Condo Media - September 2013 - 14

by Jack Carr, P.E., RS, LEED-AP

C A I

R e g i o n a l

N e w s

MAINE

Radon — Deal with It
The Colorless, Odorless Inspection Killer

C

ongratulations, you are about
to move from your duplex
condo in Maine to a condo on
the sunny beaches of Florida.
The purchase price was agreed to and
the home passed inspection with ﬂying colors with a closing scheduled in
two weeks. All’s well, but wait — you
just heard from the listing broker that
the buyer’s radon air test results were
received and the reading was 30 pCi/l
(PicoCuries per liter). What does it
mean? After all, you never had a radon
air test when you bought the new
condo unit years ago.
What it means is the deal is in jeopardy until discussions are held on the issue
of radon mitigation and who is going to
pay for it. This is hardly an unusual situation in Maine. It happens every day.
Radon gas is getting a lot of attention in real estate circles these past few
years. Just last year, a law was passed in
Maine requiring every landlord to test
his rental spaces for radon and advise
his tenants of the results. He then must
mitigate any rented space with radon
gas readings in excess of the EPA’s standard of 4.0 pCi/l, as the law states the
rented space has an “implied warranty
of habitability.”
So what is radon gas? It is a naturally
occurring, colorless, odorless radioactive
carcinogenic gas. It comes out of the
ground from the decay of uranium isotopes in granite and limestone deposits,
which Maine has in abundance. Both
the EPA and World Heath Organization agree radon is the leading cause of
cancer for non-smokers and causes more
cancer deaths than any other single
pollutant except for tobacco smoke and
more household deaths than even fire or
carbon monoxide poisoning.

14

Condo Media • September 2013

Something in the Water

Most folks familiar with radon gas testing
are not aware that radon-contaminated
water is also a problem. Municipal water
has this pollutant under control, but
untested well water can be dangerous —
not from drinking the water, but from
inhaling the steam or mist from showers,
cooking, and faucets. In this regard, the
EPA recommends water radon levels
should be below 20,000 pCi/l.
Radon gas has been with us since
man first walked the earth, so why is
it a problem now? For one thing, it is
partially the result of our energy crisis.
As our modern houses have begun to
get tighter to prohibit heated air from
escaping, they also seal in the radon
gases that used to escape our leaking old
Victorians and post-war buildings. Currently in Maine, it is estimated one in
three homes have high radon gas levels
and one in five have high well water
radon levels. Radon gas is odd in that
it has a half life of less than 48 hours,
but if there are cracks in the foundation
walls or concrete slab or if the sump
pump pit is unsealed or the service
piping into the basement is not tight,
radon gas will continuously ﬂow into a
house with negative pressure.

Solutions and Costs

So what is a homeowner to do? First,
radon testing is easy and inexpensive.
Second, once detected, high radon test
readings can almost always be reduced
below the recommended levels. Maine
does not require a homeowner to test
for radon. Test kits can be purchased
for $20 at local building supply stores
and the results can be quickly obtained
after sending the kit to a laboratory.
Though these results can not be used

in a real estate transaction, they can give
the homeowner an understanding of
the indoor air quality of his home while
having a heads-up of a possible impediment to a future home sale.
As part of today’s standard homebuying due diligence list, most real estate
brokers recommend their clients have
a radon air test and a water test if the
property has a well. These cost less than
$200 per test. In Maine, all testing must
be done by a certified radon tester. In a
real estate transaction, it is recommended
a continuous monitoring test device
be used rather than the hardware store
“canister” or “test tube” kits, as the continuous monitoring devices cannot walk
out to the backyard as they monitor the
temperature, barometric pressure, and
humidity of the environment and thus
record if something has changed.
If the readings are high, the radon
gas can easily be removed by approved
mitigation systems consisting of a PVC
pipe run from under the concrete slab up
through the house and above the roof
with an in-line exhaust fan that vacuums
out the gas from under the slab. These
systems often cost less than $1,500 and
are inexpensive to operate. Similarly,
radon water can be treated by charcoal
filter canisters lined with lead. If both air
and water must be treated, the cost is
between $2,000 and $3,000. For more
information, contact the Maine Radon/
IAQ Program at (800) 232-0842, www.
maineradiationcontrol.org, or www.EPA.
gov/ofdw/radon/html. CM
Jack Carr, P.E., RS, LEED-AP, is
senior vice president with CriteriumEngineers in Portland, Maine. He is
a member of the Condo Media board
and a frequent author and speaker.
http://www.maineradiationcontrol.org http://www.maineradiationcontrol.org http://www.EPA.gov/ofdw/radon/html http://www.EPA.gov/ofdw/radon/html
Condo Media - September 2013

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