. Radon mitigation always works. Test regularly to ensure that you stay safe. I have installed many systems, levels are almost always reduced to less than 0.3 pCi/L. Ventilation of the basement/crawlspace does work, but you pay a pretty hefty energy penalty if you ventilate in the wintertime, versus a typical radon fan, which uses less than 25 watts.

[Zarathu]

I've never been convinced the radon is a special danger since its everywhere. The origianl studies on it were done with coal miners who already had black lung disease.

See: Idaho Observer: The radon hoax is back

[broadbill]

Originally Posted by Zarathu

I've never been convinced the radon is a special danger since its everywhere. The origianl studies on it were done with coal miners who already had black lung disease.

See: Idaho Observer: The radon hoax is back

The original studies on radon were done in uranium miners, not coal. Therefore, they did not have black lung disease.

I also read Tom May's "article" in the link you cited. He is correct that the concentration of radon is vanishing small, but what he doesn't address is the health risk those concentrations pose. Just because levels are low, doesn't mean that there isn't risk.

Another thing he doesn't mention is that radon becomes concentrated because its a heavy gas, therefore you can have locally high level in low-lying areas (like a basement).

[Zymer]

Originally Posted by broadbill

The original studies on radon were done in uranium miners, not coal. Therefore, they did not have black lung disease.

I also read Tom May's "article" in the link you cited. He is correct that the concentration of radon is vanishing small, but what he doesn't address is the health risk those concentrations pose. Just because levels are low, doesn't mean that there isn't risk.

Another thing he doesn't mention is that radon becomes concentrated because its a heavy gas, therefore you can have locally high level in low-lying areas (like a basement).

Actually, the effects of Radon were noted as long ago as the late 1500s. Miners working in unventilated mines were coming down with what they called 'wasting disease'. Ventilating the mines solved the problem. Modern studies of the descriptions of the symptoms indicated that the miners were apparently getting lung cancer.