Our Review of
EPA's Home Buyer's and Seller's Guide to Radon
Radon Resistant Features
This educational image in the Home Buyer's and Seller's Guide to Radon educates you about Radon resistant features that the EPA recommends building into homes.
As the EPA states, Radon-resistant features "may vary for different foundations and site requirements. If you're having a house built, the EPA says you should ask your builder if they're using a recognized approach, such as the International Residential Code specification.
A drawing in the Radon guide shows that these features include:
- A Gas-Permeable Layer (gravel) placed beneath the slab or flooring system to allow the soil gas to move freely underneath the house. In many cases, the material used is a 4-inch layer of clean gravel. (for slab construction only)
- Plastic sheeting is placed on top of the gas-permeable layer before pouring the slab, or over the crawlspace floor.
- All below-grade openings in the foundation and walls are sealed to reduce soil gas entry into the home.
- A PVC vent pipe runs from the gas-permeable layer through the house to the roof, to safely vent Radon and other soil gases to the outside.
- The diagram also shows electrical boxes for wiring and installation of a vent fan. A separate junction box is placed in the living space to power the vent fan alarm. An alarm is installed along with the vent fan to indicate when the vent fan is not operating properly.
Our Experience
When we built our home, we followed the EPA advice and had the contractor install similar features, just in case Radon gas would become a problem. We are relieved to be able to report that the home does not have a Radon problem. Would we go back and leave out the Radon Resistant Features? No way. The construction expense was minimal and we value that we did it right from the start.
This series is provided to inform about Radon at Lake Tahoe and beyond. On each page, you can view more by clicking on one of the navigation links below.
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Navigation: More Radon Information
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