Installing radon piping

While the techniques may vary for different house foundations and building site requirements, the five basic features that builders should include to prevent radon from entering a home are:. A new home buyer may ask the builder about these features, and if not provided, may ask the builder to include them in the new home. If a home is tested after the buyer moves in and an elevated level of radon is discovered, the owner's cost of fixing the problem can be much more.

Skip to main content. Contact Us. Radon-Resistant Construction Basics and Techniques. A fan creates suction in the pipe, drawing air out of the soil beneath the house and pushing it out above the house, allowing it to disperse. The fan is situated in the attic or usually at the top of the system. It would be a shame to solve one problem, radon, only to create another, moisture and mold in the attic.

The next part of the article walks you through exactly what you need and what to do to install a radon mitigation system in your home. Now it's time to start your mitigation project. Below is a list of what you will need, and a step by step guide to get you started. The first step to mitigating the radon in your home is to understand where radon levels are high in your home and how high they are. To do this, you need a radon detector. The detector you buy depends on your budget, but we recommend a long-term detector.

They are more expensive than short-term detectors, but they tell you radon levels in your home for years, and you'll know that your DIY radon mitigation has worked!

Short-term detectors only give you readings over several days and then they are done; they cannot be reused. For more information about the difference between types of radon tests, read our comparison article here.

Knowing how old your home is will help you plan the DIY radon mitigation system installation. If the home was built before the s, the fill used beneath your cement slab foundation is probably not ideal. An ideal fill is porous, meaning it lets gas breathe. This would allow you to suck out the air relatively easily. A non-ideal fill is dense, either very wet earth or rock.

These require more effort as you need to figure out how to suck the air through this dense earth and out through your system. First, additions. If sections of your home were added on after the initial construction, you may need to mitigate radon from multiple areas of your home.

This would be the case if your foundation slab is not fully continuous, meaning there are pockets of air beneath your home each of which would require different mitigation systems, complicating the DIY radon mitigation system installation.

Second, current drainage systems. Do you have a french drain or a drain tile inside the house that you can use to draw radon up out of? If so, you may not need to drill through the foundation slab. Third, soil composition. If not, you can drill a hole and check. You want a gravel-like fill because it promotes airflow. Wet sand or earth allows much less airflow.

If you have a wet earth situation, you will need to put your arm into the hole you drill in the foundation and dig out a foot or two in each direction. This should allow the pipe, situated well above the bottom of the pit, to pull up an adequate amount of air. Last, current foundation compromises. Check where pipes go through the foundation to make sure they are fully sealed and plug up cracks, even hairline cracks, in the slab.

These efforts will make the slab airtight, allowing the mitigation system to get a good level of suction. Again, there are couple specific details to consider about your particular home.

Seal cracks in the foundation walls and floor The overall goal of the system is to suck up most the air from under the slab that is rising through the soil. Install a vertical PVC pipe, running from beneath the slab and extending through an exit point above the roof line This pipe diverts the air and radon particles out of the house.

Install a manometer The manometer is mounted on the pipe and has a small tube which is inserted into the pipe. Of course, the manometer will read zero when installing and before the fan is turned on. Cut the pipe in the attic and install the fan The fan keeps a continuous vacuum effect in place, sucking up the air from beneath the slab in the basement and venting it out above the home.

Check the system Once the fan is installed, the manometer should have a reading greater than zero. Seal the leaks and retest. More information on radon mitigation: EPA. Related Content Image. Nailed It. Wildfire Resistance: 16 Minutes of BS.

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